Topics

16

Gear Talk / Futures Center Box Adapter

« on: February 12, 2020, 06:52:13 PM »

Took a "chance" on this design, and so far, so good...

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:477221

Most printer places can go straight to the file URL and print it. You can also download the file and print it. Works perfect. The local library here does it for free, just takes two weeks. The clean up is pretty easy, with the webbing in the center and holes pulling out pretty easy. Cleaned it up by just scraping with a small screw driver. The pin hole is perfectly sized to push in a pin from one of those cheap Chinese 9" fins that come "free" with many boards. The set screw hole is sized perfectly for the screw to self-tap, but I heat the screw with a lighter first. Fin fit is pretty snug. The sides are really thin to be able to fit between the box and fin, so depending on the plastic, it might crack horizontally if you don't sand down the fin. This one did, but it's not a big deal, as the "strap" is in tension and not affected. Fits really snug in the box, and long enough to push all the way back with the hold-down screw not being directly over the tab slot. So far, works great. The only beef I have is that the "solid" sections are hollowed with supports, probably to save material, and potentially weak. Time will tell.

   

17

Sessions / Surfing Raceboards

« on: February 03, 2020, 03:25:47 AM »

Took the Bump Rider Speed out today in some waist-to-knee surf. Plenty of 1+ minute rides, chasing reform after reform across the reef. Love surfing this board, but it's so unwieldy at 6" thick and 265... Probably going to have a custom 14' surf shape done this summer, and save the down-winder for...down winding 

Blue Planet Bump Rider Speed 14'x27"x6" 265L with "Up Surf" 9" honeycomb fin. Using one of the carbon down-wind race fins I have makes the board A LOT harder to turn.

18

SUP General / East Side Winter Fire

« on: December 22, 2019, 08:43:03 PM »

Quick (1 minute) clip of a few waves on the east side yesterday. The pacific side always has something, but with the winds predominantly northeast in the winter, most spots are blown out. When a cold front approaches, the wind will swing west for a day, and the east side lights up.

 

19

Sessions / West Side Winter is Here

« on: November 25, 2019, 06:12:25 AM »

Seems like the cold fronts are coming about once per week now, bringing up the west side. East side can fire all winter, too with big push from the Pacific, but the wind has to be right...which it usually isn't. Here's a few short clips from a small and windy, but off shore day last week. Also a pick from a secret spot I surfed last evening on the east side. Small one but the swell was 2.5 meters @ 10 seconds, top to bottom, so I didn't record any surfing... 

Board is a Blue Planet Pocket Friend @ 8'2"x28"x100L with Futures F6 Honeycomb quad fins. This board is a blast to ride, but not so much to paddle. Especially when the wind is 20kts like in this video.

Wondering if i should just start a single thread that I add to, instead of a new thread for every session? Probably upload once per week.

20

Sessions / First Winter Swell

« on: November 19, 2019, 03:47:00 PM »

Not sure how to embed a video here, or if it's even possible, but I'm going to start using the Instagram platform more. Most Youtube engagements seem to be about two minutes...even on a five minute video. So keeping it short at a minute, or so, may be a good choice for short clip stuff. Also has more reach. I posted this short clip about two days ago, it already has over 500 views, and I've received quite a bit of positive feedback. If someone knows how to embed the player here, so you don't have to click an outside link, please let me know.

*EDIT: Now that it posted, I see that it automatically embedded the player... "Simple Matt" LOL


Anyway, the first real winter swell arrived. First day was big, but blown out. Not much fetch on the west side, so swell dies as quick as it arrives. I caught a few hours on the next day. One spot has a large A-frame that drops to a wall about half the size of the peak, then paddled down to a bowl that I like. Just a couple of clips pulled out of the GoPro footage.

Blue Planet Ninja Warrior 8'10"x29"x116L. Futures GL2 Quad.

21

Sessions / Home Runners

« on: November 08, 2019, 11:36:06 PM »

Some knee to waist high runners at one of my "home" breaks. A spot about 10 minutes from my house. Small but super fun. Caught more than thirty waves this day. Glassy and knee high until a cold front passed over, wind switching to north and side-onshore, but picking up the size to waist.

There's a narrow opening (window) to the bay, so it takes an east to northeast swell to make it in to this spot. When it breaks, 90% of the time, it's onshore and sloppy, but a few times a year, it breaks super clean, and on the right typhoon swell, it'll hold 3+ meter faces, wind turns offshore, and it's magic. This area is one of the best beginner spots on the island. Modern swell predictors don't do a good job of telling when it's up, you just have to be dialed in to how it works. So I get a lot of days here by myself, especially since switching to SUP, as you can have so much fin on waves you can't even ride on a shortboard. Third day at this spot this week, and only had one day with another SUP, and another day with a friend on a surf ski that showed up. 

Shot 100% in POV with GoPro bite mount. Not ready to start adding music, so enjoy the wind and breathing noises... ;-)

Board is a Blue Planet NP10 at 10'0"x28"x128L. I love this board so much, I just ordered a carbon one ;-)

22

Sessions / An Inconvenient Sunset

« on: October 26, 2019, 06:05:25 PM »

Truth be told...there are no more secret spots, only inconvenient spots. Meaning that some spots are more inconvenient to get to than others, making them less crowded. Being able to easily get to more inconvenient breaks is one of the major appeals of SUP surfing.

Late PM session with one other surfer. We traded waves for about an hour, and then he left, leaving it to me for about another hour. Outside reefs are booming with swell from the northeast, but the wind beats most close places up. There are really good spots up north, and although most likely epic, I don't like to drive two hours for a couple of hours at dusk (yea, spoiled, I know). This spot faces south-southeast, so the swell has to turn better than 90° to get in. With only a 10 second period, it looses quite a bit of size, and all of it's power. Head-high on the largest set waves, but mostly chest to shoulder, and only good for a top turn or two, finishing with a cut back. When this spot lines up, it really fires with a big, hollow, long left. We surfed the outer reefs the day before yesterday, and the day before that, and then this spot yesterday. My legs are so beat up, I can feel them give on a hard bottom turn or cut back.

Feeling more comfortable with the camera, and will soon start taking it out on more critical days. It's more distracting than people realize, and can lead to mistakes in waves of consequence...so I leave it in the car on heavier days, but that will change soon as I feel more and more comfortable on the SUP in heavier surf.  Filming surfing seems to be the hardest thing I've ever done, but it's been a blast! I experimented with 120fps on a couple of clips, and while you can really slow a shot down (nothing under .400 in this video), the stabilization drops from Hyper-smooth to normal, and it starts to look a little jerky vs. keeping the frame centered. A couple of POV shots I like, and I think I'm getting better at that, so will run more with it in the future. 

Board is a Blue Planet Ninja Warrior at 8'10"x29"x116L.

Thanks for watching.

23

Sessions / Typhoon #19 (Hagibis)

« on: October 12, 2019, 05:14:50 AM »

Typhoon #19 (Hagibis) has been in town for a few days. Was a Cat-5 storm, and providing lots of good waves in more sheltered spots. Outer reefs are maxing out and not surfable. Today was the third day I surfed this spot, video is from Friday, later in the day. This morning on an ebbing tide, it was a little bigger than this video, top-to-bottom, and a shoulder that holds through the deep spot. Of course it was pretty dark when we started the paddle out, and thinking conditions would be worse than the day before, I left the camera in the car...of course... The opening to the bay is narrow, the swell has to turn almost 90°, so with an ebbing tide, the outflow is around a knot, which really kills the push. The window the storm has to be in is so narrow, it goes from maxing to flat in 12 hours. Completely flat this evening, even though outside reefs are still huge.

The spot in this video has 3 reefs; inner, second, and third. Third reef is the outside one breaking in the beginning of the video, followed by a shot of the second reef (SUPer caught inside). Third breaks pretty big, and is surfable. I've seen it break up to a 30' face, with long, barreling lefts. Second reef, where we were surfing on this afternoon, was around 10'-12' faces on the largest sets. This spot only breaks on a big typhoon swell with a long period (4 meters at 13 seconds this day), as it really has to bend to get in to the spot. This also means there's lots of wind, making the third reef outside of my paddling-in-standing-up ability...not that you'll ever catch me charging stuff that big, but this day was within size "limits"  :-)   

Tide this session was around 5:30PM, on the flood, and really deep, making the wave "soft" on the shoulder, so it has a good take off, but empties into a deep section pretty quickly. It's best on flood, around mid-tide, where the barrels are gaping, predictable, the shoulder holds up, and you can make it through the deep section and into the first reef section where it really fires. It's a tide balancing act, as the outer wave needs less water, but if there's not enough, it'll go dry on the inside section. Very narrow window to catch it just right.

As always, apologies for poor camera abilities, and not filming during the best of the best. When a bigger wave is approaching, I often ignore the camera...but I'm getting better. Lots of wind and chop making for some herky-jerky not-so-stylish surfing, but still loads of fun. Getting much better at paddling in the wind and chop. Hope you enjoy.

Board I'm riding is a Blue Planet Ninja Warrior (8'10"x29"x116L) with Futures GL2 quad, and Adam (tan color SUP) is on a Blue Planet Pocket Knife (8'8"x29"x116L) with Futures GL2 thruster.

24

Gear Talk / Fin Fit

« on: October 09, 2019, 04:53:10 AM »

Coming from the era of glass-on fins, sloppy fin fit bothers the hell out of me. The small amount of play you can get in a Futures box probably makes no performance difference, and I see people just snap the FCS II fins in without using the screws at all...but... 

I'll add aluminum body tape until you have to push the fin in, and there's no side clearance before tightening down the screws. The tape is malleable enough that it "conforms" to the box, but won't wear out over time, like regular painters tape will. I've found that with actual Futures fins, it only takes one strip (0.005") to close the gap, but some aftermarket "Amazon" fins take up to 3 layers (0.015"). When I find fins that work, they go in the board for good. A real Futures fin will tighten in pretty well if you crank down on the screw, but will loosen up over time, as the fin rocks against the screw, requiring tightening the screw again. Using aluminum tape, I don't need to crank down on the set screws to get the fin tight, just enough that you see the fin move down and seat.

I wonder how many other people out there are obsessive as me about fin fit... Some days it's ridiculous...LOL


   

25

Sessions / Some Backside before Breakfast

« on: October 03, 2019, 05:08:36 AM »

Early morning session at a "secret" break close to my house. Zero to very little offshore wind. Sets maybe just overhead in the peak, and shoulder down the line.

Most of the "good" footage was shot as soon as I got out, and before the tide filled. I changed the GoPro to "Linear" mode as an experiment, forgot about it, and it pretty much ruined all of the footage of larger set waves...so this is a compilation of the smaller waves I got early on. I added two of the "Linear" clips at the end to show what it does to the footage with Hypersmooth stabilization left on. All of the footage is "kook cam" from the nose. Trying different stuff, POV, paddle, etc., but still sorting it out.

This spot is mostly rights except in the winter, where the swell will shift northeast, making the left hold up. On a larger day, the wave is much longer and faster than what I filmed here. Hollow and bowling in the peak and for a short run, then slows down, going a little fat through a section. Then it bends in along the reef, standing up for another fast, hollow inside section. When the left works, it's a hollow slab over shallow reef, with a quick barrel into a fun section that usually ends with a right coming at you to close it out. Really fun wave, but the distance from the shore dictates light wind.

Board is a Blue Planet NP10 nose rider with Futures F6 quad fins, QD2 3.75's in the trailing slots.


On a side note, I've found myself in quite the slump for a few months now. My progression on the SUP seemed to stall for quite some time, and I was feeling like I would never get to the competence/confidence level I was at on a short board. Very frustrated, leaving the camera in the car. Struggling to get into the larger surf, and once in, not "satisfied" with my performance. For a while, there even seemed to be some regression, like maybe I was trying too hard, and getting suckier for it. Although, my standing in rougher conditions has definitely been improving. As of this morning, when this footage was shot, that slump has lifted. Yesterday we surfed this larger mutant wave, where I just gave up and let it be what it'll be (you can't surf that wave good, only survive...LOL). This morning it was just all good. Even the ruined footage didn't get me down. I just let it go, and everything turned on for me. It's going to be a great fall and winter. 

26

Sessions / Mid September Lows

« on: September 15, 2019, 04:54:03 PM »

Big tropical depression sitting off the coast, pushing some good swell our way, but also killing it with the wind direction. Wind speed and direction limiting spots available on the east coast, and with Sunday being the weekly national day of surfing ;-) it can be hard to find an uncrowded spot without a long drive.

So with high tide being around 0730, the whole island was doing the surf-scramble. General rule for Okinawa is three hours pre, to three hours post high tide. A spot that normally gets pretty crowded was dead empty because of the wind, but we decided to go check it anyway. And then the wind just died for about three hours. So we had this spot all to ourselves (me, another guy I SUP with, and one of the pronie groms that follow us around). Still pretty sloppy because of the current (headland), but good and head-high on the sets.

Did well standing and paddling in in the turbulent water, with the "no knees" commitment in full force. Rain drops really screw with blur on the camera lens, but it is what it is. All nose footage... Surfed four days this week, and this is the only day I had the camera out, so it's all I have. Just got the paddle mount, so I'll begin experimenting with that, too. Also got a good surf in in the evening at a break close to the house. Haven't looked at the footage yet.

Blue Planet  NP10 10'x28"x128" nose rider that I try to surf like a short board... :-)

Thanks for watching!


 

27

SUP General / Lessons Learned the Hard Way

« on: September 07, 2019, 07:05:45 PM »

When the waves start getting hollow, you just can't paddle in on your knees...

That's right, I've been dogging it. When the wind is up and off shore, it's hard to paddle in. When the chop is up, it's hard to stand. When the size is up, the water is surging hard on the reef, and it's hard to stand. So when it's tough, I take to the knees, and pop up like a prone surfer. As a former pronie, popping up is no problem, but in most cases, it's slower. The paddle is cumbersome, and with the larger, wider board, my feet never seem to hit the right place, so it takes a second to get stabilized. It's hard to control forward and rear weighting, so far enough back to land in the right spot for steep-drop control, the board is just too slow. Too far forward, and you pearl. The right spot for the knees is not the right spot for popping up. When it turns hollow, that second is a deal breaker.

Typhoon Lingling (TY13) on Friday and Saturday... Storm too close in, and the wind has been bad. Friday I found a spot that was about double overhead, but with a 25-gusting-40 side-off wind. Sets were moving so fast, just couldn't get into them with the wind and chop. Settled for junk on the shoulder, paddling in on the knees. Once the tide started dropping and it started bowling up, it was just beating after beating. Saturday (embedded video) swell turned NW, and more sheltered spots started breaking. Still a lot of current, chop, and surge. 10'-12' faces in the peak, but ledging out in the inside bowl. One of my favorite types of wave to surf, as you can catch it on an outside peak, and have the speed to make the inside before it turns inside-out. But not this day...LOL

Mostly beatings, but the final straw was taking off on the outside peak on a solid double. Popped to my feet, and in the moment it took to get my bearings, it doubled up way before I could safely get into it. I don't know how big the inside bowl was, but probably 10', as I remember being sideways in mid air, looking over at my completely vertical 8'10" board, and neither nose, nor tail were touching water. Hit, skipped, plowed, sucked up and over and right into the reef on my side. Helmet and impact vest did their work (right-rear quarter of the head and right Lat), but my hip hit hard, and I'm limping around now, struggling to stand after sitting...

While I was pinned on the bottom, I was already thinking that had I paddled into that wave standing, I could have turned out before the double, or even went over in a "controlled" crash, and got some penetration. As it was, I was mid-board, and had no tail control, so panicked, tried to turn left, and just fell forward over the ledge.

There are days when it's really frustrating trying to stay standing on the board, but I've made a "no more knees for paddling into a wave" commitment. Maybe that means just toughing it out, and getting better at it, or going to a slightly larger board for those days... There was another guy out there yesterday on a 10'+ SUP with some width, and he was just charging what I thought wasn't rideable on a board that size. I often see beginners struggling on way-too-small boards, and think "What's the point...get a bigger board and have more fun."  I'm going to have to re-think what I'm doing.

Footage not very good in the video, as It was more of an experimental run with the new helmet-cam set up. I was so frustrated, I just left it off most of the time. I did catch three bombs, all from a standing position, but none on camera...sadly. Oh well... Lot's more typhoons brewing up right now.

Shout out to Robert at Blue Planet for the awesome and bulletproof Ninja Warrior. Yesterday was a true test of the leash plugs, and what the board can take and not snap. Also Dakine leashes. I don't usually wear a helmet, but it works well with the mount. Hot, though... May have to think about the "kook hat." Thankful I had it on yesterday. Didn't hit my melon hard enough to be knocked out, but would have had serious abrasion.   

28

Sessions / Typhoon #9

« on: August 12, 2019, 11:58:55 PM »

Again, not my best effort filming...but I'm trying here.

A segment on my surf chariot, a bit on trying to film POV, and then some surfing.

Two locations in this video. First spot was still shallow and ledging. Lots of people standing around contemplating, so my buddy Adam and I charged it. Got bounced hard a couple of times, reef rash on the foot. All of this footage was from the nose cam. Very hairy wave with a lot of wind. Was barely able to control the board on the chop, and it really wanted to take flight, so wasn't ready to mess with a new camera set up...sorry to those who hate nose mount. As soon as we started taking waves, about five other SUP's paddled out, three quickly retreating back to the beach :-)  Then came the prone surfers. Everyone was really cool, but too crowded for my comfort.

We moved to a different spot, with a lot bigger wave, but better wind protection. Moved the camera to the helmet mount, but the GoPro was low on battery, so I only filmed a set from the channel, then filmed about two or three rides towards the end. After four hours in the water, and I was really beat at that point.

The POV footage from the helmet makes wave size look incredibly small. However, many people seem to like this angle better. I'd appreciate it if people would let me know what they think, and prefer. I'll try to tailor filming to what people want to see. Thanks.

29

Sessions / Small Kine Super Secrets

« on: July 26, 2019, 07:39:50 PM »

East side swell is holding steady at...1 meter...all spring...

So still a great day with a couple of friends at a local (to me) secret spot. Flat reef without a bunch of holes, that will set up for some longer rides with enough swell. When it gets overhead, it becomes almost exclusively rights (unless you want a big paddle back out). It's a barreling wave, but not top-to-bottom, so less heavy, and really fun. Limited to light winds, as it's a km paddle from the closest put-in.
Surfed about four hours, and these were some of the better rides I caught. When the really good ones pop up, I always forget the camera...but I'm getting better at it. Nose-cam, as the bite mount really affects my surfing still.

On the NP10 (10'x28"x127L) with quad GL2.

Enjoy, and thanks for watching. As always, critiquing on filming welcome!

30

Gear Talk / My Single Thruster Quad Battle

« on: July 23, 2019, 01:18:15 AM »

Reading around the Internet, there’s a lot of information on the single vs. thruster vs. quad fin set up. Some of it dead wrong or bass-aackwards, a lot of contradicting info from site to site, and almost none of it applying specifically to SUP. I’m “data driven,” and had a really difficult time ferreting out anything but anecdotal opinion. Where quads are concerned, a large part of the problem seems to be mis-application of the info, where the intended use of the board, and therefore fin setup, is completely different. For instance, the term “quads are a lot looser,” or “fin release is a lot better” is thrown around quite a bit. If that’s the bottom line, then why do so many big wave guns now run a quad set up that’s touted to have better hold when turning or on a steep face? Most of us know it’s a different application, and different fin placement. On one, there’s a wider tail with the rear fins tucked up closer to the forward fins. The other has a narrow tail and the trailing fins are farther back, and farther from the rail. But someone just coming in and looking for info on fin setups will be bombarded with info that won’t make sense, or is irrelevant to their application. The standard surfing SUP has the same issue, where it doesn’t really meet the criteria of either of the above boards, and outside of reading people’s personal experience on this forum, there’s no real detailing of how it all works for this particular type of board. In this case, the “particular board” being a somewhat standard surfing template, in the form of a blown-up prone board. Wider tail than a similar surfboard, and a wider fin spread than a similar surfboard. My purpose in writing this up is to potentially help others in search of real-world experience, should they spend some time in the forum search section, as I did, looking for people’s experiences with the different fin configurations on a surfing SUP.

So, I’m relatively new to SUP. A lifetime shortboard surfer who first stood on a SUP in late July of 2017, and quickly went all in. Sold all my shortboards, and acquired a fleet of SUP’s. I found that with a surfing SUP, the fin setup is much more critical, and to a much greater extent affects how the board works compared to a traditional shortboard. The following is my two-year battle with fin setup on the surfing SUP. Of course, it’s not all inclusive, but I think it’s a good all-around observation. The two boards I really worked with are an 8’10”x29”x116L gun, and a 10’x28”x127L performance longboard. Both with a five-fin setup, including adjustable center box. Both have pulled-in, thinned out round-pin tails, and tapered rails. Specifically, they are the Blue Planet Ninja Warrior and NP10. The fin selection tops $1,500, some cheap Amazon specials, many expensive with someone’s name on them.

*Note: In the following observations, I’m not saying something is good or bad for all, only for me. Others may like the way a certain fin configuration makes a board feel. What I’m trying to impart is the difference I observed for a given setup.   

On the gun. First with a thruster, as that’s what I came from. Yea, it goes OK, but what I found is that compared to a shortboard, I can overpower the board, and slip the tail without much effort. OK for some. Not something I like. Bad knee injuries from years of sliding the tail, I like to keep the board connected now. Where a shortboard, with its much narrower tail and closer-grouped fins, will just hook and book, the wider tail (more surface area?) and fin separation on the SUP makes the board want to slip. I can’t put the board up on a rail at high speed, and just jam it. I have to think about how much it can take, and sometimes let the board decelerate first. Tried a bunch of different fins, with small gains and losses. The deeper Futures GL2’s worked the best. I also experimented with the “2+1, using several 7” center fins (FCS II Kai Sallas and Up Surf generic) . Although this would control the slip a bit more, it would make the board a dog; lose more speed through a turn, noticeable loss in rail-to-rail transition response. I have to ride it with the center fin all the way in the back of the box. The board snaps around easier with the fin moved forward, but hold is decreased.

One day I thought “OK, I’ll try the quad.” Past experience on shortboards had kept me away from doing this, but that experience can be summed up with quad templates put on thruster boards. With the full GL2 quad set up, the board came alive. First thing I noticed was that instead of maintaining speed in the first bottom turn, the board felt like it accelerated hard. So quickly in fact, that before I was ready, the board was heading right back at the top of the wave. It transitioned over to the other rail very quickly, and I put it on the opposite rail to a point way past where I knew the slip was coming…but it didn’t slip. The board just carved around and accelerated back down the wave face. It was magic. I tried several different quad setups, and like the thruster, small differences, but the overall massive difference was between thruster and quad. I could never get the thruster close to the quad in hold and acceleration, but I could get the quad close to the thruster in turning circle. Not quite as tight as the thruster will pivot on a slow-speed turn (not talking about paddle turns), but overall, much better. Larger rear fins would make the board stiffer to turn in a tight arc. Smaller rear fins like the Futures QD2 3.75’s make the board like a Japanese shopping cart (all four casters swivel) when at speed and the board is flat, but it turns tighter. 

When I picked up the NP10, I was still on the quad high from the gun, so the first thing I did was put in another set of Futures GL2’s…and it was horrible. So bad, in fact, that I paddled about a km back in to switch it to the GL2 thruster. The board just wouldn’t turn for me. The rub here is that the thruster didn’t make much of a difference. Better, but not by much. Keeping in mind that this board is pretty flat, designed to be a nose rider, and I’m trying to ride it like a 6’ shortboard. Eventually, I learned to surf this board, and it’s now my favorite board (I own 8 boards, and have tried dozens more). The problem wasn’t the fin setup, the problem was me. I had no idea how to surf a long board. At one point, after learning the board, I tried to go “traditional,” and experimented with several different single fin sizes, largest being a 9”, all of these being the standard generic single fin template (Up Surf, etc.).  My first surfboard was a 6’ squash-tail with glassed in single fin, and I’ve owned many single fin boards, but a longboard is new to me. The single fin doesn’t rail turn anywhere near as efficiently as the thruster. If I try to turn it hard on a rail, the fin slips…hard, and the board stalls…hard. Great if you want to pop it around, stall, and run to the nose, but not my thing. The things I found good about the single fin was being able to get up to the nose easier, and glide. The nose stays much higher, with less propensity to pearl when you're up front. I attribute this to less lift in the tail than the multi-fin setups. Still completely possible to get on the nose with the thruster, just not nearly as easy. On small waves, the drag feels way down, so the glide is up. Goes straighter and faster when paddling. Not sure why I left this board a thruster for so long without trying quad (until today), but that’s what happened.

Enter the Blue Planet Pocket Knife. 8’8”x29”x116L. Set up as a thruster with GL2 fins, center fin all the way back, the board will wrap up a cut back in such a tight circle, it blew my mind. Hold was there, turning circle is there. Tail of the board is completely different than the Ninja Warrior. It’s a squash, and more of a traditional shortboard thruster look. I've not tried this board in a quad, but it convinced me that I must be doing something wrong in the Ninja thruster setup because "quads are all bad" and I'll prove it...  Wrong. I go back and forth with the setup, but the Ninja works better as a quad. Period. Soon I'll try the Knife as a quad.

Behind the scenes, I queried a couple of Zone members on their thoughts about the quad on SUP, and decided to give the NP10 another go at it this morning. Again, the board was magic. I have learned how to surf the board, and with the quad in place, it was doing things it could never do as a thruster. Being a longboard, slipping out on a cut back was never an issue as a thruster. The tail and fin set are 1.5” narrower than the Warrior, which probably helps a bit, I don't surf it in nearly as powerful surf, but the board will never turn like something more shortboard-ish, anyway. First difference I noticed was that as soon as the outside rail lifted to turn, the acceleration was much quicker. Almost banana-peeled off the back on the first drop in. The wave I was on goes into a deep section after the bottom turn and about one good cut back. You have to work to keep it in the wave, where it will reform on the inside, and if you make the reform, it can be hard to gain enough speed to get over the next section that will break in front of you. For the quad, this was no issue. The instant speed generation entering the reform was right there, and the section was easily makeable. I’ve surfed this wave loads on the NP10, and it’s never been so easy, not even with a single fin. It was unbelievable. I could feel no degradation in turning circle with the quad.

Paddling either board in a straight line feels like it tracks better as a thruster. Quad wants to swing side to side more. However, inline speed and drag feel the same to me. Ease of catching the wave feels the same.



These have been my observations. Comparing shortboard fin setups to SUP fin setups feels like apples and oranges. The side fin leading edge spread on the Tokoro shortboard is 12”, where it’s somewhere around 15.5” on the NP10, and 17” on the Warrior. When up on a rail, I think there’s not as much fin in the water on the SUP, which goes to making the board unstable as a thruster (slips) compared to a shortboard thruster. As a quad, with the wider tail and fins, the leading and trailing on one side are acting more like closer-grouped shortboard thruster than trying to compare it with a shortboard quad, with the exception of both fins pointing in the same general direction, making for less drag. Of course, the slip over that of the quad may be desirable for some, and of course, different SUP board and fin templates will work better or worse, depending on the desires of the rider. But I think this is a good “this did that” set of information, that hopefully will help someone else who is digging for info. And of course it’s not a closed case for me. All I do now is surf and think about surfing. I welcome all thoughts and am open to trying the new and different.

Cheers.