So I got a chance to take the Pier Pony out yesterday for what was supposed to be a quick 1-hour high tide pre-lunch session at Mase trying to get some leftovers from the swell we missed the day before. Conditions: Short period swell out of the East mixed with some NE long period swell. Solid 3' with the occasional set pushing over stomach. It was really peaky with some waves hitting the bank just right allowing for some fun 50+ yard sectiony rides. It was a really high tide, so the waves were fairly soft and somewhat slow with the occasional peak throwing into a tight high-line barrel. Zero wind. Needless to say it was super fun--we ended up staying out over 3 hours. The Board: Used JS Pier Pony custom 5'2\" x 21\" x 2 7/8\" PU/PE. The only difference I can tell between this and the stock PP is it has another .33\" or so of thickness. I would loosely judge the volume at a stout 36 liters PLUS--tons of volume for my 170lb self. It's pretty heavy too. It has a 5 fin setup with the quad trailers being inset from the rail pretty substantially a la the McKee setup. The board has a continuous vee that gets really deep as it runs through the tail. I haven't measured the nose and tail width yet, will post it when I get a chance. I ran FCS PC-5's in the front with GX-Q's as trailers--I don't have any others that produce this much area fin area, so that's what I ran with. The Ride: Well, I only caught about 50 waves on this thing ranging from mushier waist high to the stomach+ steeper bomb sets. I caught waves super early, I caught waves with the under-lip two-paddle to late air drop, I caught lefts with the ass-dragging, rail grabbing pigdog to quick barrel... y'all get the point. This board held surprisingly well in the steeper stuff and generated tons of speed in the mushburgers. I was particularly surprised when I took a really late drop on a left while grabbing the rail. I thought I was too front-footed and was sure to eat chitt, but it didn't happen. Even with the super low entry rocker and wide-ass nose the rail set right into the face and created an amazing amount of lift, holding in the pocket--similar to what you would expect riding a noserider. I don't think I've ever gone that fast on a wave that small. It took me a couple waves to get used to turning this thing. I generally surf a little more front footed, especially going frontside. You can surf the Pier Pony front footed, but don't expect to turn it! This board really likes to be surfed off the back foot, which is good for me because it's forcing me out of what I normally do. As expected, it surfs flatter than your normal board but you can still get it on rail with some force. Even as heavy as it is, the board is still really snappy off the lip and can handle some pretty tight bottom turns. I was getting some cavitation on my bottom turns when I was really laying into them but never really spun out, although it still felt a little squirrely. I need to get some larger fins--that should make that wide tail hold better and give me even more down-the-line drive. I'll probably stick with the GX-Q trailers and maybe go a little smaller and more drawn back like the Aqualines and G1000's. Not sure what I want to use when I try it out as a thruster, but probably going to lean more towards twin-sized fronts with a smaller trailer...idk Tail slides, fin blows and reverses.. this board excels, there's so much volume up in that nose that makes it a great pivoting platform. Not to mention it's incredibly stable. I even got a little backside air. Downsides/Drawbacks: -It's a PU/PE board, ie: not durable at all. I am currently fixing a little crushed rail on the nose from some jackass paddling out who though it was a good idea to paddle for the shoulder as I was coming out of a frothy cover up... Barely tapped his board, so I'm just glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been. -Paddling isn't the best but that's how all these tiny, wide groveler boards are. I can definitely tell I'm pushing A LOT of water. -I need to buy more fins... So while we were out I got to try out my buddy's Sub Scorcher. It's a 5'11 stock shape PU/PE with about 34 liters vol. Bigger than I would normally ride (I think a 5'9\" would be right down my alley). I don't have the rest of the dims, but you can see them on Lost's site. This board has a thruster setup running FCS UL-5's. I rode about 10 waves, pretty much same mix as mentioned above. The Ride: I thought this board was going to feel all weird after riding the PP, but it didn't. It's really stable and holds better than I thought it would with the relatively soft rails. As stable as it is, I could turn it on a freaking dime without any noticeable loss in speed. Very easy to get vertical in the lip and can just as easily gouge a snap as blow the tail and drift. I'm not too sure how much this has to do with the flex characteristics of the UL series fin, but they felt pretty stiff by hand. I was very happy with how confident this board felt under my feet, the pivot was perfect and it's extremely well-balanced. Even though it has more volume than I normally ride it didn't feel corky or "big" at all--I'm confident I would love one at 5'8" or 5'9"--great all-round performance shape. Downsides/Drawbacks: -It's a poly board and is showing it at only 3 months old and my buddy's 80% of the time board--big footwells. My stance is wider than his and I put some shallow ones in it in the 10 waves I rode it. Buddy's ordering an identical replica (this one was made on a machine) in epoxy. Anyone else have experience with either of these two models? Any suggestions on fins that work for you?
