Filling the gap between my fish and mal

[Cuttlefish]

I have a 7'4" as well.
Bought the 7'4" first and then went back and bought the 6'10" since the 7'4" went so well.
First surf on the 7'4" was a 3-4' Granite (Noosa) and having a great surf on it.
Then my mate clipped me when he was flicking off a wave that he'd spun around for and dropped in on another guy.
While getting the board repaired I bought the 6'10" (pictured) as there was a solid swell coming.
Surfed it in some chunky 6' point surf and it went beautifully.
A shuffling my boards around at the moment and looking to downsize from 7 boards to 3-4 so the 7'4" could be looking for a new home.

[Beerfan]

I took this out yesterday morning, though I have it set up as a thruster, with m5 sides and a similar sized centre fin ( old fibreglass from twinny etc ). There's no escaping that It's too big for me and heavy, but it's good for decent waves ( especially with my current fitness ). Paddles great, drops in fine on steeper stuff, good to not have so much nose width in front on a longer board, Turning circle is big but hey it's huge, and i think some fin tinkering might solve that.This is my minimal from now on. I'll probably move the centre fin up 1/2". Or try bigger sides, maybe my occy sides.

[Beanpole]

Just looking at a Sumo online. Now I kind of understand that it is supposed to function differently to a Carver but they kind of also cover the same territory as well. Now what I don't understand is how the recommended volume and size is 6'6" and 43 or something for the sumo if your 80 kgs and 8' for the carver considering they make a 7'6" carver as well. I guess they are targeting a wider ability range with the carver. Also question the idea that you would ride a sumo on an 8' wave. Footage please.

[Beerfan]

Yeah I got the 7'6" because of the reduced nose width. I like bigger boards in bigger waves but my longboards 18" nose was way too much to be comfortable with in bigger steeper waves. So far the 7'6" drops in a million times better in steeper overhead. Not that i surf those kind of waves often though.

A midlength sumo would be a big ask in 8' unless it was really fat. Then a mal would probably work much better

[Beanpole]

Yeah, I agree. Surprised they had that on the site.
The carver on the other hand, no worries provided you could get out in the first place.

[Cuttlefish]

Don't get me started on McT sumos....hated the one I owned.
Twas 7' x 23" x 3" and man did it carry its foam like a sumo.
If it was no longer than 6'6" and 21" or so then it would be a whole different story to be fair.
Figured I'd ride it out at Tea tree on a fine 3-5' day.
Never been thrashed so many times out there.
I'm not one of the crew thats sitting around behind Dolphin rock.
So when the wide ones would come through there was no hope of me duckdiving the sumo so I would get clobbered.
Then there'd be a lull and so I'd scoot back inside aways to look for one.
Wide sets come through again.
Another thrashing.
When riding the wave the board had too much foam and the rails so blocky that it gave me no feedback on what the board was doing so I just had a really dis-connected feeling surfing it.
Even my DVS carbon 8'er was easier to duckdive.
Having said this Freshiedude (Justin) who posts on here and loves his JD's has a 6'6" or so eps sumo with a lot less foam and he reckons its great.
We usually surf the same dims.
If I was faced with 8'ers I'd rather be on my Takayama scorpion 6'8" over a Sumo anyday though.
In fact my very first surf on the Tak was in 6-8' (biggest swell of the year and only day it was anything like that size) when I rolled up with only the scorpion in the car after work to be confronted with it offshore and huge.
It wasn't the best choice as I have a few I would pick in my quiver over the scorp for those waves but it didn't let me down.

[Beerfan]

I reckon a carver would be pretty versatile.