discuss: quad v thruster quantified

JAW-dropping board.... you ride that standing up?

 

Dang Bro! You're alive! Haven't seen a post for a while. Sounds like life is good. Cool looking board.

 

Yes, there are several of them floating around.

 

Very cool.

 

Yup, been on the road a lot. The board is working very well after working out the kinks... that took a few days. All part of the fun... no rock collisions

If you get down to Central FL, check out the paipo exhibit at the Cocoa Beach Surf Museum.

 

Suscinct and well put. I have more control on a thruster because it's not as fast, and more fun on a quad because I wanna go fast! 99% I'm going quad in our ****ty beach breaks down here. BTW, love the surfing related content on this thtread. Very interesting posts by all.

 

My buddy builds and surfs Paipo boards. I had never heard of it until I met him and he showed off his boards. Apparently the precursor to the boogey board. His are all wooden boards, super nice craftsmanship. Dude absolutely rips on his Paipo. His are all set up as thrusters though. I'll try to get a photo or two.

 

Is it just for vertical surfing, or can it get down the line and make fast sections too? It looks awesome!

 

Wooden paipo thrusters... not a combo I have heard about. Most of the woody paipo riders eschew skegs (fins) although there is a long history of twin-fin wood paipo boards. Most of the foamies use fins of various numbers and configurations. Nonetheless, there is quite a cross-section of board types. I would be interested in a couple of photos of your friend's boards.

 

Personally, I don't do aerials or spinner 360s. The other Bonzer Paipo riders I know don't either but that is probably just a matter of personal surfing style. During my recent "getting to know you sessions" in Costa Rica what differentiated this board with my regular board was its ease in making a late re-entry after turning high into the wave and its ability to drive with speed underneath whitewater. I did not get a chance to test/ride the board in larger surf, at the open ocean break, in 8-10'+.

To answer another question... I ride kipapa-style (i.e., prone). If you are a small guy you could ride this board foot-style, but then it really isn't a paipo anymore but a very short shortboard

 

Yeah, it reminds me of Greenough's knee boards as far as template goes, maybe the bottom contours are different, but I like the bonzer set up with a big fin in the middle. Looks like it can rip in jacking bowly waves.

 

I've had some fun on quads over the last several months though in bigger and faster waves they're feeling too squirrely for my liking at this time. I'm sure that will change with time and more experience. The thruster is giving me the hold for hard azz bottom turns and now I'm getting back to that lip in better waves. Three fins is my choice for now when it comes to chest and up. I don't want to outrun the wave, I want to get back up the face and do some damage. WAPAHHHH

 

another Metard classic!!!

 

Buahaha you slick Muther F*cker!

 

I haven't yet fallen in love with the quad setup, I have the 5 fin option on my Coil Flashback Fish so I have tried both, but I always end up going back to riding it as a thruster. When I get bored of the same ole sometimes I'll throw in the quad setup but it just hasn't done it for me yet. Maybe it's an aquired taste, idk, maybe I should get some more fins and experiment some more. So far I've been riding with the TC Aqualines or FCS M-3's.

 

killer campbell piapo, but you're not doing yourself any favors using that jacked up fin combo. put the proper runners & center fin & i bet your mind will be BLOWN.

 

That is what the Bonzer acolytes all say!!! I went down that road over a series of days but the setup was way too stiff for my board and my style of riding. With the original setup (100% bonzer with 6" center fin) my mind was sure to be blown by direct contact with a lava rock.

Note: For the sea trials, I had the center fin correctly aligned relative to the trailing edge of the runners.

I suspect that one of the challenges is scaling down the total fin area to complement the smaller board and a center of gravity different from that of a foot surfer. A bonzer fanatic friend is going to re-cant a pair of small sidebites from 0 degrees to 20 degrees turning them into "runners." He is the same guy that sent a 7" True Ames bonzer center fin to me via a mutual friend (they live in Okinawa) for the Costa Rica water trials.

As I may have said before, I am secular

 

Thanks for the input, i'll be checking out some of those fins you suggest to try them out. The TC Aqualines are nice fins, but when I was in PR they felt a little unstable when I caught any waves over 6ft., not sure if that was my fault or due to the fins. The M-3's have been in the past few months because I lost a side fin one day, so I haven't gotten a replacement since. I originally was looking at the Redlines but was told that they might be too much fin for me. I'm 5'9" 170-180lbs, depending on how much I drank / ate the prior week. My goal is 165lbs before my next trip PR. So how much fin is too much for a guy my size? IDK, just gotta trial and error I guess.

 

I'm 5'9" and 165 lbs. and the TC Redlines are not too much fin as long as you are in well overhead surf. That is what they are made for: heavy bottom turns, lots of drive, smooth roundhouse cutbacks. If you like to power carve on good waves like PR has, try those or some Sunny G's. Plug them in and lean into the turn with everything, and make sure you do a Sunny Snarl as you look over your back shoulder after each frontside hack for maximum spray and crowd shock and awe.