Kelly Slater's Wizard's Sleeve (and the like)

[PeepeelaPew]

...

[Little]

Has anyone ever ridden an Al Merrick that they liked? The only person I've ever heard say anything good about a CI surfboard is Kelly, and his favourite ever was shaped by Simon with a CI label....

[Chillin]

I ride a merrick MSF (machado single fin) at the local fat wave spot and i have to say that, as i hate fish's, that it is a great alternative in fat or sloppy stuff and a cracking board. Not a session goes by that sombody does'nt comment on how well it goes or looks. On the other hand i have a black beauty (the curren board) and although it goes well, it has just about the worst glass job i have ever seen and it looks like iv been hurling golf balls at it.

[pinhead]

i'm pretty sure that the board in the final was a copy of maurice cole board.
which is fine i guess all shapers take "inspiration" from others, but what shits me is that when asked about it he said it was an adapted flyer.
if your going to ride a shapers board and then base your board around its design at least give credit when its due.

KS did give credit to Maurice Cole for the double stringer construction in an online forum where he discusses his latest quiver.

[dUg]

Well there we have it. This is how a Wizard's Sleeve type board goes in really good surf with size:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9HF6K6o_G8

Great surfing. Those cutbacks on the lefts really showed the quads hold, I have to admit.

What tha hell is going on there???? That looks soooooo unstable on that cutback to me... you can clearly see the board wobbling through the turn ( at 0:34 and again at 0:47 ). Compare that with how drivey and positive Gaskell's board looks through his cuttie at the start.

I would wager that 99.9999% of the surfing population would been lucky to not have that board skip out on the first part of a cutback like that. It would have been even dicier on your backhand.

[Cpt.Caveman]

It did look a little bumpy when going over the chop, but it still held. That board as a thruster would have been pretty hard to surf in those waves I can imagine, but add in another 30% of fin area and it seems to be able to hold tight arcs, chop or not.

Thats just my observation without any expertise in shaping or quads.

[bohdidontsurf]

Took the wizzard sleeve out again today. Only the second time I have ridden it. It was in fat 2-3 ft conditions, very average so not the best for that board. What surprises me is how well it paddles. Its 5'8 x 19.5 x 2 3/8. Refined tail but kind of boxy 5-/5- rails, with a flattish deck. I am 83kgs, 39 and am 5'8. Paddles every bit as good as a regular shortly, the foam distribution is really quite smart. Really starting to like the board and decided when I go to Indo next year I will be taking it. It would be a good board to surf over there and feel the wave more than the board. This board definately needs some juice but from 3ft and suck onwards, it works. Good glass job too. I normally start to dent decks up after the first or second surf but nothing on this one yet. It is really starting to make me think about the epoxy thing, other than this board I dont have any PU boards, they are all EPS / Epoxy (not tufflite). Anyway, not sure if its a keeper or not but definately not moving it on until I ride it in some very good conditions.

[kalki]

Quad fin placements please. You must have a ruler or something. How far from the tail are the fins? Take 20 seconds to measure.

[onawave]

check out this: http://surfermag.com/buyers-guide/surfb ... ards-1.htm

and the board that is due in 2010, "the gravy".

interesting take. im not sure how many of you have seen the drifter, but rob is riding that "gravy" board of his in some pretty big swell.

definitely interesting.....

[bohdidontsurf]

Quad fin placements please. You must have a ruler or something. How far from the tail are the fins? Take 20 seconds to measure.

Kalki, since you asked so nicely........Fcuk off - I bet I know where you keep your ruler. Demanding pri.ck.

[bohdidontsurf]

check out this: http://surfermag.com/buyers-guide/surfb ... ards-1.htm

and the board that is due in 2010, "the gravy".

interesting take. im not sure how many of you have seen the drifter, but rob is riding that "gravy" board of his in some pretty big swell.

definitely interesting.....

Onawave, the Gravy looks nice, I hope they do it in a quad. I am pretty sure Rob is riding the biscuit not the Gravy, see this link and you will see its the same board.

http://www.surfingmagazine.com/surfing- ... l-merrick/

[Cpt.Caveman]

My mate just snapped about 4 inches off the nose of his regular 6'3" HPS thruster. Hes going to round the nose off and re-glass it - Wizard Labia!

He reckons that it started to turn better in small waves after he lost the nose. Luckily he didn't loose enough to negate the nose rocker too much.

[onawave]

well funny thing was a few days ago, me and a mate had a decent sesh down at manly in fun ne wind swell. it was kinda crossshore / off which was holding it up. not many people out and scored a lot of waves.... fun and kinda punchy for windswell...

anyway i was surfing this: http://www.bushrat.com/page/fish_surfboards.html

and my mate was surfing a 5"10 biscuit.

1/2 way thru the session, i asked if we could swap. and i had go of the biscuit for the next hour.

i gotta say. the biscuit was way more fun. it just felt better. maybe cause it its a thruster, (mines a twin) and had a rounded tail....

but i dunno. the whole experience for me just felt much better. almost to the point i went out and bought one. but in the end decided not to, trying to tell myself to just let it cool off for awhile and trust in the twinny fish....

but its now been a few days, and i cant get the feeling out of my head (if that makes sense)

[axolotl]

ona i'm going to sell my biscuit but its a 6'0 .
let me know if your interested

[monkey]

Got a 5'10 Fishcuit quad a few months ago and I've gotta say I'm a bit underwhelmed - its certainly not a performance board, more a muck-around.
A mate has just recently got a DHD Swivel which looks pretty impressive.
Anyone ridden one? Swivel that is.

[onawave]

had another go at the biscuit y/day. got a heap of waves in 2 - 3 foot windswell.

gotta say, this was just damn fun. paddled damn nicely, and got some great rides considering the quality of the surf....

so im this close to buying one. however i was wondering if there is anything out there that is comparable to the biscuit? preferably an australian board?

also, i was thinking about the 5'6 fishcuit. i weigh about 83, and 5'11. pretty strong and fit.

im tossing up between the 5'8 - 20 1/4 x 2 3/4 or even shorter 5'6 - 20 x 2 3/4

[Wingnut]

I like the shape of Chris Brocks' "Bean" boards, almost a double-ender look from yesteryear.

[Cpt.Caveman]

Good to see Dane Reynolds surfing a quad for once. Check out his most recent video on his blog:

http://www.marinelayerproductions.com/

Its probably the most mature surfing I've ever seen from Dane. No monkey dance to find speed, smooth powerful lines, super speed. Love it!