The big guy's small wave shredding implement- The Dumpling

[pridmore]

probably more durable especially when in right combination with faom, stringer and cloth...but the expense goes up....and PU-PE still feels really good and can be quite durable if done right...quality foam and curing well help alot...and a good sanding job, and good glasser,,,, fark me, it all helps, lots of processes and if they are all done well, you get a good board...epoxy is something I have not done extensive work with but always dabbling and researching ...have a few things planned in the new year, and trialling a new epoxy and new foam combo is on the list....

[robzig]

[Cuttlefish]

Hi Justin (Freshie),
The wasp is 4+4 deck.
Not a lot of foam taken off it at 3 1/8" so should be all-right.
Good to hear the 6'6" and 8' are fitting the bill.
There definitely was a change in bouyancy in the foam Dick uses.
I'm assuming he may have gone from a 1lb to a 2lb.
Had another surf on the wasp at first light this am.
Dead low tide with longer lines hitting straight banks and sucking up into closeouts.
Such a shame about the tide. Oh well, that's surfing.
The best board for today is?
Still got a few that let me scoot down the line.
Came home and turned on the 'puter and watched the final heat of the Vans triple crown at Sunset.
Dane Reynold's two waves were very noice.

[pridmore]

I've done some of my boards with epoxy and found the difference so small that the average punter would never tell the difference. (epoxy over PU with middle stringer)

And I break them just a quick as a poly board. PU/PE is here to stay for a very long time.....that is if you still want to pay such a small price for your boards.

Shapers get ripped off. Most can't even get a 50% return on the cash outlay to produce a board, let alone get payed for their time and knowledge to produce the board.

Sorry....rant over.....continue with the original topic

50% would be very nice....

[Cuttlefish]

Had a couple more sessions on the wasp.
Sunday was good fun with some 3'ers sneaking through.
Discovered the DVS fins' limits for a gorilla like me.
Predictable since the fins are mediums for 65-75 kgs and I'm 93kgs.
Bottom turning and having the fins let go and then re-connect is always good for a laugh but somewhat sketchy "yeah, I meant to do that"
Need to trial some fins with some more area/rake to gain some hold.
Back to smaller (1-2') but fun waves with some walls to really wind up on and then crank a turn on the wasp worked really well again with DVS fins.
Put in a pair of Sunny Garcia PC fins in the front and GXQ PC's as rears to try in the next few days.


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If they don't have enough hold then I'll bring out the big guns.


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Carbon fibre G-TF1 with a M5 pc on it to give a size comparison.

[Mrkook]

Very interesting seeing the different fins going into the dumplings. I had a chance to trial some Simon Anderson large s-25 fcs fins in some pretty awesome surf. It was a super fast down the line wave and they held in brilliantly and didn't lose control of the speed the dumpling offers. I bought a set the next day... Having surfed it in smaller junky conditions since I still really like them, smooth and predictable. I was using the s-5, s3 combo mark sends with the board, which works really well in weak small stuff - which is exactly what i wanted the board for but after coming unstuck on a sucky reef bottom turn ( i know it's not what the dumpling is made for but I love thte board and always want to surf it!) I went looking for something with more hold and found it! Anyway thats my ramblings. When I get a chance I'll post a couple of the pics of the dumpling with aforementioned fins in action

[Mrkook]

Oh and a quick newbie q, do the forums have a pm function, where is it? Mark I got yours before I disappeared in sw Aus and never replied. I was about to but now can't find it.

[alakaboo]

there's a little PM symbol below a poster's name in a thread, or go into User Control Panel up the top and navigate through.

[pridmore]

or you can contact me thru the contacts -orders section on my site mate... www.moresurfboards.com

[Cuttlefish]

Hi Mr Kook,
Good to hear re the Simon's.
The Sunny's should give me the extra hold. Pretty similar in size and rake.
If the GXQ's in the rears are too small I'll just up the size to the M5's.
Love to try the butterfly quad fins but will have to be patient until Mark comes back from "wun yut tee Muang Thai" (holiday in Thailand).
Make sure you say "Sook sun wun Christmas, lao sawadee pee mai" to the Thai people.
They'll love it.
Translation: Merry Christmas and Happy new year.

[Cuttlefish]

Reply to self...and anyone interested as well.
Used the Sunny Garcia fronts with PC M5 rears in 3-4' clean, point waves this morning.
Worked absolutely beautifully.
Good drive, hold and release on the set waves.
The Wasp is supposed to be my groveller but throwing in some larger fins showed it has more range.
As the tide came up and the waves fattened up could have easily used GXQ's in the rears to loosen the board up more.
The board has a loose fishy feel but comes off the top great.

[crabmeat thompson]

I'm still reading cuttles ... and taking notes.

[Cuttlefish]

Good to see someone's interested Braithy.
I'll try out the carbon GFT-1's (think that's their name) with a PC GX-Q and then a Stretch template quad rear which is actually a bit smaller than the FCS Stretchs.

[kookster]

I'm still here - been stupidly busy so haven't caught up for that surf Cuttle, missed all that swell last week (I don't want to know how good it was either) this week of course I've got plenty more time but no swell....

[crabmeat thompson]

I've kinda finished messing around with the fins on mine and am using the ones MP sent with the board.

I'm still wrapping my head around this whole quad thing ... and I'm getting there. I'm really enjoying the board and the setup. It's offering a different kind of surfing which I'm digging right now.

Clean offshores and 2 foot this morning, and the board really gets up and moves on the open faces. My backhand still feels a little tight, so down the track I think I'll keep the 5's in up front, and move to something a little smaller and looser down back.

[kookster]

Braithy, I'll be putting my order in for a quaddie from MP as soon as he gets back from hols. Can you explain more about what you find different with the quads (I've only ever ridden thrusters).

[Cuttlefish]

This could save Braithy some time...
http://forum.surfermag.com/forum/showfl ... w=1#UNREAD
current thread "Thrusters vs quads"
As an interesting observation.
This morning at M'dore there were 5 of us out all on similar equipment...wide, flat rockered quads.
One of the guys I'd been talking to the day before and he'd borrowed a board from Woodsy and he was already talking about trying to buy it off Woodsy after a few waves.
They have that effect on the open minded.

[Cpt.Caveman]

This is a pretty good quote from the surfermag forum: "Seriously, I surf some really hollow powerful surf, and the ones I ride work great. Like any design, there's more than the number of fins. It's rocker, foil, bottom and especially, the rider, the greatest, most complex variable of all. Twins, thrusters, quads, twinzers: They can all be made to work in different sorts of surf for different people. I find them flat out faster than thrusters, with more hold for real turns at speed and more freedom and maneuverability up high. Mine work great backside and to go straight up no problem, but different boards and surfers will get different results. The main drawback is that I find them hard to stall for barrels and maintain control. They do some weird sh!t when you brake hard."

Quads are a complex beast because when you add a 4th fin you're increasing the overall fin area, plus the fin area out closer to the rail. This means other elements of the design can be changed to accommodate the extra hold you've introduced. On top of that, a quad will change its characteristics completely with different fin set-ups. Dropping fin size and using upright fins will give it more release and "skate", increasing the fin size and rake will hold the drive through turns and drops more, but make it harder to release the tail for some expression in your turns.

Its a difficult to diagnose the difference between quads and thrusters because of all of those variables, but in general a quad asks you to do a different type of surfing. It will tend to like you to slightly draw out your bottom turns a little more to accommodate for the extra drive and projection, it likes you to slightly pre-empt top-turns/cut-backs, and surfs like a racecar that has no breaks. A thruster has more sudden response and pivot off the back foot but the pivot-on-the-spot dynamic during turns can make it feel like its slowing down a fraction compared to a quad.

The debate about hold, trackiness and release with quads is another complex argument. If you get the front foot sweet spot right I've never found a quad to be tracky, but too far forward and it can feel like it tracks in powerful waves. If you set-up the fin area to give you lots of hold, then a quad can feel super strong and dependable in drops, powerful waves and hard turns in powerful sections of the wave. You can also set-up the fin area to give you some release and slide when you want it, making it feel more like a half-way blend between a twin fin and thruster.

Now that I've been surfing quads almost exclusively for about two years, experimenting with a lot of different fin set-ups and different types of quads, I can say I prefer a thruster in certain waves. Here are my preferences:

- If the waves are powerful, trying to project me out onto the shoulder but they're waves that ask to be surfed close to the pocket, a typical HPS thruster works beautifully to keep pivoting tight back into the pocket. The same surfing can be done on a quad but I find I have a lot more projection and need to accommodate that by drawing out turns more to avoid shooting too far out in front.

- If the waves are powerful, running fast, maybe also hollow I usually prefer a typical HPS quad for the extra hold in drops, high lines and through powerful turns. If the fin area is set-up right it can be next to impossible to slide out on a hairy take-off.

- Other types of conditions it becomes far more to do with the overall board package, including the fin set-up, but usually with a bias towards twin fins and quads for the free and effortless glide feeling. Smaller and weaker waves I like a wider stubby planing hull type board, either twin or quad. If its variable I prefer a quad with some extra volume and glide but still the curves to turn it tight (e.g. the MORE Swinger).