NEW MOLLUSC ROBO SEA TRIALS

6'6 Mollusc Robo

Winki Pop firing with 5 feet plus sets

Bells 2013 offered up some great surf in and out of the contest, Winki was at times very nice.

I managed to surf the slightly modified Mollusc Robo in good 3 to 5 feet waves at Winki Pop next door to Bells Beach.

The changes being a slightly pointier nose but with the same nose area, slightly less tail area and slightly thinner nose to the tip.
The idea behind the nose changes is to allow the Robo deeper duck dive potential and a touch more performance on the wave face.
Otherwise it is unchanged featuring single concave to vee bottom with double concave thru the vee.

The key to the Robo is the vee in the back half of the board allowing you to get the big Robo board from rail to rail with smooth flow.

The board pictured is 6'6 x  20 1/4 wide x 2 3/4 thick and 37.30 litres volume.
It went beautifully at Winki catching waves with good glide on ease, holding well off the bottom and feeling dynamic off the top or hitting the lip with authority.
It surprised me how nicely it surfed and would be a good all rounder for average and older good surfers on any surf trip. 

I used PG7 fins for the 3 to 5 feet day and for smaller surf would replace the back fin with a smaller G3 size fin to keep it loose.

Jesse Horner using the Mollusc for unconventional surfing -  photo Tom Lotter.
The new Mollusc has the same innovations/changes as Mollusc Robo pointier nose, slightly less tail area and thinner nose. Primarily to achieve a friskier feel.

FACE DANCER

Surfed the FD in great waves throughout Queensland in 2 to 5 feet point waves from Rainbow Bay and Greenmount to Nationals and Granite.

The board really started to excel with flat inside foil PG7 fins on board.This style of fin complimented the clean long walls allowing the FD to flow thru longer turns and then snap in the pocket when needed.

I rode it as a Thruster and this felt comfortable in crowded conditions where waves were hard to come by and you felt the pressure not to blow it after waiting your turn.

Shyama 5'10 FD quiver, the Square Tail
made in France with no vee at the tail,
the Roundtail also a Fusion/Face Dancer
prototype but with vee at the tail.

Face Dancer froth from Shyama Buttonshaw - I have been riding the FD a lot lately and it feels very good. 

As a quad it has more control thru top turns compared to the one without vee in the tail. 

For the last 2 weeks I have kept it as a 4 fin and it’s been really versatile. I have ridden it at Corsair a bunch of times and it feels amazing as a quad in barrels, there is a lot of momentum when you have your line set. 

The board as a Thruster was great at Winki, it has a lot of drive and hold when given a good Winki wall.

QUADS

There is a movement in surfing and it's Quads.

Quads have been around since Glen Winton and Bruce McKee invented them in 1982.
Since then there was resurgence 5 or 6 years ago with William Stretch Riedel working with Nathan Fletcher to repopularise quad boards.
They did a great job stimulating surfers to think about their equipment beyond the bounds of high performance Thrusters in small surf and also waves of consequence.
Quads have been working well on big boards for mega spots like Waimea, Mavericks, Cloud Break and recently paddling in at Jaws in Maui.
But maybe the quads have been on the wane lately in smaller surf.

Enter Kelly Slater.

Kelly has singlehandedly repopularised the Quad in small surf but not as you would think.
Kelly's claim has been that quads perform better in the barrel. He has been on about this for 2 or so years and performances during the Pipe Masters at last years contest on a fishy looking quad did not help the cause. But this year Kelly is on more normal looking good wave quad boards.

Kelly's 5'9 quad option round tail board

Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson have done testing in Barrels at the Gold Coast, Kirra etc, in the early part of this year and come up with the same conclusion as KS, that quads are good or unbelievable in the barrel.

At the recent Quik Pro in Hossegor I noticed a lot of guys in and around the event had a round tail performance quad board in their quiver that they were preferring to surf at La Graviere in the epic hollow beach break waves.
It also seems like Kelly, although he has been going backwards and forwards from quad to Thruster, that lately he is tending to surf the quad in everything including recently at the Hurley Pro Trestles, a definite performance type wave.

Parko surfed his quad at La Graviere and also chose to surf it in every heat in Portugal.

I think what is happening right now is that surfing a board in epic conditions, ie barrelling kegs, gives you confidence and an affinity with that board. These guys are surfing pretty epic surf consistently enjoying the quad and it's not surprising they are going back to them and surfing quads in more diverse and normal conditions.
So very interesting, we will see where it goes.

My man at Hossegor - Shyama Buttonshaw - ready to test his 5'10 quad option roundtail

I am working on numerous quad option boards and my range will reflect this in the coming months.
Will be introducing a performance quad option round tail Thruster, as well as at least 3 small wave quad option models that we are testing at the moment.

US AND FRANCE QUIVER

Travels - Shaping



at Mike Baron's, Oceanside

Was in the US, California specifically, shaping at Oceanside in Mike Baron's factory as we say, shop as they say in America.
Now I'm in France, Hossegor Soorts, Soorts is a light industrial area 2 kilometres inland from the main surfing beaches of Capbreton and Hossegor.

With the new age pre shaping machines and accompanying software it is possible to do boards globally with confidence of maintaining the integrity of your designs and shapes.

This means when I'm in the country I can shape your board but if I'm not I have my finish shaper ready and trained up to do a similar job for me. If you think that Al Merrick, Jason Stevenson, Matt Biolos etc shapes every board for their respective labels you are wrong. I'm the same but to keep the boards true globally a certain amount of travel and keeping it real is required.

In the US I was able to shape 40 boards and go over the Simon Boards model range being cut on the AKU machine across the street from Mike's shop.
The Oceanside machine is cutting consistently and true.




Spudster 6'4 x 20 ½ x 2 ¾ - California small wave board

I have made 2 boards for myself (see photos) for California a 6'4 x 20 ½ x 2 ¾ thick, 2 ⅝ thickness at the Stringer in the Concave, Nose 14 ½, Tail 15 ¼, with 4 15/16 Nose Rocker and 2 9/16 Tail Rocker.
This board will be called a Spudster, apologies to any other brand using this model name.
The concave is deep single to vee at the tail in the last 4 inches. The Spudster has a wide nose and normal area plan shape tail.

The nose area helps in my recovery from hamstring reattachment surgery with catching waves. It is a nice platform for me to jump to my feet on the take-off and get going without too much shuffling around to get the feet in the right spot.

The nose entry rocker is substantial at 4 15/16 which I don't mind even though the board is essentially for small waves, this will help in the turning arc keeping it tight and tend to not catch at high speed.This board will still have good speed in flat small waves, how much I'm not sure just yet. Surfed it at Malibu in tiny 1 footers and struggled a little there.
The 2nd board is a Bottled Lightning 6'6 x 21 ½ x 2 13/16 Roundtail, single concave to vee, Nose Width at 13 1/16 and Tail at 15 ⅝. Nose Rocker at 5" and Tail Rocker at 2 ⅝ ", this is pretty moderate smooth rocker overall.

At 6'6 the BL begins to resemble a normal board plan shape wise, the nose does not appear wide and at 21 ½" width overall again it will help in wave catching. The width also gives the board a lot of curve in the plan shape which will help the board through turns and feel loose. Just a little concern when the board picks up speed that extra width may get in the way.
The rails on both boards are normal Simon rails that is low soft.

Not a bad quiver for California, had some good waves in the Blacks La Jolla region at 2 to 4 feet or head high.
The boards felt good and my surfing buddies liked the feel of both boards.

France Quiver - 3 weeks later.
In France I have the BL 6'6 board from California and have been reunited with my favourite magic 6'10 x 20 wide by 2 13/16  Rounded Pin semi gun or step up board.I like to ride the 6'10 in anything from 5 feet to 8 feet or head high to double over head plus a bit.


France quiver - 6'6 BL and 6'10 magic DSC Vee

Nose width is 11 7/8  and Tail width at 14 ½, nose rocker at 5 ¾, tail rocker 2 11/16. The nose area is reasonable for a step up but looks balanced to the overall 20" width and tail area.

The concave is slight single to vee in the back half of the board, a slight double concave flows from the single through the vee stopping at area in front of the back fin. This bottom combination produces a board with a good foundation strong smooth bottom turn that holds thru the arc without stuttering, skipping or twitching and will turn out long or go vertical at will.

The rail in the 6'10 has a touch more volume but is maybe a touch lower than normal.




Shaping Bay - Euroglass, Soorts Hossegor

In the Planning Stage -
Fusion 6'5 x 20 ¾ x 2 ¾ RSQ, this is getting back to a more of a normal type of board for me.

Surfed waves at Hossegor beach breaks at 2 to 3 foot , really clean nice little right handers and felt I could benefit from something more streamlined and  frisky.

NNB - The 6'10 at work

2012

2012 sees us manufacturing boards in Australia and our production centred on the Gold Coast with glassing out of BoardPlay Currumbin.
We have new full time manufacturing partners in the US, through Mike Baron and Quiksilver Surfboards operating from Oceanside.
France is going strong out of Surf Odyssey and also Euroglass, both factories in Soorts out the back of Hossegor.
Brazil we manufacture through Luciano Leao of Surface, factory based in Cambria on the coast 2 hours drive from Sao Paulo.

 I am designing boards on the APS 3000 software and we are all working worldwide to produce boards of integrity that you can believe in. This is not an easy assignment but we endeavour to live up to it. My method is not unique but with the quality of pre shapes available through a well maintained APS 3000 system, or the AKU and CSD machines for that matter, it is possible to work to a very high level of consistency to produce boards of many different shapes and sizes that will work well for most surfers. At least the boards are a great representation of what I believe in and the elements or qualities I like to see and feel while surfing in my personal boards. These qualities are blended into any of the Simon boards you will see on the racks around the world. This means you can expect the Simon boards to have good hold, good speed, a level of friskiness with a blend of solid feel and good contact with the water through turns in the critical part of the wave.
This is all nice but we also need to provide a good balance of weight to strength ratio you can be happy with. This is key to good glassing and board making. The people we are partners with have this in common, the high level of experience and ability to have a chance at fulfilling the sacred mission.

My Quiver  - Simon 6'3” - 100 kg

DSC -  6'10 20 2 ¾ Roundtail, Nose at 12" up 11 7/8, Tail at 12" up 14 ½, single to double concave thru a slight vee in the back ¼ or so of the board. The rail is low soft but a touch more volume than normal plus a little lower than usual. This is a magic board and feels solid of the bottom drawing long lines if needed and still cuts a tight arc off the top. Is suited to 5 to 6 feet waves (Sydney beach break wave sizing).

                                                                  DSC at North Narrabeen

                                                                                       DSC

Fusion -  6'5  20 ⅝  2 ¾ Rounded Square, Nose 12  7/16, Tail 15 ¼,  36.60 liters, deep single with more a single than double thru the fin area, normal low soft rail but just a touch more volume. Great all round Sydney small wave board,  best in 2 to 4 feet. This is a step down board in line with the trend on the World Tour shorter, wider style. Even though this type of model has been around for years, this is my current version and can be a good option in a 2 board quiver covering 1 to 5 feet. You could then supplement this with a step up board like my 6'10 DSC. More boards to follow.

                                                                                     Fusion

Distributors Outside Australia –
USA:
Michael Baron, Quiksilver Surfboards 3205 Production Ave. Suite J,Oceanside, CA 92058. USA
P: 760.433.1000
F: 760.721.1098
Email: quiksilversurfboards@gmail.com


Brazil:
Luciano Leao,
DR. Arberto Seabra 1213, Sao Paulo, SP 05452-001, Brazil.
Phone: (11)30213611
Email: surface@surface.com.br
Website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qguh2fhi6IY

France:

Xavier Barjou at Surf Odyssey,
Surf Odyssey SARL, 5 rue Pitey, 40130 CAPBRETON
Tel: 05 58 72 16 99
Email: xavier@surf-odyssey.com

Website: http://www.surf-odyssey.com/

I'm also part of the Quiksilver Board program, for info go to the website; http://surfboards.quiksilver-europe.com/

http://www.quiksilver-surfboards.com/shaper.php

or contact;
Euroglass Surfboards 529 Avenue de Pascouaou, 40150 Soorts-Hossegor, France
Phone: +33 5584 34185 

Email: info@euroglass90.com

REPLICA BOARD

I've been working on various replica shapes from the original ‘81 quiver, primarily the 6'6 big Bells board but also the 7'6 Pipe winning board and also the Coke board a 6'2  20 1/8  2 ¾ single flyer rounded square tail.

 I've been developing these boards on the APS 3000 machine and software. This has been enjoyable for me and really is a great exercise to develop your skills as a designer on this type of program. The latest board is the Coke board.

The difference with this one is it is being sprayed by Martyn Worthington probably the most famous practitioner of spray art in the history of the Australian board making industry. In this case he is basically copying the original boards’ panel spray, pretty simple for Martyn. It is then to be finished by Steve Zoeller, glassed and sanded. Steve is the original sander of the first Thrusters in the old Energy factory founded in 1976.

 This board is a charity board to be auctioned on 3rd June, Saturday night, see accompanying photos. The thing about this board is it came out pretty good and close to the original, you can never get it exact. I like the deep vee bottom and the outline shape is pretty spot on. The rails are the element I like the most. The original board has pretty horrid rails, a flat deck going to low rails that don’t feel that good in the hand. This replica board has very similar rails to the original, not quite as chunky but just fit the hand in a nice way and feel more functional.

                            6'2 Single Flyer Rounded Square tail, Filler Coated ready to be sanded.

Original Thruster fin templates from the 80's.

 I'm inspired by this board to look at producing another run 810 model series of boards with a similar rail and plan shape but more modern rockering with concave bottom contours mixed in with the vee.

                              Steve Zoeller and the charity 6'2 at the Mona Vale Energy factory.

FUSION MODEL

We have been tweaking the Fusion ever so slightly to get it as balanced as possible. The area being worked on is the volume throughout, with minor changes to the forward and tail thickness and then the plan shape specifically the nose and tail. Just pushing the area out up to 1/8" so that's only 1/16" per side to add a touch more surface area and volume giving increased flat line speed.

The feedback is good from the team, Shyama Buttonshaw says he is able to surf the Fusion in similar fashion to the XFC but he has more control doing aerials, a little more launching speed and good cushioning feel on the landing, increasing attempt and complete percentages which is nice. Personally I'm finding I love the extra speed and therefore looseness in waves 2 to 4 feet. I'm surfing Fusion 1" shorter than my normal 6'6 20 ¼ to 20 ½ wide XFC and 1/8" to 3/8" wider.

So shorter wider at 6'5 x 20 5/8 wide and 2 ¾ thick has given a slight fish-like performance boost. Also I'm using PC7 (4 ¾" deep) or Simon upgrade S25 (4 11/16" deep) side fins combined with an PC3 (at 4 3/8" deep) smaller back fin in smaller 1 to 3 feet waves. This bigger small fin combo provides a little more spark in the smaller range of surf, optimizing performance.

 I'm 100 plus kilos, if you are smaller 88kg down to 65kg your combo for small waves would be PC5 side fins (4 9/16" deep) and back fin a PC2 (at 4 ¼" deep) for example, keep in mind upgrade fins will give you better performance in most conditions and when the waves are good go back to a uniform set of the same size fins.

                                         Shyama at Winki with the Fusion.

Shyama Buttonshaw not looking like he is going to land softly on the Fusion's slightly wider nose and tail.

The Fusion is similar and replaces some old models like the Interceptor and EQ. This is an important model because a lot of the surf we get week in week out is suited to this style of board.