Gary McNeill

[JaM71]

I agree. It is a very fast board. I ride it at mystics when it's chest high and over. It's the type of board where you don't think you can make a section and next thing you know you're in flat water, laying a rail to get back to the foam ball. I've made a few really good waves out there. The single concave that runs the length of the board is great. Lot's of lift and drive. I wish i had the fifth fin option to maybe slow it down and give it some more pivot. That said, on the right wave you can smack the lip, but i find it more of a down the line driver that you push hard into a cutback. If you like quads - this is the ultimate. Better than all the others i've ridden. But you've got to be on your game. At some stage i was a decent surfer and reactive enough to work with a board like this, but as children, work, injury and life sucks my time out of the water like an overzealous kreepy Krauly - i've found i only pull this one out when the waves are good.

Rasta quads - i think they're made for the board. I'm still keen to ride mine as a twin. Just waiting for the right swell.

Perfect winter board Davros. How long have you gotta wait???

Damn u Batoes! You re a bloody menace, now I want a cv2 & Mackie sidecut fish. I am happy with my quiver till I log in here then everything becomes a car wreck....

[batoes]

You've been down the mcneill path - time to try something different.

[Davros]

I agree. It is a very fast board. I ride it at mystics when it's chest high and over. It's the type of board where you don't think you can make a section and next thing you know you're in flat water, laying a rail to get back to the foam ball. I've made a few really good waves out there. The single concave that runs the length of the board is great. Lot's of lift and drive. I wish i had the fifth fin option to maybe slow it down and give it some more pivot. That said, on the right wave you can smack the lip, but i find it more of a down the line driver that you push hard into a cutback. If you like quads - this is the ultimate. Better than all the others i've ridden. But you've got to be on your game. At some stage i was a decent surfer and reactive enough to work with a board like this, but as children, work, injury and life sucks my time out of the water like an overzealous kreepy Krauly - i've found i only pull this one out when the waves are good.

Rasta quads - i think they're made for the board. I'm still keen to ride mine as a twin. Just waiting for the right swell.

Perfect winter board Davros. How long have you gotta wait???

Coming next week mate. He doesn't make low performance boards does he? I've had some sessions on my Entity where I've thought about the turns all week and some days when I've wrestled it's snakiness on my back hand. Looking fwd to the CV2

[batoes]

looking forward to the report - you got your fins?

[Davros]

Going to try with some standard M5 and Shaper Quads on the back.

[Davros]

Conclusion: Entity goes unreal in clean fast waves, struggle in junk, rocks side to side like a drunken sailor. 3ft clean quick waves today, fantastic.

[Davros]

CV2 delivered today. Looks like a weapon

[JaM71]

Got the cv2 wet this weekend Davs? First thoughts? Photos?
Yeeeeeeew!

[Davros]

Nah down with the flu, so just perving for now

[OddaP]

I'm a convert. An acolyte. A zealot. Best made board ever. By a country mile but great construction means nothing if it doesn't go. A CV2, and certainly not a groveller. I rode an entity in quality 3 to 4 foot lefts as well and a superb board. Struggled in poorer surf though.

[steve shearer]

good to see you back here Oddap

[OddaP]

Thanks Steve. Always kept an eye on the forums. This thread piqued my interest to return.

[Davros]

I'm a convert. An acolyte. A zealot. Best made board ever. By a country mile but great construction means nothing if it doesn't go. A CV2, and certainly not a groveller. I rode an entity in quality 3 to 4 foot lefts as well and a superb board. Struggled in poorer surf though.

Hi mate. Glad you said that. I rode my Entity in less than pristine surf and thought "my god what is going on here". Thinking because the rails are so low perhaps. But in good waves it was like the best board I've ridden. Took 10 years off my age.

Haven't ridden the CV2 but already know it's going to be very fast. Anymore feedback appreciated. I'm like you, I'm peaking out on Gary's boards. Had a bit of an exchange on the Entity, he was having a bit of a laugh that 10 years ago it was considered a hybrid but now it's high performance in the eyes of the market.

[tootr]

So which McNeil is considered the first one to get if you've never had one of his boards and want to give one a shot?

[OddaP]

Had the CV2 for 3 months. Have not ridden another board since.

It has a defined hip, if you wanted a point of comparison similar to what you see in some of the Channel Islands boards. I went the carbon fibre rails, stringerless PU blank with expoxy glass. In terms of feel it's not as corky as expoxy boards but has more life than a traditional PU.

it looks sleek and there is a lot going on. There is the channel running from just in front of the fin cluster to a few inches off the rail, the bottom from the edge out the rail is flat. Behind the fins lurk a concave with (I think a touch of vee between the rear 2 fins). Subtle but late tail rocker with similar in the nose. Paddles very well with the volume forward.

The channel provides eye popping lift and speed. A few high line runs on my backhand must surely be as fast as I've ever gone. You can feel it engage and accelerate. Forehand it's sure footed. Lovely looseness that you get out of a quad When you hit the lip and get some foam between the fins off the top. Drivey on the cutback and able to push hard off the bottom. It's capacity to hold the rail through backhand cutties and project at the last of the arc before hitting the foam with more speed than you went in is great. It's not a groveller. It wants to go fast and needs to go fast so you do have to work it a bit, no standing forward and trimming through a fat section like you can on other boards with nominally similar dims and supposed lineage.

Not a big fan of stuffing around too much with fins. Tried a few combos, best is double foiled G1000 in back with AM2 in the front.

Hardly a mark on it as well. No pressure dings and only a few cracks on the glass from knees.

A quality board.

[Davros]

Nice. Dying to ride mine.

[batoes]

Had the CV2 for 3 months. Have not ridden another board since.

It has a defined hip, if you wanted a point of comparison similar to what you see in some of the Channel Islands boards. I went the carbon fibre rails, stringerless PU blank with expoxy glass. In terms of feel it's not as corky as expoxy boards but has more life than a traditional PU.

it looks sleek and there is a lot going on. There is the channel running from just in front of the fin cluster to a few inches off the rail, the bottom from the edge out the rail is flat. Behind the fins lurk a concave with (I think a touch of vee between the rear 2 fins). Subtle but late tail rocker with similar in the nose. Paddles very well with the volume forward.

The channel provides eye popping lift and speed. A few high line runs on my backhand must surely be as fast as I've ever gone. You can feel it engage and accelerate. Forehand it's sure footed. Lovely looseness that you get out of a quad When you hit the lip and get some foam between the fins off the top. Drivey on the cutback and able to push hard off the bottom. It's capacity to hold the rail through backhand cutties and project at the last of the arc before hitting the foam with more speed than you went in is great. It's not a groveller. It wants to go fast and needs to go fast so you do have to work it a bit, no standing forward and trimming through a fat section like you can on other boards with nominally similar dims and supposed lineage.

Not a big fan of stuffing around too much with fins. Tried a few combos, best is double foiled G1000 in back with AM2 in the front.

Hardly a mark on it as well. No pressure dings and only a few cracks on the glass from knees.

A quality board.

That's exactly my experience. If i could refine mine, i'd trim down the width, including nose and tail and would go for the five fin option. I've been caught with the nose a few times and when i did ride it as a twin, i felt a trailer would have been good. Wished it worked in less than stellar waves like my entity did.

[OddaP]

I'm a convert. An acolyte. A zealot. Best made board ever. By a country mile but great construction means nothing if it doesn't go. A CV2, and certainly not a groveller. I rode an entity in quality 3 to 4 foot lefts as well and a superb board. Struggled in poorer surf though.

Hi mate. Glad you said that. I rode my Entity in less than pristine surf and thought "my god what is going on here". Thinking because the rails are so low perhaps. But in good waves it was like the best board I've ridden. Took 10 years off my age.

Haven't ridden the CV2 but already know it's going to be very fast. Anymore feedback appreciated. I'm like you, I'm peaking out on Gary's boards. Had a bit of an exchange on the Entity, he was having a bit of a laugh that 10 years ago it was considered a hybrid but now it's high performance in the eyes of the market.

The Entity is a great board. I rode a Formula Energy when he was shaping for them and I think it's a slightly different construction. Of the 3 times I surfed it there was just the 1 session in quality waves when it lit up. But light up it did. Amazing ability to drive off the bottom, hit the lip, come straight back down and do the same again. But in less than stellar conditions it was hard to get anything out of it.