That will be the time to pull out that Byrne!! Perfectly suited for that forecast!! Hopefully the surf will have steep walls, not the usual mush. Same applies for up here.
I think you stayed in your comfort zone, and that board will feel like a Cadillac in OH surf. Great for carving, EZ to paddle in, and will make the drop and bottom turn and get you down the line. I am in the same mindset, I want to try something newfangled but time is at a premium, waves are here for a minute, then you blink and they are gone, so in good pumping surf I go with what I know. A trusty thruster. Preferably an Al Merrick shape with some beef if it's macking. The rounded pin will make for some smooth carving, enjoy!
Took it out yesterday, but didn't get enough good waves to really evaluate it properly. What I can tell from my handful of waves with enough face to do something, it is super quick to turn, like incredibly noticably looser than the Byrne. I also noticed it is very twitchy, which is probably to be expected from a high performance board like this. I haven't ridden a board so sensitive to foot placement in a really long time. I love the feeling of that rounded tail, but I'm not sure how well it's going to work once I pile on a ton of rubber. I need to get some more waves on it to tell...
Its amazing how much difference a few square inches can make in the tail. I've found even those little pulled-in swallow tails like on that Byrne create stability over a squash or round tail.
I think the swallow tail gives you more lift than the squash, that's why I like them in most conditions, unless it get's heavy. They go top to bottom easier too. I like a squash tail at Reef Road on a big day. I've been riding my rounded tail Natural Art 6'6" round nose a lot lately, in good chest to OH surf (yes, I finally figured out how to duck dive it LOL), and it is really smooth on the turns, but loses a bit of speed unless you get front footed. It took me a few sessions to figure out the sweet spot was a bit more forward than my swallow tailed boarts. Now it's like having a gas pedal, there is a flat spot with no rocker a few inches forward of the fins - a little shuffle and zoooom!
funny you mention a 6'6" Natural Art. I'm repairing a friend's 6'6" Natural Art, shaped by Rich Price....it's one of the most beautifully shaped boards I've seen in a very long time. A real step up, made for big barrels. Very impressed.
Absolutely... a few square inches is a LOT when you're talking about tail area. But area isn't everything. I think planshape in the tail matters more than anywhere else on the board. There are guys that talk in generalities about tail shape... swallow, pin, square... that's it. I couldn't disagree more. I think there are dramatic differences between tail shapes and discernible differences between variations of tail shapes... true square vs. squash... round vs. rounded pin... mini swallow vs. swallow. It all matters.
Mine is a Pete Dooley, one of the last ones he shaped. It's a gem. I've had a few RP shapes over the years, I loved his old thick squash tail thrusters. I had a 6'6" and 3" thick back in the late 80s, early 90's , it would paddle in at big Pumphouse when I was faster to my feet. Never caught a rail, not much chatter in big surf, it was smooth on the turns.
I was Googling some info on a surfboard and this thread came up LOL. I just read through the whole thing again. Wow, such great advice and I've found over the last 4+ years since I originally started this thread just how accurate most of what you guys posted is. I thought since I was here it would be interesting to provide closure on how everything turned out. As I posted a page back, I bought the CI Semi-pro 12 used in RI. I also picked up the CI Flyer 2 (6' 6) before I left as well. I moved to north San Diego County, about 2 miles from the beach - easy bike ride to a few decent breaks. I've been here since, maybe 3.5 years now. The Flyer 2 was just not the right board. I have never had a good session on it. It is simply too thick in the rails and I have a lot of trouble getting it onto a rail. I suppose I could have put more time into it and maybe adjusted, but ultimately I just gave up on it and haven't ridden it in probably 2 years. The Semi-pro 12 is my everyday board and has been pretty much since I bought it. I surf it much better that I did when I bought it, but nowhere near its potential. It has a fairly flat rocker so it works surprisingly well in even the 3' days that are so common here. It's funny looking at that picture of it from when I bought it; by now it is in pretty rough shape with lots and lots of pressure dings, but it still works. I still ride the Byrne Easy Rider 6'8 when I'm feeling lazy. In general, though, the SP12 is the board I grab 90% of the time year round. It just works all around for SoCal surf. My son started surfing when we got here and bought a tiny 5'8 Firewire ...Lost V2. I rode it a few times in small - knee/waist high - surf. It turns out I can surf a 5'8 and it was simply amazing how much snappier I could surf on such a small board. But the volume is way too low to paddle out into any sort of surf where I'd actually have to paddle. I'm in the market again for a board as the SP12 is really looking rough. Just in the thought stages now, but I'm strongly considering just ordering a new custom SP12 with a little more volume to accommodate my increasing waistline. The board just works.
