There is only one way to settle this. Give one to Joel Tudor or Wingnut to test drive. You may not have a high personal opinion of Randy Rarick, but these 2 guys are respected worldwide for their board knowledge and riding skills. Nobody really gives a rat's arse about the opinion of some unknown wanker from Invercargill, the Sheep Buggering Capital of The World. Judging from his description, I'm betting that you let him borrow somebody else's SUP. Geez, even Edison and Bell had to let others sample their products. It can't be "genius" or "breakthrough" if you are the only one making all the claims. Otherwise, you are just another Kaczynski, albeit one that wears wetsuits the color of offshore buoys.
The review looks like the same one (and the only one AFAIK) that's been on his blog for a while and frankly sounds like a fluff piece from a bad PR firm. Who knows if its even real? Only thing you're gonna get is video after video of him trimming down the line...lots of claims about performance, precious little in the way of proof. Odd business model when trying to sell six figure boards. Could buy a Ferrari, Lambo, etc. for those prices and plenty of ways to verify that those actually perform like they say. Kinda like trying to sell someone a Lambo and showing them a vid of it cruising at 35PMPH and pulling into a parking space.
RB is only one of many who gave great reviews on the FP Ghost 13. Whether you accept them or not is up to you and is of scant concern to me. .
It's real and I have many more good ride reports. Yep, trimming AND turning... one of the world's top longboarders ( from Santa cruz) commented on these designs recently that they " turn amazingly well from the sweet spot"
He was commenting on this video, I sent him a Warp Drive fin which he used regularly and likes. [video=youtube;cl6X8J59HLQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl6X8J59HLQ[/video]
Once again roy thats just YOU riding YOUR board. And rather interestingly as well, in my opinion. On a couple parts theres a guy in the background that is wearing a helmet as well, is he on one of your boards? Do you make him wear that helmet? His board looked shorter than yours.
In the video above if one focuses on the tail the dynamic way in which the displacement tail and tunnel work together can be seen... much more active than a standard longboard tail. .
How does that board, with the displacement tail and tunnel work on non reef/points? That wave had a proper line on it to promote neat and tidy trimming and lines. How does that kind of board/fin setup perform under other circumstances, when more radical turns and balancing is require to keep a trimmed line on the wave... I.E. how does it handle at a beach break of the same size. And not a Sandy Point. Just a typical, beach break. I ask this because about 95% of your audience on this site would probably like to know how this design and technology would be applied to their local regions.
Thanks for asking. These designs were developed in beach breaks over a wide range of conditions. They make it easy in any sort of wave. Because they turn from the sweet spot radical turns and balancing aren't required for correct wave positioning, the boards find their line naturally with instinctive input. Here's the Earl 10'6". It's a single fin but the same principles apply. [video=youtube;Na6HNQd5HXA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na6HNQd5HXA[/video]
Cool. Thanks. The board does seem similarly responsive on the beach break. That last wave was a close call!
Wow, that is some pretty clean, well behaved beach break. Are you in OZ? Where is that? That may as well be a cobblestone point of something. Thats pretty wild.
The same spot on the tunnel finned Hotkurl, the first session on te board from memory so just dialling in: [video=youtube;7o5EYF-9v0I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o5EYF-9v0I[/video]
High tide swell gliding, again at te 'Blowhole' this time on the 13'9" Dragon weighing 55 pounds: [video=youtube;vtEZKiMYWls]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtEZKiMYWls[/video]