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Classifieds / Bark Vapor Ghost Carbon

« on: September 01, 2018, 08:55:21 AM »

14' Bark Vapor Ghost Carbon in excellent condition. Minor paddle rash but no dings. Always kept in garage when not in use. Located in Dana Point, CA.
$2200
Josh (949)683-8688 text for quickest response.

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Gear Talk / Re: Most surfable downwind board?

« on: August 21, 2018, 10:24:16 AM »

Give the Bark Vapor a try or take a look at the NSP Puma. I feel a lower profile board with rounded rails surf better than boards with tall, square rails. I have a Bark and actually have fun surfing in the waves with it. I will surf it in anything from little ankle slappers to slow over head rolling waves.

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SUP Gear Reviews / Newly Acquired / On Order / 2018 Bark Ghost Vapor

« on: July 18, 2018, 03:51:46 PM »

Got done with a morning paddle and noticed a new 12’6” Bark Ghost Vapor in the blue color at the wash rack. I was checking out the board and the owner offered to let my give it a quick paddle so I jumped at the opportunity. My first impression was that i really like the color and lines of the board. Taking it off the rack it was balanced and a lot lighter than my old Bark 12’6”. When paddling it tracked good for a 12’6” and had a decent amount of speed (not sure what I was at since I didn’t have my gps). I didn’t get to take it out side in the open ocean but chased down a few boats to paddle through their wake. The board didn’t nose steer like I’m used to with my board which was nice. Pivot turns were easy and the board felt nice and stable. The deck pad was comfortable but my only complaint the about the entire board is that the deck pad felt very slick. I love surfing my 12’6” at Doheny and would love to give the Vapor a shot in the waves but I think I would be sliding off the board a lot. Other than that, I thought the board was awesome and like the lower profile and more rounded rails on the Vapor over the taller more box rails of the Infinity and SIC RS even though both of those boards are awesome, just personal preference.
Hopefully I will give an update if I get the board out in the waves (the owner said I can surf it if we see each other at DoHo.

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Sessions / Re: Clean evening sessions at Doheny

« on: May 09, 2018, 07:39:17 PM »

Thanks surfcook! My little dude just turned 5. He has been paddling around the harbor with me since he was 1.5 years old so he is really comfortable on the board. I am super stoked that he is having fun riding waves with me. The pics of your son are awesome!

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Sessions / Clean evening sessions at Doheny

« on: May 09, 2018, 10:54:26 AM »

The past two evenings have been amazingly clean, zero wind, and a small south swell to make it fun on my 12’6” Bark. What made it even better was that my son wanted to go catch some waves with me. I threw his wetsuit and life vest on him and off we went. Monday evening we caught waves for about an hour at boneyards. He prefers laying down on the board for now but I’m sure he will be standing up with me soon. Luckily the lifeguards didn’t see me or they didn’t care to come over and hassle me. The few surfers out didn’t seem to mind either. He was so stoked that we went out again yesterday evening. When we got down to the water the park rangers and lifeguards were down by boneyards so I opted to sup surf the hammer with him. We had an awesome session again with clean knee to occasional waist high waves coming through. Saw a couple buddies prone surfing and did a party wave with them, my son was so stoked he could stop laughing. I dig this age but also can’t wait to teach him how to surf, sup surf, and paddle. Hopefully the attached video works (first time using YouTube).

https://youtu.be/Pgf9_DU0bK8

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Gear Talk / Re: 14ft or unlimited

« on: April 05, 2018, 09:19:02 AM »

Thanks again for meeting up Matt! Paddling an unlimited is definitely awesome. I am still amazed with the glide, ease of catching bumps, and how straight a UL tracks.

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Gear Talk / Re: 14ft or unlimited

« on: March 30, 2018, 01:20:11 PM »

Thanks for the responses and info. I’m 6’ and 170-175lbs.

In response to Luc Benac, I have a 12’6” Bark that I catch waves with when it’s knee and ankle slappers at Doheny. Catching waves on a race board is very addicting.

Thanks TallDude! I will PM you soon.

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Gear Talk / 14ft or unlimited

« on: March 29, 2018, 04:45:10 PM »

Good afternoon sup’ers,

I’m looking into getting a new board later his year. If I go with a 14ft it will probably be the Infinity Blackfish because I like the board and it is my local shop. 99.9% of the time I paddle out of Dana Point Harbor down to San Clemente or up towards Laguna Beach. I do not have any intentions on racing and am intreagued by unlimited boards for speed and glide when paddling in the open ocean. I can easily store up to an 18ft board in my garage and transporting it to the water isn’t a big deal because I’m a mile from the water. For those of you with experience, is there a major difference between a 14ft board and a 16-18ft board as far as speed and catching small bumps? If I go the unlimited route, it will probably be a custom because I don’t think I need the rocker of a true downwind board like the SIC or NSP. I also would prefer a narrower squared off tail over a pin tail for stability. I’m a firm believer in balance and speed. People always say narrower is faster but concentrating to much on balance and getting leg fatigue takes away from stroke and power. Was thinking of having Infinity doing a similar shape to their Blackfish but with a narrower tail and something around 18ft by 26”. What do you think?

Thanks in advance!

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Gear Talk / Re: Running Quad with a little stubbie?

« on: February 24, 2018, 06:26:11 PM »

I run the same set up, quad plus a knubster and love it. Sorry, I do not have any pictures of it. Tried the regular thruster set up then quad and after adding the knubster fin and will not change back.

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SUP General / Re: Maldives SUP trip with Sunova Team

« on: February 05, 2018, 02:36:10 PM »

That looks like it would be an amazing trip and adventure. Would be awesome to have other SUP’ers in the water as a group instead of being the only outcast with prone surfers.
I doubt it will affect the trip but hopefully this doesn’t doing anything for traveling to Maldives https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-asia-42950997

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SUP General / Re: Shark signs at Dogeny

« on: July 15, 2017, 12:28:19 PM »

I don't think anyone cared about the warning sign especially with the nice swell we had. SUS from 6:30p till dark on Wednesday at DoHo and it was crowded. Woke up really early the next morning to get in the water a little after 5am to prone surf my longboard at the outside boiler rocks because we still had some swell. Was a little spooky being out there that early having the legs dangling in the water but the waves were to good to pass up the opportunity to surf with no crowd.

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Gear Talk / Re: Laird Surator- whatever happened to it? Or starboard pro?

« on: June 23, 2017, 01:03:41 PM »

I tested a bunch of different boards over the past year while saving for a new sup surfboard. One of the first boards I tested was the carbon surrator. I instantly liked the board and based all other board performance off the surrator. After a year of demoing and saving I decided to buy the 8'10" carbon surrator. I have had it for around a month now and have surfed it in everything from knee high slappers to head high + waves. I have been using it in the tri-fin set up and will switch to the quad here soon and probably do the quad plus nubster fin. I really like the board, it paddles pretty good for a short board and gets into waves surprisingly easy. With the rocker and pulled in nose, it is really easy to do late take-offs on waves. I have had a few waves almost breaking on me and I was able to make the steep drop without digging the nose. The board is very fast once up and running. It is responsive to turning and can beat out sectioning waves. I was lucky enough to catch some really clean surf a few days ago with some solid set waves rolling through. The board was amazing to ride, definitely increases the stoke factor when the board can perform on anything mother ocean throws at it. Even though the board is an 8'10", it responds like a board that is 4-6" shorter. The thinner rails and rounded pin tail help keep the volume on the board low which decreases the weight and increases performance. Some performance sup boards out there are a few inches short but have more volume than this board. The deck pad is nice and grippy and comfortable during long sessions. I am super stoked with the board, its construction, weight, performance... all seem to be top notch. As far as the Surrtor rails, I'm not sure if they actually do anything to improve performance but I like the way the board rides so I don't really care if it's just a gimmick.
Hope this helps.

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SUP General / Re: Do you think SUPs are safer than prone boards when there are sharks?

« on: June 20, 2017, 07:39:45 AM »

I don't know if there is any statistical information on it but I definitely feel safer when on my SUP surfboard or race board vs. my probe surfboard. My home spot and other local surf spots have been invaded by juvenile great whites the past few months. It hasn't kept me out of the water but I have stuck to the sup boards because I don't want my legs and arms in the water when the investigation bite happens.
Was out yesterday for some fun swell at SanO and had a 6-8ft great white jump out of the water about 20-30 yards from a few of us. I didn't see anyone paddle in because of it...

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