Well, trigger pulled.
Review on it's way, but, a bit of background first. Intermediate, 2/week surfing, lucky if i get 3 sessions. Windward coastline, chop frequent. I want a sub-8' board, wide and parallel outlined, around 30" wide, with the least volume necessary to float me and allow for a doable upgrade with emphasis in surfing, rather than stability at rest.
Since the Sic Fish was unavailable for testing, and i found no reviews on the web, I set myself to do some testing on several 8 footers, paddling in rough to glass and surfing 1-5' mushers.
Since I'm upgrading and downsizing from a 9'6 x 30" 165 liter all rounder, i wanted to be sure i could handle the drop in volume and size, and hopefully, extrapolate some of the feedback of the smaller boards...-to 8'8" and 111 liters on the Sic Fish (no demo available)
Way to go !
I demo'ed the following:
1. Simsup S1 8' x 30" 130 liters
2. Custom Simsup S3 8' x 31" 134 liters
3. Blair 8'2" x 31" x 4 5/8" ?L
4. Blair 8'6" x 31.5" x 4 5/8" ?L
#1 was a rental, thanks to the friendly and trusty crew at Velauno. #2-#4 were shaped custom for a 200 lb+ friend who had the good will of lending them to me. Thanks Ruddy.
Findings:
At rest and paddling
*I'm only 180 lb, and all boards tested floated me well at rest. Actually, too well, feeling slightly corky on the 8'6 Blair, which i feel was the floatiest of the bunch with a slightly domed deck.-So, 130 or so liters became the new minimum flotation i expected to be comfortable waiting around for waves....but, the Sic Fish is only 111...would it be stable enough to not wear me out waiting for waves?!
*In chop, i found that the board i expected to be the least floaty-The 8'2" Blair-, was the one with the "quietest" response to water motion. I had already read this, that the less floaty board would not feel the nervous corkiness of the more voluminous cousins. Actually, i liked the way the water washed on the deck and, when i dipped a rail and my ankles went under, i slowly pressed on the opposite rail and regained balance....well, good sign, since i expected to be sinking more on the Sic Fish.
*The shorter boards gave me a hard time on the fore-aft balance department, specially when setting up for the wave. The 8'6"Blair was the easiest in this respect....another good sign for the 8'8" Sic Fish.
*As expected, domed decks on Blairs rocked more than flatter ones on Simsups....and the Fish looks very flat on it's deck.
On surfing
*Both Simsups catch 1-3' waves easy, and the S3 turns slightly better than the S1, probably due to the changes in outline and S rails, even though it's wider and floatier.....i felt the thinner S rails worked as stated, ....and this fact is another good sign for the Sic Fish, which has some very thin rails, which i expect to bring it into surfing bliss.
*On waves 3-5', the rounder outline of the Blairs and their wide rounded pintails, even though both thrusters,(i prefer quads) were more fun to carve around due to a bit more control than the Simsups, where i felt overspeeding....expected, and a welcome sign regarding the swallow tail on the Sic Fish.
Now, the Sic Fish
*This thing is light ! No means to weight it now...
*The rocker is quite flat, and continuous with just a slight kick at the nose and swallowtails
*Single concave entry to double concave - all very slight
*Mellow spine from the first +/-12", that grows into a shallow v at the fins
*Wide tail with very parallel outline
*Nice set of stock quads, with a 50/50 smaller set on the back
*Rails thinner than expected
*Essentially flat deck
On the water finally ! Windless day, water moving a lot on a rising tide, waves at up to 5' mushers with some steeper sections.
Upon climbing on my knees on the rock and rolling shore, where waves refract from the reef and rebound from the rocky features, i was expecting to be paddling like that until i felt balanced. But, i felt a sudden urge to stand up. I leaped up, bent knees, and paddled away. 2 strokes on one side, a bit of yaw, 2 strokes on the other, on course. Yes, i sunk a bit, searched for the sweet spot, sliding/lifting my feet, but never felt the dreaded nervous tippiness of floatier boards, since the fish slowly rocks and offers plenty of time to get to the sweet spot (a bit ahead of the handle).
It feels strange at first, been on a 111 liter board and paddling so easily. I tested a slightly staggered stance, either foot forward. It offered a reassuring stance for paddling to the break and waiting for waves.
After a while, i was able to stand still, reach for my hydration pack hose, paddle out of the water. I was able to stand with locked legs to test my stability. Legs started to relax. Is this good, for the first outing? You bet.
Did i fall off? Sure i did. But not very often. I spent an hour paddling behind the break, on all directions, getting a feel for the board.
Now, the true test. Surfing.
First wave, missed, i started to paddle too far back. Second wave, board shot off from my feet, leaving me behind. I was stiff legged, eyes fixed on the nose, which i felt would pearl, because of the low rocker and volume. Unfounded fears. The nose lifts quickly when the wave picks one up. No need for late drops either, from then on.
All waves i surfed this first time were 3-5' faces. The fish calls one feet back to the stomper pad, immediately, and it comes alive. From there, leaning on the front foot, i could carve bent knee bottom turns onto the rolling faces, shift the weight back to the rear leg and cut back down, flowingly. It even responded well to a very hard input on the back foot, producing a very quick, almost pivoty, turn. When a section closed in front of me, i raced past it, front foot on the gas, and got back to the face with ease. I even tried a floater, but, again, the board turned ahead of me, and i fell on the foam.
I surfed the waves until they were no more. At this point, i slid forward a bit, and the board planed comfortably out on the deeper water in front of the reef.
Returning to the lineup for more, the knee high whitewater was no issue, since the fish won't kick up and down like floatier/longer boards do, but is stable enough to handle the fore and aft roll well.
First test conclusions
*The 111 liter number tells only that. That it floats that mass. It is more stable than expected for it's volume.
*Paddles easy, won't yaw much, and the sweet spot is easy to find.
*The behavior of this board on the wave is like a mix of the Simmons' wide tailed planing ability and the pintail's control on the turns.
*The thin rails bite beautifully and no issues with any chop on the wave face. The swallowtail gives the feeling of control of the thrusters with the bliss of the quads.
*The lightness is a welcome trait on take off and turning, while keeping a lot of control due to the shape, low volume and thin rails.
*For my intermediate surfing ability, i feel this design will allow me to surf small mushers up to head high steeper faces.
*I made the mistake of not applying rail tape for my first outing. The paint chipped off on my take off side on a paddle blade hit (my bad), on one small spot. Other paddle hits were uneventful. Very light board, thin paint. -only negative thing i found with the board-
I'm glad i traded volume for surf-ability. A bit of extra effort waiting around for the wave really pays off when one sinks that rail, it carves like a dream. I also feel confident of going into somewhat larger waves (1-2' OH)on this board, due to it's control on the face.
Looking forward to a long road of surf sessions, the fish is hungry !
Pictures coming soon...
