review of Mccoy Astron Zot

[alakaboo]

I haven't ridden a truly high performance shape single, if that's what you mean. Haven't seen too many either.
I think a 2+1 is more versatile in that sort of shape, and you can change the fin cluster spread around to suit the waves better.

I think it's kind of a chicken and egg thing, singles tend to be on boards with narrower tails and wide point forward, which tend to be for bigger, better waves.
They reward more flowing style, turning off the rails rather than the fins.

[old grom]

ONE VERY BIG NEGATIVE FOR THE HIGH VOLUME SHORT BOARD...

Despite being a rabid follower of the HVSB style - including spending every spare cent trying different shapes and experimenting with this style....I experianced the obvious downsize to these high volume - easy riding - lots of set wave taking - magic carpets, this weekend.

Went to the Goldie to catch up with some friends - and surf South Straddie (mate has a boat - great set up). However winds not right at 5.00 AM in Sunday - so we went to D'bar instead. Great session in solid 4 ft pitching and very shifty D'bar (made great as surfing with a couple of good mates I have surfed with for 20 yrs...) . After 2 hrs - wind was starting to get up - as were the crowds - so we decided "next wave in".

I caught maybe my best wave of the day - solid right hand bowl - flew through a couple of sections.. YE HAH should have got off a bit earlier than I did... ; made the mistake of trying to milk it - as I was comming in.

Had a brain freeze and instead of just turning to face the beach when it closed out - I hesitated flying along the face (and big D'bah gets steep and heavy on the shore bank - first surf there for years..) looking to see if it was a makeable barrel section or one last option for a hack (mates on the beach - amazing what an audiance can do for an old grom ) - unfortunetly by the time I reaslised there was no safe exit the whole wave slammed on the shallow bank and I was drilled -

Heres where the high volume plays in - I ended up with 6'8" of HVSB- full glass job and all - in my face - Fins Up

I was not on the ZOT - but a mates 6'8" x 21 x 3" quad retro inspired shape, solid glass job, & simular volume. Its trippy but as its a quad I got the two back fins on either side of my forehead - I have two lines of scab and swollen flesh running down my forehead - parralel to each other - that fit the fins exactly - I sort of look like Fankenstien with one black eye. Worst part is the tail smashed my mouth - a couple of loose teeth.

I look like I just took on half a pub and lost. Day off work sick today - good news is the dentist thinks I will keep the teeth - but not sure for 2 weeks; and I have to eat soup as the pain - its like the Marathon Man..

Bloody high volume F*@#$#*@ - thats it - The ZOT is for sale... I am calling up DHD and getting a Fanning model :?

Nah

- still had a great session - the HVSB again got me on heaps - even in the Goldy hot pot on a Sunday AM. But I reckon I was lucky - but will be a bit more careful (maybe I am a bit old for the show off ending ). OG

[Davros]

Cpt, have a C Bros Bonzer 6'6 Egg - its awesome, speed, flow and great bottom turning board in fast surf.Ridden a MSF2 an found the low rocker a bit restrictive.

Not to get over reminsant but the Hot Buttered Drifta looks good (2+1) and have seen a guy light up on one is solid waves and also seen one of the Fitzgerald guys tear up on one live, and it looked pretty damn amazing but they are great surfers.

[old grom]

]

've never ridden a modernised single fin, I've only ever ridden old 70's singles like McGrigors etc.

How would you describe the ride and feel,

Capt - if the ZOT is an example of a ''modernised single fin" I find its chalk and cheese from the old school single as far easier to change direction - and make shorter arc turns. My thoughts:

- This may be due to the fins - styles such as the Gull, spitfire and wavegrinder - are much more upright than old school fins - and hence easy turns.

- Bigger rounded tail on say ZOT - turnes very easily - follows the shape of the tail.

- Bottom shape - the dome - eases rail to rail transition - it wants to tip - this may be so with good V bottoms as well - but not sure.

Then again, a read a lot of people commenting about 2+1 set-ups and bonzers that they like a bit of wall and push to really feel alive...

I have not had a two plus one - YET. However Geoff states that if the rails - esp near the tail are shaped correctly - the change from rounded edges (which according to his theory - provide lots of hold) - to sharp edges (which provide release) , just past the fin - mean that you do not need the small side fins (2+1 set up) to get "extra hold" as the appropriate amount is provided by the rails.

I am quoting his theory (see his new vid section on his web site) - rather and my experiance with 2+1's. But do not find my ZOT ever loses hold - spins out...

However - as stated earlier the single feels very different from thrusters and quads - I like the flow and the speed of the single - (and how it flows) - but at times miss the hold and ""grip?" of a quad - esp on my backside bottom to top turn. I think its horses for courses - but love having this single in my quiver and the ride it gives.

Here's the quiver before I got the 6'0 Zap and sold the PotBelly.

Kookster -Why did you sell the potbelly - I love the look of that - it must have been a blast - esp on small or shite days? Do you wish you still had it? It looks like a 3 fin ZOT - love to look at the bottom and rails and compare.

Took the nugget out today - 2ft glass, damn that board loves a barrel. I wonder how a zot would go as a thruster? i know Gerry Wedd converted his - but most recently i saw this: http://weddwould.blogspot.com/2011/02/real-mccoy.html

[/quote]

Batoes - that baby blue looks insane. I find that the way Mccoys (from my experiance - NUGS and ZOTS) love to sit in the pocket of the wave, and the way the very fat round rails hold so well - even in the steepest, fastest - barrel/face - is insane. Also confuses the hell out of me as most shapers dont seem to regard round wide rails as providing hold - not sure what gives - confused by this Maybe lots of shaped rails give good hold?

But know exactly the feeling and characteristics you are describing with your NUG - OG

[Chillin]

Here's another problem with high volume short boards, that fat round rail will suck you up the face of a solid barrel like 15 yr old chick suck starting a Harley. Big round rails have an amazing amount of 'stiction' in the face. To see how much, put the curved face of a spoon into a stream of water from a tap, its amazing how much suck into the flow there is This is also the reason old mall are so nose ridable, water flowing over those thick round rails hold the tail in the face. Anyway, yesterday i plunged down the face of a reasonably sucky 4' beachy, set the rail, grabbed the outside, stuck my left arm in the face and promptly got sucked up and over and deposited on the sandbank. I'm fairly sure I would have made it on a normal thickness/railed shorty. Just sayin.
By the way, the avatar girl is Francesca, check her out here: http://www.fineartteens.com/girl/Francesca

[old grom]

that fat round rail will suck you up the face of a solid barrel like 15 yr old chick suck starting a Harley. Big round rails have an amazing amount of 'stiction' in the face. To see how much, put the curved face of a spoon into a stream of water from a tap, its amazing how much suck into the flow there is This is also the reason old mall are so nose ridable, water flowing over those thick round rails hold the tail in the face. Anyway, yesterday i plunged down the face of a reasonably sucky 4' beachy, set the rail, grabbed the outside, stuck my left arm in the face and promptly got sucked up and over and deposited on the sandbank. I'm fairly sure I would have made it on a normal thickness/railed shorty

Interesting - so Fat round rails give lots of hold - (and chillin suggests - too much in some cases).. I guess I must compensate for the hold, as am so used to this feeling - and love it...OG

[Chillin]

Old adage, "Long and thin might go right in, but short and stout makes em shout".

[WANDERER]

By the way, the avatar girl is Francesca, check her out here: http://www.fineartteens.com/girl/Francesca

Nice website, but just for future reference, I and I may assume others don't like involuntarily opening up porn sites, especially as we may be at work or at home around family members

I MEAN FFS, IF IT'S NOT SAFE FOR WORK THEN LABEL IT AS SUCH SO THAT AT LEAST PEOPLE HAVE SOME FARKING WARNING!!
it's just common sense and due consideration for you fellow forumites.

example:

By the way, the avatar girl is Francesca, check her out here: (NSFW) http://www.fineartteens.com/girl/Francesca

or even

By the way, the avatar girl is Francesca, check her out here: (NSFW) http://www.fineartteens.com/girl/Francesca

[Cuttlefish]

Ooh! I looked at that link and thought nah! I'm not clinking on any teen girl site.
I prefer board porn.
Sad old me!

[batoes]

OG - last winter i paddled out in 6ft heavy surf at Windang Island on my 5'8 nugget....third wave i got caught out on a slab i thought i could make, but the rail just stuck to the top line and over i went. Hit the board face first and broke my nose badly. I was an amateur boxer for many years and i can tell you i'd much prefer a 10oz fist to the face than a 6oz glassed nugget
I feel your pain...or have, literally. Went back to her, even though she hurt me. Sticky as the rails are, when that board sets a line in smaller barreling surf - it goes off.

Hey chillin i love that simile!

[WANDERER]

Ooh! I looked at that link and thought nah! I'm not clinking on any teen girl site.
I prefer board porn.
Sad old me!

I skimmed the url, didn't really notice the 'teens' bit or maybe it didn't register and and then clicked it, I thought it might have been some tasteful bikini girl photography or something, instead I get nasty business flashing up on my screen!!

PANIC!!! close - minimize - do something farken!!

[Moore]

^^Same here.. a wee 'NSFW' would have saved a little embarrassment

Just surfed my one of my favourite 2+1s today at a glassy little A frame reef. So much fun - the best of a single (glide and paddleability) with the drive and variety of line going into carves and snaps. Really versatile.

However, it was that kind of sucky, steep clean surf that Zot owers go mad about. It would have been perfect testing grounds....

[Chillin]

Sorry for the crook link lads, I originally got the avatar when i typed in 'nude surfer', that site came up and I posted her on the 'Babe of the day' thread. Again, my apologies, it won't happen again.

[kookster]

OG ouch - I have often said to my mates that I don't ever want to snap a McCoy because I know I will be snapped first. I got shut down on a Noosa Main beach cyclone barrel on the PotBelly and thought I had turned my knee inside out, and it didn't even break the glass.

Batoes that was one serious wipeout man it took the whole top off your melon!

Chillin I have a saying "It's not the cubic inches but the horsepower it produces..."

Chillin forgive me for not remembering (it's hard to keep up with who has what) but do you have a McCoy Nugg? I've never had a problem with getting sucked up the face, then again I can't say I've ever had one of those balltearing hands in the air overhead barrels either. Wondering if you were commenting on the McCoy fat arse or fat arses in general.

Cavey - well yes I do miss the Potsy, it was a bloody lovely board to ride, but I sorta realised the types of waves it went best on weren't the ones I like to ride the most, and I usually go looking for a better shape somewhere else.

Will see if I can track down some pix of it for you.

[kookster]

First one was a pic I was playing with, 6'0 PotBelly left, Zot middle and 6'4 Stumpy right

http://i26.tinypic.com/21o3eo.jpg

Two Zots (Phase 1 I think?) from the factory side by side - makes a huge difference to plan shape on the short one.

http://i50.tinypic.com/sncj9c.jpg

The only ones I could find of the Potsy .... probably not big enough to see detail on rail but see how you go

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt32 ... G_0077.jpg

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt32 ... G_0081.jpg

[Cpt.Caveman]

Thanks for the replies!

Great conversation fellas, having fun here!

So whats the verdict for people who have surfed similar boards (planshape, rocker, etc.) in both thruster and single fin? Which do you think is faster? What are the differences in turn dynamics?

[old grom]

rst one was a pic I was playing with, 6'0 PotBelly left, Zot middle and 6'4 Stumpy right

Kookster - when you look at the ZOT and the Potbelly side by side - they look very simular. I wonder if the real difference is mostly on the rail shape - with Geoff shaping the ZOTS rails specifically for the hold and release charcteristics he requires for his single fins. I love the look of the your PB - still confused as to why you have moved to ZAPS . I have never ridden a ZAP - but the blurb states:

"Created for quick, short arc, high performance surfing...... To take advantage of the Lazor Zap you need to be a high level surfer"

So I thought maybe for better quality waves - and not so much an allrounder. How does the ZAP go in small or wind effected waves - half my surfing . By the way - I totaly understand if it was just the restless urge to hunt for an "even better" shape that led to the loss of your PB - I suffer from a Holy Grail complex (uncommon clinical condition suffered by surfers who spend an obsessive amount of time reaseaching and overspending on surfboard design- always seeking the impossible goal of a perfect allrounder) - no known cure as of yet...

Capt - as for the single fin thing - I have a long hx of thruster Nug surfing - the ZOT is my first single Mccoy. I find the simularities of Mccoy boards and their ride characteristics (ie: easy paddle on ; great rocker and drop handling; ability to generate speed; surf on top of the water feel; hold on steep faces) lead to more simularities between the single ZOT and Thruster Nugs - than differences.

For mine - the shape of the ZOT and less reliance on the backfoot - is more of a differnce than the fin. But the single is very fast- frigging flies- hold well - turns nicely - just my afore mentioned backhand issue that is problem, though more me than the board (working in this...). My conclusion is that Mccoy singles are very different from most other (even modern) singles, - he has the single stuff wired.

MOORE stated in an earlier thread that he loved the Merrick modern single and it was different from his Mccoy single - I dont think your typical Mccoy single will do much like other singles - due to the overwhelming influence of the other characteristics of the shape (thickness, roundness, rail shape, dome bottom). Interested in others thoughts on this - OG

[alakaboo]

I dont think your typical Mccoy single will do much like other singles - due to the overwhelming influence of the other characteristics of the shape (thickness, roundness, rail shape, dome bottom).

Exactly. The dome, distribution of foam (a lot forward, as well as a lot back) and soft rails make them a completely different beast.

Capt, I've got an interchange nugget (slightly less wide, less thick, but still a beast) that is a single, and I've ridden a thruster McCoy custom gun in almost the same dimensions.
I prefer the single in waves that are just peeling off. But the main hangup (pun intended) is that if you see a steep wall in front of you it's not as easy to step on the gas and make the section. It's like it has turbo lag, it wants to hang in the pocket. Often the momentum of the board means you can still get through, but it is difficult to transfer from a normal board sometimes.