A-frames and blackberries….

A week ago last Monday I had some of my best waves of the year. It was dawn, i was the only one out in head high clean A frames shrouded in mist, accessed by a long walk and cliff scramble.

I finned up the Riddler which I hadn’t ridden since Indo. I love this board but I often overlook it and even I think – “you are too weird to work”…

On this occasion I am so glad i took it out. Now I am not a rad surfer, more a kind of cruise-and-carve, odd power-turn-and-gouge kind of guy… but on this occasion… AIR! Fully up and cleanly landed…

  

The wave started as a nice A frame, most had been sliding left but this one just seemed to peak up a little differently, taller and stretching further. The paddle in and take off were so easy (thinking that is the boat hull nose doing its job) that I found my self riding so early that I had time to think about the whole wave (a rarity for me in beach break surf)… I gained speed with every turn and picked every apex going more vert with every one, the board flowing smoothly from point to point with effortless ease (the REVO fin set up and super wide rounded tail mean the board just draws any arc you choose… amazing).

At the end of the wave I had so much speed I knew I was going airborne, like it or not, so I decided to boost up off the lip and make the most of it… I have no idea how much air, but considerable and the board stayed under me all the time as if stuck to my feet and then landed smoothly on the lip as the wave closed out…

I proned in, climbed up the cliffs and ate blackberries all the way back to the van.

Russ Winter borrowed this board in Indo and went off on it; it wasn’t what he expected it to be and said it was “truly high performance”… more of that when I eventually work out how to edit the video I shot!

Anyways, off for dawny with Jon tomorrow in the G Wagen… Porpoise and Riddler locked and loaded…

Riddler review

Sometime you get a board that seems to fit the waves just perfectly, the Riddler is such a board. I had the pleasure of trying it out in some local reefs after Christmas and it even surprised me. The combination of the tail shape and the subtle rails makes the board fit beautifully into the face whatever your angle of attack. It comes off the bottom with drive and speed, yet you can suddenly direct it up the face with no concern of it spinning out. The only drawback was that the rails were a little too thin for me, so i was overturning it and virtually stalling it on my backside bottom turns… of course this did draw me up into the pocket nicely but i prefer to choose when i do that,  so i have immediately started another one ready for the Mentawais.

The reverse bonzer fins made a noticeable difference paddling in, it felt much easier to catch waves that my other models, (despite less volume and more rocker) so the theory of less drag with the upright bonzer sides seems to hold true.

The board did amazing roundhouses with no loss of speed and i was able to keep it on the same arc, even on slow waves, without the need for the double pump that most thrusters seem to require.

So i can say that i would recommend this board without hesitation to most surfers, especially for steeper waves.

The Riddler – REVO5 bonzer

This board was inspired by some of the most significant influences on my shaping… Malcolm Campbell’s bonzers of course, a little bit of McCoy’s loaded dome Nuggets and a healthy dose of Cheyne Horan’s boards and the spitfire theories from Revolution...

6’2” x 20 1/2” x 2 7/8” – rolled deck with pinched rails. Rolled V boat-nose into vortex channel inside rolled V, exiting into a panel V through the tail. REVO bonzer spitfire sides and  a McCoy gullwing centre fin. Can be ridden as a Single fin or as a REVO5.

The REVO sides are using the fluid dynamic theories more popular in sailing after the Ben Lexcan keel led the Australia II to the America’s Cup victory in 1980. One part of the theories is that a vertical keel has less resistance than a sloped one due to its reduced initial contact area. Anyways thought it was time to apply some of this to a board and inspired by something similar on a Revolution Board and with encouragement from Noel Whitman of Revolution the Riddler was born. Watch out for tweaks in the near future after its first wetting.

Hope you enjoy.

     

“The Riddler” – 6’2” McCoy nugget inspired bonzer 5

   

6’2 x 20 1/2” x 2 7/8” with “spitfire” Bonzer 5s and a 10” single fin box…

Name was inspired by the board itself being a bit of an enigma… McCoy inspired Nugget with my take on Geof’s  original loaded dome, but with my vortex channels under the front foot and bonzer 5 set up, with the spitfire profile. This is a pretty out-there board and i can’t wait to try it in some sucky stuff soon. It looks like it will fit into the pocket beautifully.

The big question is do i add the rear EVO6 plugs too… tempting but maybe a bit plugtastic? Any views.