June Picture thread - for everybody!

[Surfdad]

If you're surfing in your neck of the woods, please post up!

[Surfdad]

A few more

[jbort]

Awesome pics and mucho fun.

[Guapo]

I can't compete with the talent above but here's all I have so far...

My 10 year old:





My 12 year old, who's goofy footed trying to surf regular :

[Surfdad]

It's about the "fun factor" Guapo and you folks are in the top 1%! Hey what board is Nate riding?

[Guapo]

It's about the "fun factor" Guapo and you folks are in the top 1%! Hey what board is Nate riding?

Nate's riding one of the original GROMS that Ragboy sold last year. I bought one from him. Nate uses it and so does my 8 year old. Last year was our first year with our boat. Both boys (8 & 10 year olds) never really got up and "surfed". Last weekend they both were able to get up and keep slack in the line.

My son you see face planting is 12 (I have three boys and a girl), but he's big (5'6" 135#)...he prefers that CWB Ride that I bought last year for a boat board. He can surf without the rope...riding goofy

[jdj06c]

Picked up a used Shred Stixx/Vernor Competitor board. It performs a lot better then the Triple X Slasher. Considering removing the center fin next time out. This is at Pine Flat near Fresno, CA.

[Surfdad]

That's a pretty unique board jdj06c! The Vernor suspension system wasn't offered stock by Jerry when he had Dave shaping for him. Under the carbon tape on the deck and bottom is a 1" thick strip of coremat and 6 oz carbon that connected the boxes.

Dave laid that up by hand and then had a wood shop cut the coremat and carbon into strips. They're routed into the bottom and epoxied in and that carbon tape laid over the top and bottom to approximate an I-beam.

That's so cool! Did you get it from someone in Disco Bay?

[jdj06c]

Interesting, thanks for the info Surfdad! I picked this up from Mike owner/editor of Wakesurfing magazine in Templeton, CA. He is moving to Maui and was offloading some boards.

What do you think of the construction in relation to peformance? I am working on my ollies so that I can catch some air like james

It appears that Mike or his sons later added some FCS plugs to make it a quad fin. However, I didn't like how it rode as a quad. I bought some new 4.5 future fins and have been riding it as a thruster as it is setup on Vernor's website. It rode alot better as a thruster but a bit stiff. I was going to lose the center fin and try it as twin fin next time out.

[Surfdad]

Mike Daugherty and Jerry were friends and they used to hang out up in Disco when Mike would travel up this way. I'd bet that board used to belong to Chase Hazen or was ridden by Chase and Mike acquired it from Chase or Jerry.

It's a cool concept, but probably doesn't work all that well behind the boat. We get flex, but not quite that much. I do believe that in the ocean, the construction works well. Futures USED to sell a vector suspension system that was the idea that Dave Vernor "borrowed" for his system. Futures told me that it was too expensive and complicated to install, so they quit manufacturing it.

I'm not a fan of quads or thrusters behind the boat, like you say it makes the tail really stiff and doesn't really help the drive all that much. If you watch video of folks riding quads they have to pump likle crazy to generate any speed. The drag increase on the quads is enormous, and neophytes and shills describe the quads as having tons of drive, but it's just that they don't slide as much, it's not really generating any forward motion - hence the 27 pumps to catch air.

James board HAS drive and he just pumps once. His board has a twinzer set up which is principally a twin fin.

If you're still wanting to use the thruster fin pod, Futures makes a very small 3.25 trailer that will help loosen up the tail, also you can grind down a natural composite trailer to make it just about any size you want.

[jdj06c]

Thanks for the background info, very interesting!

I agree with your assessment of quad fins. When the board had the quad fins, it took so much effort just to keep the board in the wake. I had to put a lot of pressure on my front foot and had to pump hard to move forward if I got too far back in the wake. Essentially, it had no drive at all.

Thanks for tip on the 3.25 trailer. The board actually came with two future 3.25 fins which I removed and installed the 4.5 fins. I will play around with the twin fin and 3.25 trailer fin and see what works best.

[Duncan]

My wife wakesurfing last weekend. I would be very interested in suggestions for a new (smaller) surf style board for her. Thinking of the Inland Surfer Squirt. If she would benefit, would also go Inland Surfer Sweet Spot, TWP custom (F-18, bullet?), etc.

Inland Surfer Blue Quad (speed line fins outer, small fins inner), 2009 RZ2, stock rear port ballast, 1000 lb custom sack rear port locker, front ballast full, 5 people and one puppy in boat (3 on port bench), TAPS 4, 10.6 mph, chute off Mississippi River (near Portage behing Slim Island), ~12 ft deep, upstream against 3-5 mph current (upstream usually better wave).

[Surfdad]

That's a clean looking wake!

That blue lake is a lot of board for your wife, she's on her back leg the entie time. The Squirt is NOT a small board - it's 5'0" long and probably isn't much different "size" wise to the Blue for your wife. IS has rounded the pin out slighly, so it's almost a round tail. I think you'll find your wife will still be riding that back foot heavy.

The Sweet Spot is a nice board, 4'9" so it's a solid departure from the blue. It's still pretty wide at the tail and may prove to be slightly too much board for her, plus it's kinda pricey at $6 bills.

James rode for Mike @ TWP for ages and we've R&D most every board Mike currently makes. The F-18 is a nice friendly board, not high performance, but it can be ridden hard. I always like that board for carving and just having fun. I'd bet your wife could get away with a 4'6". The Bullet is more high performance and some folks call it "twitchy". It's not as forgiving as any of the other boards your considering, but it's also the most aggressive in terms of performance. My guess is that the F-18 would be adequate for your wife.

The Squirt is compression molded - think low end wakeboard, heavy, durable and priced right. The Sweet Spot is a form of sandwich construction, solid, heavy but top of the line quality in terms of finish.

TWP offers several different types of construction - opt for his EPS and EPOXY and if you can think of it, Mike can paint it or just standard one color graphics. No one and I mean NO ONE does art better than Mike. They'll both be light, and rugged enough, not like the IS's mentioned above. Expect heel dents and some scars with rough handling, but nothing that will ruin the board.

My 2 cents!

[Duncan]

My 2 cents!

Surfdad, as always, your advice is golden (and much appreciated). We will look into a custom F-18.

[majestic]

My first board was a Blue Lake in fact I rode it today, I then switched up for my New Walker F-18 and it is a great board I am so...... in love with it.

I took a Demo on the IS Sweet spot at the Wake9 Festival along with the TWP F-18. Do yourself a favor and spend a few more $'s and get the Walker board. The sweet spot is a good board don't get me wrong but the F-18 is miles better IMHO.