Ok im 35, 5-8 155 to 160 lbs. Been surfing for awhile, intermediate+ type surfer. Career and kids keep me out the water now more. I currently ride a hybrid type stick, fish style rocker shortboard nose swallow tail, boxy rails etc. Anyway All my boards were shaped by the same guy for years, well now most my sticks are just worn out, the flex is gone, they are done I live in VA surf VB and OBX and i have my eyes on several boards. First off I want a stick that last, I treat my boards well they last me a long time until the flex the pattern is gone basically. Iwant a board that is fun in the grovel 1 foot msuh, but can be surfed hard in chest to head high swells as well. Something that paddles well because due to lack of time in the water now the paddle strentgh /speed is slowing. Boards styles / options I am going with Like the looks of the LOSt Rocket / Motivator LIke the Firewire El Fuego / DOminator / Spitfire WRV Bob Yinger shape I wouldnt be in this predicament if Tommy Morre hadnt moved out west, my quiver will never forgive you Tommy. ALl my boards for the past eten years have been from TOmmy, still have 4 of the 6. I just wore them slam out For durability and mainting the flex characteristics over time I am looking at Epoxy, granted not the Surftech type crap. I would love to hear peoples opinons on the XTR construction/ Firewires / COil. All my sticks have been PU but like i said i want something that maintains its flex characteristics over time. I keep my boards protected all the time so other than pressure dings I am not hard on boards. I know the Lost boards come in XTR contrustuction and probably run up to $800 with the XTR FIrewires are $615 thhen got to buy fins WRV custom is around $550 not sure howmuch the XTR or COil contrustion is additional so.... What do you guys think.
My friend just bought a wrv yinger shape it was a 5-8 and like 20 in. wide he says that it is really fun especially since it works well in small weak surf, but he also said that he took it out on a bigger day and it still rode great, he said that you can throw the tail out super easilly, and you can get a mess of speed on it. I bought one just like but can't say how it is cus of this flat spell i havnt been able to ride it yet, but wrv is nice cus you can get a custom board for like 500 which isnt too bad for a board thats exactly the way you want it.
Yinger = Moore The guys are WRV said Yinger would the most similar in style to Moore. IF i go poly construction I will most definitly go to WRV as they have always done me right. My biggest thing is construction. I can test drive firewires, they have two of the ones I want in OBBC as demos, but dont know how different a coil or xtr construction will feel compared to a Firewire.
I have never ridden an expoxy, well i broke one 20 years ago, a Greg Loehr in florida when he first started doing them. BUt thats 20 years ago so that doesnt count. FOmr the things I have read on XTR, Firewire, and Coil's website they are better, but of course these people make money off each of these technologies so of course they will say that. Really like to know pros and cons of Firewire, xtr and coil. IS COil and XTR construction basically the same?
i've only heard good things about coils...deff. considering one in the near future for myself. like you, i've been a poly only guy my entire surfing career, but i'm starting to take a good, hard look at the alternatives out there. resin-x is high on my list, as well & scott busby, of in the eye surfboards, in buxton, nc is very familiar w/ that construction. super light & very durable. i believe resin-x consists of a poly blank glass w/ a special epoxy resin formula...but i'm not entirely certain. i would recommend that you look into it more if you decide to consider it. i rode a resin-x quad fish that my local shaper, brian wynn, built back in the fall & it was amazing! scott recently built my father a resin-x longboard that he really loves. the xtr is certainly worth considering, as is straight eps/epoxy construction...good luck w/ your search!
All my customs are resin-x poly blanks! I think the boards with this construction are more lively and durable. I am pretty rough on my boards and would regularly have heavy pressures and dings galore. But with the resin-x...even the typical 4/4/4 glass schedule is super strong! Have only had one shatter on a rail since the switch! Great resin and works fantastic---have heard of issue with delam with the PU, but never experienced it myself! My opinion, you get the strength of the epoxy and the lively flex, but that familiar PU feeling (weight?) with the resin-x and poly blank...definite win all around! As for a model...I'm 31 and around the same height/weight as you--small chips don't work for me unless the surf is great. Like you, I have found great success on HP fishes (pavel type) and larger thrusters/quads. However, I wanted something in between the two and decided to go with the rocket--5'8"x19 1/4x2 1/4. With the flat deck, wider outline/tail and increased tail rocker it seems as if this was made for an east coast wave. You may not be able to take it out in the 1' slop, but that's what a fish/biscuit is for...I say have someone local make you a rocket or something similar...I have only heard great comments about it...
Yeah thats what i was going for, I cant see speindg the cash on something only for grovel myself, no matter the board, in knee high surf your not getting memorable rides. I want a stick that can grovel but can go when we have a bit of swell. ROcket shape was high on the list, El Fuego/dom/spitfire form Firewire as well. I think I will demo the firewires, seee how they ride then go form there. I at least want to sample the technology. Alot of guys with Firewires ride nothing but now so at least for some the technology is great. So Resin X is just a higher strenth polyester resin?
I love my firewires they paddle well have good flex and last a lot longer. I got my first firewire a year and a half ago and it still rides like it is brand new. If I were you I would go with either the 5'10" or 5'8" firewire dominator depending on how easy you want it to paddle. I'm looking at a 5'10" dom myself.
it is more of a hybrid from what I have been told however i can't do it justice (there is just so much to it)--here is a thread about it on swaylocks (nt., its a long read but very descriptive and informative--http://www2.swaylocks.com/node/1026808. The bottom line, it was produced for its strength, flex, and curing properties. When laminating a board it shoots off incredibly quickly--it is just unbelievable. I glassed a board with it last year and thought I was a half-decent glasser, but that crap put me in my place. Pretty much was able to laminate and hot coat both side in a quarter of the time it takes me with poly/epoxy. I understand why you are interested in firewire (tons of shapes, incredibly durable) and think the demo is a great idea! When looking them over check out the rails pretty carefully. Granted I haven't seen many of the new shapes in person, but when eyeballing some of their stuff a couple of years ago I found it interesting that the perimeter stringers regularly had gaps/filler in the rail. Obviously an issue with the wood they are getting, but still interesting... However, you can't argue with that article in Surfing a while back...supposedly before switching to Firewire Taj was breaking something like 80 boards per year and since switching has broken 3 total over the last few years! Quite a statement! If I were you...I would give the FST stealth a try...probably close to what you would want...
I just picked up a Semi used 6'2 x 21x 2& 3/4 Epoxy Quad Fish Jim Barnes from legend Surfboards made it and Its a pretty good board It can handle knee to headhigh and paddles great and I am a Longboarder but I can jump on this thing and not have any trasition akwardness. He is on this forum I think his user name is Legend Jim And there is alway Brian Wynn as mentioned he make amazing boards as well . If you rather have something a little more retro the Bing Karma and Lotus are really good boards for eastcoast surf aswell
DEwave rider i am looking at the rocket pretty hard, i would like to know how the XTR glass is as opposed to the typical Poly. I will demo the two firewires and go from there. NOw if I could a Rocket in FST firewire construction that would be sick. I think the Stealth is a little bit more performance shortboard than hybrid.
Did you talk with Bill Frierson? He was one of the original partners for WRV. He's in VB, I had one of his boards fly off my car doing 80 and it survived. Only had a ground down fin. http://www.friersondesigns.com/
Bushwood- If you are looking at a Firewire, a Coil is basically the same price before shipping and it would be a true custom- e-mail Mike Daniels mike@coilsurf.com and discuss it with him Coils are eps foam, epoxy resin, vacuum bagged to maximize the strength while minimizing the weight. Daniels is an extremely talented shaper (used to shape for WRV so probably worked side by side with your previous shaper) Also Scott Busbey @ In the eye in Buxton has been doing some really good epoxies for years - he has several construction methods, he will use corecell on the deck if you want, or vacuum bag it to get it lighter. Also he has really good prices!! and is a great guy to work with Either one of these guys will get you a good riding board that will be much more durable than a PU/PE good luck JN
Personally, I believe VA is really difficult to pull off a 90% single board solution. I've bought and sold about $4000 in boards trying. That being said, retro-shaped hull quad fish is probably the closest thing I've found for a 90% solution in this area. I'm heavy,(210 lbs), so the flat bottom and wide tail allows me to catch knee-high mush that I couldn't get with a 10' Bing. So far, the biggest I've gotten it into is chest-high, clean waives and the soft rails provided well enough hold to convince me it would be fine in head high waives. This is all at the sacrifice of truly vertical surfing, though. IMHO, VA won't let you pull off a single board solution if you are 30-something surfer that's wanting to surf more than once every two weeks and surf in a high-performance capacity. Unless you're an 80 lbs grom, you need a minimum of 2 boards here: One for the commonly gutless knee-high wave groveling and one for chest-high and above performance surfing. just my 2 cents.
