Swingin Like the Naughties (and Board Report)

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pridmore
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Re: Swingin Like the Naughties

Post by pridmore » Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:36 am

yep, makes sense and you are on the lower side of volume for your size and weight I reckon...if ya remember , I was tryin for a touch wider and touch thicker when we first discussed this puppy ( thats not an " I told ya so " but more of a look back and possibly think what those dims would have done for the board ??? ) but you like em with less foam so thats what we did...I also tried to discrretly leave a bit extra in there and distribute the foam a bit differently to give you a touch more float....
My newy should handle the junk a bit better being wider in the tail and a bit more thickness ....this curing thing sucks but anyday now, the conditions arent great for it anyways.....but it'll be in the wagon just in case....and yes, the Critter should be better for tiny stuff...... 8)

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Cpt.Caveman
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Re: Swingin Like the Naughties

Post by Cpt.Caveman » Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:29 am

haha if the wait gets too painful try chewing gum...works for smokers.

yeah, I'm completely happy with the volume of the Swinger though. It does exactly what I hoped it would - be really responsive, but still generate a lot more speed and float than a HPS, and handle the average variable day of Sydney surf. If I wanted it to handle junk well I probably would have preferred more volume and less tail rocker..

I don't tend to like that feeling of sitting right on top of the wave unless the board is meant just for small junk. I'm starting to like to have that little bit of sensitivity of whats going on under my feet and in the wave. Concentrating on that is helping with my style and technique at the moment, I can understand why Nick Carrol is a firm advocate of it.

The Critter will definitely complete the Sydney quiver nicely:

- 6'0" MORE Quadfather - Quality waves, especially waves with a good pocket. All the way up to double overhead and maybe some more.
- 5'11" MORE Swinger quad - Versatile small wave all-rounder for the average day of Sydney surf.
- 5'7" MORE Critter - Small junk and as a "I just want to surf something really different, refershing, and fast" type board.

I can't recommend more highly sticking to a good shaper who is happy to really talk through each board with you, including before and after you get the board. It only means that each board gets better and better for what you need in certain conditions...

I mean you have a lot to consider with a new board, there is your own shaping knowledge (which is never going to be the same as someone who shapes for a living), knowledge of your own preferences in a board for a certain type of wave, the shaper's knowledge of what sort of specific design is going to work well for you, etc, etc. Each area only gets greater with every board you get from the same shaper. It has done loads for my surfing and stoke for surfing.
Davros wrote:Ego saved - surfing experience rubbish.

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Re: Swingin Like the Naughties

Post by diggerdickson » Tue Mar 16, 2010 1:29 pm

can I just say im bloody jealous
no, Im not a surfer, Im just a garbage man".

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Re: Swingin Like the Naughties

Post by Cpt.Caveman » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:00 pm

Sorry to rub it in mate :)

I just had a surf on the Swinger today in clean and powerful 5ft waves. It still surfed really well but its starting to show some limits. When I had lots of speed on a 5-6ft wave and tried to really bury the rail, the boxyness seems to want to keep the board sitting above the water. This made me start to nurse the turn little, something I'm not all that used to with quads. I also tried a few waves at a sucky little reef at Bronte and the bouyancy made it a bit harder to stick the rail in when taking off down the face.

Seems as though the boards forte starts with small waves as soon as they have a wall or something to work with, and goes all the way up to solid and wally waves to about 5ft. Pretty much a perfect Sydney all-rounder for beachies and wally points! Its perfect conditions seem to be 2-4ft wally beachies with steep sections for turns.

I'd prefer something different for powerful barreling points, or bigger and cleaner waves. Something more like my Quadfather or even a pretty standard thruster that has a touch more volume than a HPS.
Davros wrote:Ego saved - surfing experience rubbish.

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Re: Swingin Like the Naughties

Post by Cpt.Caveman » Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:22 am

Board Report - MORE Swinger

The board - 5'11" x 20 1/2" (18 1/2" after the stinger) x 2 1/2", single to deepish double, McKee quad.

Me - I'm 5'11" and weigh around 87kg now (oops for Christmas), I've been surfing for around 12 years now and tend

to like surfing with more flow and power rather than doing all the tricky flicky type stuff.


To be honest, when I first saw the photos of the Swinger that Mark was posting up here it just didn't grab my eye. I was a little skeptical and thought that it might surf a bit more like a fish or novelty board, and that Mark really liked it for its unique and unusual ride. I didn't have any real interest in buying one, but when I was on holidays up in Yamba Mark gave me a go of his 5'11" Swinger with the leopard print. When I got a couple of waves that let me see what it could do I was blown away by the amount of drive it had, combined with how responsive it was. Seeing as I hadn't really sorted out my small wave boards very well yet, I had to take the plunge...


The Shape

Is this two boards stuck together in the middle? It looks that way, but no. The front of the board all the way to the stinger it is basically a Fat-Bat. It seems to have the same template, rails, volume dispersion, and flat rocker. Thats where the two boards stuck together thing ends. The stinger is a dramatic inch cut-away that lands into a blocky and sharp rail. Its almost vertical, and stays that way for most of the way down the board until it starts to turn into a more typical rail near the fins and tail. Mark said that seeing as the area after the stinger doesn't see much water flow, then why not hide some more foam in there and make it really blocky? It also seems to off-set the sudden change in planshape at the stingers which could make the volume very unbalanced front to back.

Starting at the stingers there is a subtle single concave, leading into a deeper double in around the last 1/3 of the board. I can imagine that the lift that it provides along with the lift from the sharp blocky rails would also off-set the sudden decrease in planshape area after the stinger by trying to match the lift of the Fat-Bat planshape up front.


The Ride?

The board tends to like to be paddled more up the front, utilising all of the extra foam in the front end. The fact that it has quite a bit of volume and area makes it paddle very well for a 5'11", and it catches waves very easily much like a semi-fish.

Once up and riding, this board generates a hell of a lot of speed. All of the planshape area and volume, the concaves, lower rocker, and the quad fins provide a lot of drive. The advantage of this in smaller or weaker waves is that it'll see you through those sections without bogging badly or asking you to monkey dance too much. When the wave has a little bit of push in it, this translates to eye watering speed off the mark. This board is a hell of a lot faster than my Quadfather, possibly due to the extra planing area and lower rocker. The speed on this board is addictive, and part of what made me buy one.

Once you have all this speed, or you have made it over those fat sections, this board is really interesting to turn. That fact that the tail is mostly like a HPS in planshape and rocker, it can turn much like one - very tightly and with lots of response. It was really refreshing to have this is a board that also has the advantages of a semi-fish, as most of the time a board compromises one or the other. This did take some getting used to, as I hadn't regularly surfed a HPS for a few years, but it was realy refreshing once I did. It offers more freedom to surf the wave in the way that you want, in a nutshell.

One of the biggest surprises of this board is how the tail releases. Most quads that I've surfed have a tendency to feel really grounded and "sticky" up in the lip, making me hang up there a second longer than normal. The interesting thing with the Swinger is that seeing as the rail in the tail is so blocky and sharp (providing extra lift), the tail actually releases really easily. If you want to, you can blow the fins out of the lip without too much of a push. Similarly during cut-backs, you can jam the turn tighter than what the board will allow and if you have enough speed the tail might release and skip out a little for you. Other quads I've ridden with tight pulled in tails tend to just hang in there no matter what you give them.

The Verdict

Basically, this combination of properties makes this board a perfect all-rounder for me for the average day of Sydney surf. It has speed and freedom, it paddles well, and it will help you over fat sections. The board doesn't tend to like absolute junk as it needs a bit of a wall to work with to really shine. I'd probably want a different board for these types of waves, something with crazy volume and a lower rocker. The boards size limit seems to be above 5ft as the waves get up and over head height, or in heavier reef type waves. The volume and blockiness in the tail makes a bit harder to bury the rail in these types of waves, asking me to nurse the turns (especially bottom turns). I think a few design and dimension tweaks would be needed to remove that, but then it wouldn't go as well on the small days, so I'm happy with it how it is.


Are there any drawbacks of the stinger? Not that I've noticed. Does it feel unbalanced front to back? No, you just have to surf it like a normal board and forget that it looks like a half-and-half. Does it catch during full-rail carves? Not that I've noticed in waves 2-5ft.

I did notice some people criticize the way Mark made the stinger, in terms of how it might alter the flex pattern of the board drastically and might cause problems, calling for it to be reinforced with extra fiberglass. Mark assures me that he hasn't had any problems with any of the Swingers so far, so that point is all theory at this stage. I did get a couple of cracks at the stinger from landing a floater on quite a heavy wave while the lip was exploding up at my feet (double whammy). I'm surprised it didn't snap actually. I got it fixed and reinforced anyway, just to be safe even though the ding repairer was telling me not to bother (my loss of $50).


Who might like this board?

Someone who normally rides a HPS and doesn't like riding fish because they lose too much responsiveness. Someone who wants to have turning properties similar to a HPS, but doesn't want to put up with all the draw-backs of a HPS. Someone who wants the best of both worlds when you compare a semi-fish quad and a HPS.


One big thing that I learned from this board, is that sometimes you just have to trust your shaper, and that you can't assume that because the board doesn't make sense to you that it won't go well. Two phrases that really come to mind after surfing this board are "clever distribution of volume", and "clever combination of design elements". Not "weird and unusual", or "novelty fun board" which were my first uneducated impressions. Bravo to Mark on this one, its very unique and even more addictive.



(Disclaimer: Mark didn't put me up to writing this, nor is he giving me any freebies or payment. I just think Mark has something really unique here that is worth talking about, and seeing as I'm having so much fun on it I think other people might be interested to know about it :) ).
Davros wrote:Ego saved - surfing experience rubbish.

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Re: Swingin Like the Naughties (and Board Report)

Post by Cpt.Caveman » Wed Apr 07, 2010 9:17 am

Some pretty average videos of me surfing some pretty average waves on my Swinger ;)

http://vimeo.com/10717246
Davros wrote:Ego saved - surfing experience rubbish.

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Re: Swingin Like the Naughties (and Board Report)

Post by Cpt.Caveman » Sat Jul 17, 2010 3:29 pm

Very very impressed with this board. It has great responsiveness very similar to a typical HPS, and a ton of drive from the quad fins, flat planing area up front, and nice deep double. Its a great board for the average day of Sydney waves, where you might have a steep and workable section, then you might also have a full and slow section that you have to glide through.

The release is fun too, I don't think I've ever surfed a quad before that releases a similar amount to a thruster. All of the lift up being created in the tail off-sets the extra hold from the 4th fin.

Its probably my favorite board at the moment. I did go a little nuts surfing my other small wave mini-board exclusively for a couple of months, but now that I've been back on this board for a few surfs its probably going to be doing the most miles our of all of my boards.
Davros wrote:Ego saved - surfing experience rubbish.

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Re: Swingin Like the Naughties (and Board Report)

Post by Natho » Sat Jul 17, 2010 9:17 pm

Hmmmm a whole quiver of fat fishy quads by the one shaper.

Now who was it that accused me of not opening my mind up to trying different things :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Re: Swingin Like the Naughties (and Board Report)

Post by Cpt.Caveman » Sat Jul 17, 2010 9:55 pm

haha tis sounding that way.. I also own a 6'0" Yorky thruster and a McGrigor single fin.

Board for points and quality Sydney waves - 6'0" Quadfather, essentially a HPS with a bit more width and thickness than usual, quite refined and low rails, far more rocker than a fish, but yes a McKee quad.

Board for most waves 2-5ft - 5'11" Swinger, so basically the tail of a HPS (18 1/2") but the nose of a semi-fish (20 1/2"). Getting slightly fat and fishy and quadish, but it'll still hook and surf right in the pocket like a HPS.

Board for small and weak waves, or for something different - 5'7" mini-board quad, set up as a twin-fin but with tiny quad trailers. I'd call this board more of a twin fin than a quad, but very fishy, 20 3/4" x 2 3/4" with a flat deck and rounded-nose. Getting very fat, fishy and quad-like in this one :)

Its more open minded than I used to be. I used to surf 6'3" x 18 5/8" x 2 1/2" HPS thruster board after board after board.
Davros wrote:Ego saved - surfing experience rubbish.

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Re: Swingin Like the Naughties (and Board Report)

Post by Cpt.Caveman » Wed Jun 08, 2011 8:14 am

Image

I don't like tooting my own horn, but this is what the board can do...
Davros wrote:Ego saved - surfing experience rubbish.

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Re: Swingin Like the Naughties (and Board Report)

Post by gibber » Thu Jun 09, 2011 8:49 am

Hey el'capitaan <)))))
I cannae see teh video or the pic you posted
Can ye help a brother out?

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Re: Swingin Like the Naughties (and Board Report)

Post by Cpt.Caveman » Fri Jun 24, 2011 11:15 am

gibber wrote:Hey el'capitaan <)))))
I cannae see teh video or the pic you posted
Can ye help a brother out?
Sorry mate, what do you mean? Can you not see the picture above?
Davros wrote:Ego saved - surfing experience rubbish.

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