Thanks Mick - agree re the fun factor, but I wouldn't go for 8' in a pink fit, as it would be enormous and over-compensate completely. As has been said, it's a quite different set of equations with these boards compared to traditional shapes. If I was going to get another one I would definitely drop it down. My gut feel is that if you want to reduce volume and increase performance it's better to retain more of your length (to counter front-to-back tippiness) and lose more of your thickness and width. Having said that, it seems like Colas et al are fine on their 6'10"s, so maybe drop the length too. I'd say the 7'8" minion at 110L is definitely more stable than the 8'5" SB 2013 at 106L, but the SB is a better down the line board and handles speed so well. I just watched some video of me surfing both boards in the Maldives and the different way you need to surf them is obvious. I reckon I've got the SB dialled in but I'm not there yet on the Minion. Might give it a try as a thruster with cdrives and see what happens.
Thanks Colas, I'll focus my engineering efforts on the trailing edge. The thing that is funny, though, is that the same fins don't hum at all on my SB airborne as a quad setup. So I am wondering if there is something going on with the water flow through the bottom of the board that induces the disturbance to create the hum. It's actually more like the sound in movies when a clown's hair shoots up or something....whhhhhzzzzzzzz! As good as the old "chewy on your boot!" in a game of footy.
Tang any chance of posting your videos up..be great to see a comparison of boards and the diffferent syles. Awesome
mmmmmmmmaybe......you'd need to have that special kind of patience reserved for parents watching their kids, and take a motion sickness pill to compensate for camera movement, though. I'll see what I can do, but doubt it's worth it. I can see the vid of the 8'5" only because it's blown right up on an iMac screen and is HD so if I post to youtube the reslout ion won't let you actually see anything. Getting some photos from others who were there over ext few weeks and will post up photos on each if they're worthwhile
cheers
It's seems to be apparent these boards are not at all straight forward , very difficult to choose the right size etc vs others
As ghost4man says, you 'need an altered mind state' (which is probably the easy bit) and a leap of faith. The Minion and the Vanguard style shapes are a disruptive concept but the more you think about it the more it could make sense for some types of waves (beach breaks?). I'm fascinated by the concept and keen-as to see a Minion but it will be hard to demo one though which means splashing out $$$$ on a leap of faith...
Can you get away with one Minion for all conditions or have a 2 board quiver - needing a bigger board for the crappy/choppy sessions?
Select to expand quotemakntracks said..
Are these only custom built or are they available off the shelves..
Cheers
Both!
Select to expand quoteStev0 said..
As ghost4man says, you 'need an altered mind state' (which is probably the easy bit) and a leap of faith. The Minion and the Vanguard style shapes are a disruptive concept but the more you think about it the more it could make sense for some types of waves (beach breaks?). I'm fascinated by the concept and keen-as to see a Minion but it will be hard to demo one though which means splashing out $$$$ on a leap of faith...
Can you get away with one Minion for all conditions or have a 2 board quiver - needing a bigger board for the crappy/choppy sessions?
Stev0, I hear there is a shipment of DEEP SUP boards heading to NZ. Not sure which models or which area, but there may be hope for you to demo one yet??
Yeah..nah…I've already asked about that with the importer and they only have a few Minions arriving so won't have any available for a demo. Also only one board in the size I am after and that might not be for sale. I have a perfectly good 8'5 Fanatic ProWave in my garage but...
Select to expand quoteStev0 said..
Yeah..nah…I've already asked about that with the importer and they only have a few Minions arriving so won't have any available for a demo. Also only one board in the size I am after and that might not be for sale. I have a perfectly good 8'5 Fanatic ProWave in my garage but...Select to expand quoteStev0 said..
Yeah..nah…I've already asked about that with the importer and they only have a few Minions arriving so won't have any available for a demo. Also only one board in the size I am after and that might not be for sale. I have a perfectly good 8'5 Fanatic ProWave in my garage but...
What size you after?. At the price I don't think they will be moving nice boards but limited to just 3 or 4 who may want one
Select to expand quoteStev0 said..
Yeah..nah…I've already asked about that with the importer and they only have a few Minions arriving so won't have any available for a demo. Also only one board in the size I am after and that might not be for sale. I have a perfectly good 8'5 Fanatic ProWave in my garage but...
Who are the distributors in nz
I think that for the vast majority of the punters out there it wont simply be a case of jumping on the board and expecting a magical experience to occur. As you can imagine going down in size from a conventional size requires a certain amount of adjustment. These Minion boards however are seemingly in another time zone especially with the parallel design. I am of the thinking that it might pay to hold off a little and just let the dust settle and get as much feedback as possible and if the chance arises then grab the opportunity to demo one. I do think that buying one in the absence of doing this could prove a disappointment. I think where a lot of people might get it wrong is maybe not going small enough. It pays to remember that the significant feature to these boards is to go small and narrow whilst maintaining that parallel design providing for what is seemingly a vastly different experience to what we are used to.
Cheers Ozzie
That being said Ozzie. .there surely must b a limit where too small in length and volume becomes an issue relative to how heavy and tall you are..if your 95kgs and ride a 119L prowave and feel that close to your limit for stability and volume I'm guessing you can't drop to 104L minion without some problems? Or can u on these minion babies?..
I reckon you can. I went for a paddle yesterday with my lovely other half, she on my 2012 sb 8'5"x29" 123litres and me on the 110L minion. After making her suffer through the wind and chop at mini-tubes she hopped on the minion at cosy and paddles around no worries. I jumped on the 2012 and was quite amazed that the minion is more stable. So I I reckon dropping from a 119 standard board to a minion at 104 litres is completely do-able. And I say that because if I had my time again I would trim it down to about 100 litres. Maybe more.
With regard to Ozzie's comment, I am not sure that you would be disappointed - I think that would depend on your expectations. In my experience, they do surf differently, it you've only got to look at that footage of casso on his to see that you can surf better on these new boards than on the traditional boards - if your skills are right up there and the waves are right.
Thanks Tang..I only ask as I'm looking at a 7"8 minion but I'd hate to think I should've dropped to a 7"4 104L..In saying that no good spending more time in the water struggling then actually on the board. .and I'm picking in only gona get heavier haha
Select to expand quoteSupmaori said..
That being said Ozzie. .there surely must b a limit where too small in length and volume becomes an issue relative to how heavy and tall you are..if your 95kgs and ride a 119L prowave and feel that close to your limit for stability and volume I'm guessing you can't drop to 104L minion without some problems? Or can u on these minion babies?..
Look that is difficult to account for. I think the problem here is that you are applying your current thinking of what the experience is like on a 119L board and somehow transferring that to a minion with a fair reduction in volume. In my opinion they are non transferrable hence if you look back at one of my earlier posts I make mention of shifting your thinking. If you dont then I believe you will already lose the battle without even stepping on the board. These boards are significantly shorter in length and push the boundaries in terms of width. Dont forget that Casso is 87kg in weight and easily riding a board of this variety in the 7 foot category. Alright surfing ability to one side, you dont have to be the best on the wave and still be very competent waiting out the back in challenging conditions. I just think that you have to get it out of your head in terms of choosing a board based on volume as your main selection criteria. So whilst 104 litres in a Minion seems a huge step down from what you are "currently" riding it doesnt necessarily mean that this board will be too small for you. You really have to get on one of these boards and then decide. Who knows it may turn out that going smaller will be preferable to your personal needs.
Ozzie
Thanks again Ozzie. .well said..unfortunately the chance of a demo in NZ is near nil..so kind have to take a leap.of faith and apply a little of what I know about traditional sups to work out at least a starting point...and I agree the whole.point of getting my hands on one of these is to change my thinking and experiences and push the limits..in saying that no one wants to make a costly mistake and get the wrong size..that why I appreciate all the feedback on here so I can at least try and make an informed decision. .Kia ora
Select to expand quoteSupmaori said..
Thanks again Ozzie. .well said..unfortunately the chance of a demo in NZ is near nil..so kind have to take a leap.of faith and apply a little of what I know about traditional sups to work out at least a starting point...and I agree the whole.point of getting my hands on one of these is to change my thinking and experiences and push the limits..in saying that no one wants to make a costly mistake and get the wrong size..that why I appreciate all the feedback on here so I can at least try and make an informed decision. .Kia ora
That leap of faith is a difficult situation and I sympathize.
many of the posts in this thread include the height and weight info, and also the size of minion each person has settled on, but that info is spread over 12 pages.
In my experience the difference / improvement in surfability is quite dramatic and I only dropped from 120 litre trad design to a 115 litre minion, but a drop in length of 10 inches to a 7'8". I think the situation for each person is going to be quite different with regard to height, weight, balance, skill level etc. but there would obviously be a board size that would be generally suitable to weight ranges, say 5kg variations.
Supmaori, would it be helpful if you started a new thread asking each person with a minion to post their height, weight, minion dimensions and the previous board dimensions. The info will then all be together and easier to make a comparison and hopefully help anyone not in a position to demo these boards.
Cheers, Bob
What fins do the minions come with and do they need a nubster fin as well. What does the nubster add to the performance and stability of the board and what is the best kind to get?
Cheers
I've seen some photos with the Shapers Darc Drive nubster. I use one in my 8'5 ProWave as part of a Shapers Quad-E fin set up. Still getting to grips with the quad + nubster set but the spiel goes like this: The Darc Drive a collaboration by professional shaper Stuart D’Arcy and Shapers. Inspired by the love of quads, Darcy designed this fin to bridge the gap between Quads and Thrusters. The Darc Drive adds extra drive and takes out the drift whilst keeping the speed and flow associated with quads. Therefore a boost to drive and control without adding the drag associated with a typical back fin.http://www.pacificsurf.co.nz/fins/specialty-and-stabilisers/darc-drive/
Simon sends good fins with the minions, plus a darc drive. I have a knubster but haven't tried it yet. IMO the quad and darc still doesn't rival the drive you can get on a normal board with cdrives as thruster setup. But the manoeuvrability is better, and the speed through flat sections is way better....
That really is an impressive video! Why the old school peep-hole?
Coming off 9'2 x 30 and I am 95kg. Thinking 7'8 x 28 1/4 115L. Anyone know the lead time on these puppies?
On the volume issue, archimedes is archimedes. If you weight 95kg, less than ~ 103 litres volume (95kg rider + 7kg board +1kg paddle +fins) means the board will be underwater, whatever the shape.
So you have kind of a baseline (103l) to not go lower than, unless you want to be always paddling to keep balance.
Volume on top of it is "extra floatation" to allow some time to react to chop.
But, the "wide everywhere" shapes allow you to have less of this "extra flotation" to be confortable compared to a pointed outline.
Indeed it does, colas.
now casso, imagine how that board would perform if you actually tried to lay it over properly......
Select to expand quoteTang said...
Indeed it does, colas.
now casso, imagine how that board would perform if you actually tried to lay it over properly......
Ha ha Tangy, I'll try harder next time.
