RealSurf Surfers' Forum

I want to get a new board. Havent had a newie for about 18months. Im getting married in six weeks and the mrs wants to get me an engagement present.

Here's my current quiver.

5'9 x 20 1/2 x 2 5/8 PCC Stuey Diver (square tail thruster)
6'4 x 19 5/8 x 2 5/8 More Quadfather.
6'8 x 21 x 2 3/4 Miller Waterskate
9'0 GSI Modern contour stringer longboard.

Im 177cm (5'10) and 77kg. Intermediate surfer, dont spend much time in the big stuff.
Been thinking of a 6'2 single fin as ive never had one.

I love the length of the waterskate but tails too thick, love the performance of the quadfather but its too long, love how the PCC paddles, and love how cruisey the modern longboard is.

I need to be able to duckdive the newie in 3-4ft. Which i can do with the water skate (just).

I live in cronulla and spend most of my life surfing the beachies and the point. When i go on holidays i surf bendalong and seal rocks. I love Number 1's. im getting married there on the 14 Sep. All Realsurfers welcome at the ceremony, but only if you wear a wettie and a black bow tie off course.


Thoughts?

Go see patto dude. He's been doing heaps of singles and riding them heaps too.
Mines a 6'4 round pin and it is amazing.

Channel bottom.
Its not going to be a crap wave board so go the channels.
If you go custom get it with fcs side plugs as well so you can choose to ride it a single or a two plus one.
If you want something a little out of left field?
McCoy astron zot 5'8".
Best single fin for attacking lips I have ridden.
A Takayama glass slipper would be on my shopping list if I A: had any money and B: had a lot of money.

Campbell Bros Bonzer....Can't go wrong

Topher wrote:Go see patto dude. He's been doing heaps of singles and riding them heaps too.
Mines a 6'4 round pin and it is amazing.

He's the reason I went on this single fin tangent in the first place. Demo'd his 6'0 1970's the other week... waves weren't the best, but felt 6'0 is a bit small for my liking. Even though i'm only 78kg, I think i'll go for something around the 6'4 mark. 3/4 of my boards are rounded pin. looks like i'm almost there.

Cuttlefish wrote:Channel bottom.
Its not going to be a crap wave board so go the channels.
If you go custom get it with fcs side plugs as well so you can choose to ride it a single or a two plus one.
If you want something a little out of left field?
McCoy astron zot 5'8".
Best single fin for attacking lips I have ridden.
A Takayama glass slipper would be on my shopping list if I A: had any money and B: had a lot of money.

Thanks for the Mccoy suggestion, although I've had short high volume boards before and didn't agree with them.
Funny you mentioned Takayama, I demo'd a 6'2 Jackson Venom which is a rip off of the Takayama Scorpion... a lot of fun, but only rode it for one session... Never ridden a pin tail before and it would need some getting used to.

grimshine wrote:Campbell Bros Bonzer....Can't go wrong

Would prefer to stick with an aussie shaper...
I've had great dealings with Grant Miller, Mark Pridmore and Stuart Paterson. My Jackson was off the rack, but wasn't impressed with the durability so won't be going there for custom.... they are however the best ding repairers on the planet.

Thanks for the replies.... now just for bottom shape...
Hull? or should i leave it to the shaper?

JET01 wrote:

Topher wrote:Go see patto dude. He's been doing heaps of singles and riding them heaps too.
Mines a 6'4 round pin and it is amazing.

He's the reason I went on this single fin tangent in the first place. Demo'd his 6'0 1970's the other week... waves weren't the best, but felt 6'0 is a bit small for my liking. Even though i'm only 78kg, I think i'll go for something around the 6'4 mark. 3/4 of my boards are rounded pin. looks like i'm almost there.

Cuttlefish wrote:Channel bottom.
Its not going to be a crap wave board so go the channels.
If you go custom get it with fcs side plugs as well so you can choose to ride it a single or a two plus one.
If you want something a little out of left field?
McCoy astron zot 5'8".
Best single fin for attacking lips I have ridden.
A Takayama glass slipper would be on my shopping list if I A: had any money and B: had a lot of money.

Thanks for the Mccoy suggestion, although I've had short high volume boards before and didn't agree with them.
Funny you mentioned Takayama, I demo'd a 6'2 Jackson Venom which is a rip off of the Takayama Scorpion... a lot of fun, but only rode it for one session... Never ridden a pin tail before and it would need some getting used to.

grimshine wrote:Campbell Bros Bonzer....Can't go wrong

Would prefer to stick with an aussie shaper...
I've had great dealings with Grant Miller, Mark Pridmore and Stuart Paterson. My Jackson was off the rack, but wasn't impressed with the durability so won't be going there for custom.... they are however the best ding repairers on the planet.

Thanks for the replies.... now just for bottom shape...
Hull? or should i leave it to the shaper?

I cant keep away from the mccoy site. I know made the call on short high volume boards, but when i think about it i havent surfed one for years. Maybe its worth exploring again?

You gotta love a McCoy single fin. With an endless quiver there absolutely has to be a place for one.

Grant Miller looks to be going a new single fin design. Have a look at his site. It looks interesting. I'll get one whenever finances permit.

Ridden a few short single fins and have concluded I like 7ft and over in 4ft and over, anything else for me I'm going for shorter 3, 4, 2+1 ( Neal Purch)

Ridden a few short single fins and have concluded I like 7ft and over in 4ft and over, anything else for me I'm going for shorter 3, 4, 2+1 ( Neal Purch)

I don't like short single fins.

JET01 wrote:

grimshine wrote:Campbell Bros Bonzer....Can't go wrong

Would prefer to stick with an aussie shaper...

The Campbell Brothers Bonzers ARE done under licence in Australia by Mike Psillakis.

buzzy wrote:You gotta love a McCoy single fin. With an endless quiver there absolutely has to be a place for one.

Grant Miller looks to be going a new single fin design. Have a look at his site. It looks interesting. I'll get one whenever finances permit.

Thanks for the heads up Mr Buzzy.
Oh dear, a 6'8" that paddles like an 8' mal.
Hmmm.
But love to have it happen though.
Had a v-skate as my one board quiver for a couple of years. Also dabbled with the powerglide and the f-skates.
He shaped me a custom 7' egg that I loved and hopefully some of its features are in the new single.
My mate who just rode Banks's (and Indo focused ones at that) would always shake his head at my continuing forays into alternative craft....until one day we were at the Pass and he could either have a ride on the Miller egg or a mal I had with me.
It must have been like a massive light bulb went off in his head.
He fuggin loved the egg.
I was so stoked for him to have a board that made it easy for him in sub par conditions I sold it to him.
He's still got it quite a few years later.
Its been his crowd control board at Noosa and his son has learnt to surf on it.
Never got around to replacing it with a newie from Grant.
This SUBX could well a worthy replacement.

Just so hard to make a decision.

If i could have two that would be easy, but ive only got $1100 saved up.

Patto's been doing some seriously gorgeous tints lately. Following pccboards on instagram will be the end of me.

There's a saying amongst motorcycle enthusiasts, "chrome won't get you home."
Tints are the surfing equivalent of chrome.
Focus on what you want the board to do and look for the shape with the design features that will best take you there.
Then bling it with chrome if you must.

The design will be left mostly up to the shaper. Everytime I chime in with what I think will work I wing up thinking "shoulda listened to the shaper".

I used to be a bit of a ding magnet, so trying to make myself avoid colour.
Even my Mrs asked me about tints last night... "Jet what happens when you ding it?" I responded, " as if ill ding it!"

No more words from her just that look that says, "you've dinged every other board, why should this one be any different"

My last PCC was clear and after 18months remains ding free, hoping the monkey is off my back.

Are tints easier to repair colour wise than a painted blank? I've never owned one.

JET01 wrote: Are tints easier to repair colour wise than a painted blank? I've never owned one.

Lots of variables, JET, some people confuse tints with pigments, then there is single colour versus the freeform 'marble' type effects.

Most dings are over-painted after the repair. Hence they always look different, the paint can scratch in time, discolour, or the rest of the board does and it doesn't, yada, yada.

It's like a car, if you want it get it, don't try and rationalise the decision and don't think about how easy it is to fix. And don't think about re-sale.

Bonzers are great, Mike Psillakis is great I have 2 shorts boards that will never be sold from him. It sounds like you want something a little different, easy to get into waves but has a wow factor. Your man here is Neal Purchase, he makes mind blowing boards and a whale tounge or longer rounded pin snubb model in say 6'10 is a great board but there not boards for 2 ft think 3ft plus. But when you dig that rail in for a big cuttie you will think "f%ck me" this is what its all about no BS and they are 1100 custom.

Thanks for the tips guys, ill take it all on board and let you know when i pull the trigger.