MC (michael cundith) fish

[unclethirsty]

Any of you larger lads got one of mc's king/groper 7'4" - 8' range fish boards, what are they like how do they go, are they ok for beachies with the keel fins.Thanks.

[Cuttlefish]

Hi Uncle,
A few years back I demoed a few of his 6' plus fish with the keels until I settled on a size that gave me enough float and easy paddling for small point waves.
I ended up grabbing a 6'10" from his racks.
Must admit that there are so many different alternative shapes I've come across in recent years that my consuming curiousity got the better of me and I sold it to try something else.
Had fun surfs on it at Noosa but I can't recall surfing it in beachbreaks.
Recall it had a domed deck and so its thickness didn't mean it had blocky rails.
It also had its keels set right back on the tail which helped with its turning ability.
MC always has some demos available which is always the decider.
For beachbreak duties you may want to look into an Islander model as well.
I have an 8'2" x 23" x 3&1/8" which I bought for competing with the longboarders (if I want) who sit way outside and pick off all the set waves when its 3' plus on the points.
Those sort of dims are pretty much unheard for a shortboard planshape in any normal surfshop but MC knows what it takes to get the job done.
The Islander is a wide point forward shortboard planshape with a deepish single concave and 5 fin plug set up with a rounded pin.
The usual is to find a big guys shortboard in 7' or so that goes to max 21" and then after that you see wide tailed hybrids like 7s fish or McT's that still stay well away from a 23" widepoint.
If you look at say the Rusty's in the 7-8' range that are wider the rails aren't going be as refined as MC's.
I've only ridden the islander a few times so far before this last flat spot and inbetween the previous one but geez it went well.
The board has phenomenal paddle power and it turns like a shortboard should (don't forget its dimensions here so everything is done a bit slower reaction time wise) rather than surfing a hp mal for paddle power and with the accompanying wide nose feeling.
When I say its slower I'm only talking about reaction time due to the amount of foam being turned. It is a fast board and motoring through and around sections is child's play because you can just lay over and fully utilise its long rails.
Taking a high line around scrambling paddlers and having the glide underfoot to do a massive arcing cuttie is a tonne of fun on these.
Just putting it out there that you may want to have a look at an alternative to the whale/groper style boards for beachies.

[Beerfan]

Those things are crazy wide from memory, like 24" or so. Be really good for fatter waves but anything hollow, too long too flat too wide IMHO. I reckon an egg of the same length would work better. Go for a tri fin or quad setup if you want hard turns. I'm sure mc has them working well, but I think fish need to be small to work. If you're set in a fish, look around 6' to 6'6". Still very big for a fish, but will feel much better then the size you're talking, how tall, heavy are you?.
At the end of the day it's up to you though, ride what you like!

P.s keels work fine. Add some toe, some cant and reverse rake and they come around just fine

[Cuttlefish]

Just had a thought after reading Mark's reply.
If you were keen on the big fish genre you can't go past a Firewire addvance.
Used to have a 6'6" and have always wanted to nab a 6'10" again sometime.
Just that I have a few mid lengths now and so ended up with a short wide groveller instead.
Anyway there's a 7'2" addvance on evil bay right now for a great price.
The thing with the addvance is its got the foam but with the lightness to stay really responsive.
The narrower tail allows it to turn really easily for such a big board.
Here's a link to it.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Firewire-Add ... e18&_uhb=1

[surfywurfy]

Uncle, the dart fish/king/groper series are all excellent boards...I own a dart and a king and have ridden a groper(too much volume for me).But ditch the keels unless yr riding a long point break, the fins I like are Greg webbers twins that he bought out with his miniFish and TwinPin models....just looser and more responsive than the keels(and ive got both size keels).plenty of fun and if u get the 12 plug model u can have thruster/twin/quad /keel and add the nubster.Lots of variation out of the 1 board.
All MCs ive had, have been great boards u cant go wrong with them