RealSurf Surfers' Forum

surfywurfy wrote:Mik, that looks like a good starting point, itll be interesting to hear further comments about the different variations that are possible.is that green fin a 7 8 or 9?

It's the FCS Dolphin Fin 7.0'' .

The testing of the different fin combinations is suffering from the usual problems: The surf keeps changing and the level of exhaustion may be an even bigger factor...

The grom went for 5 sessions in glassy 1-1.5m waves on X-mas day, 8hrs in total, until he was completely buggered. Sunburnt eyelids and hands, chafing everywhere and just falling off each wave due to exhaustion at the end. Totally stoked with the board, wanted to keep it in his room overnight so nothing happens to it....

The board (5'8'') is big for him (45kg) and he can duck-dive it only very marginally a few times with a lot of luck....knee paddling works well....catches everything...he says he can nose ride it!
I can only just out-paddle him when I am on my 8'0'' single fin Nugget.

The tail pad is in just the right spot he reckons.

He says it turns as well as his recent favourite board, a 6'2'' Formula 1 Loaded Dome Thruster ("Super-Lite, No Warranties given or implied"), but catches waves much more easily.

More about the different fin combinations later - so far it seems he prefers the Gullwing fin in the forwardmost position. Unfortunately, the last 2 days where hampered by muscle soreness, chafing, onshore winds and an almost complete absence of swell.

Hey Cuttie - did you sell the zot ? thought I saw it on ebay ??

No, it's still safely in my shed waiting for waves.
Waiting, waiting, waiting....yawn....still waiting!

Edit days later: now waiting for some window of morning offshores.
Waiting, wiating, still waiting!
The Astron zot may be up for sale in the next few months if funding for a van I'm after comes up short.
Further edit: It has come to pass!

MrMik wrote:...
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More about the different fin combinations later - so far it seems he prefers the Gullwing fin in the forwardmost position. Unfortunately, the last 2 days where hampered by muscle soreness, chafing, onshore winds and an almost complete absence of swell.

Half a year later, the results are clear: The grom does not think it's worth the effort of putting in any additional fins into the Franken-Zot any more, ever. He just grabs the Gullwing fin every time.

Hi Guys. Been reading the forum and lurking for a while now. Been riding a Pot Belly (6'1 x 21 x 2 3/4) for the last few years and decided to pull the pin and have Geoff shape me something new. After talking to Geoff we landed on the following:
Astron Zot
5'8 x 21 1/2 x 2 3/4 (38.6L)

The major difference I noticed was the increase in speed. Catching waves feels like you're being put into a sling shot. I think it is a function of all that foam in the tail and the decreased drag of the single fin. Like some of the previous posts, this thing just wants to turn and you forget that it's a single fin. It also loves the bottom turn and tends to bog if you put too much front foot pressure. I probably could have gone smaller but I figured I'm not getting any younger so the extra volume would be welcome.

For what it's worth, I'm 36 yrs old, 5'9 and 73 kgs.

I miss my zot. Curious if anyone can comment on the XF models durability now they have been around for a while?