DEEP Oceanboards 7'2" Minion // Review

I have tried several times

Took my 7'10" Minion out yesterday - after playing on my X32 and speeed for a while. Fantastic! Had to make a movie... (The waves were better than they look.)

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Supmaori said..
Awesome man! Stoked for you

Thanks Supmaori - persistence pays! Can't wait to get it to the Maldives!

My new minion, now in mixed up colours! Isn't it purty.

She looks good on her back too

I went for 8'4" as I figured its a big step down from the JP 10'2"
Have been out three days running now in 2 foot, 2-3foot and 2 - 4 foot clean conditions. When I first jumped on, on my knees to paddle out it was like whoa there and over we go. Got that sussed and then came the challenge to get to my feet. Not too bad - bit wobbley and fell off just standing there a few times. Great catching, and on waves though. Second day, more confidence less falling off, but enough wobbling to look unprofessional! Catches waves easy enough and feels more like a short board than size would suggest.
Third day, some solid- ish 4 footers, not much falling off until at the end, after about 2 - 2.5 hours, and three days running, legs were a bit buggered. I have to work out my feet on the wave as went to do a bottom turn on a larger one and felt like it didn't want to hold the rail. But like I said its probably just more me as this is after 3 sessions only.
Charging some of those waves I had absolutely no inkling that it was going to nose dive and the speed, wow! Maybe that's why I struggled with some turns, I guess I need to match the speed with the foot work. And the ability to drive around sections......and on and on and on.

And Thanks Simon at Deep!!

What state are you Dropin? Simon has guys in other states that can help you when he is too busy shaping. And yes, you can have any size you want!

Like others on this thread, I now have 2 Deeps - a 7'4" Minion and a 7'8" which I call a 'JackoPop'. Both are great boards and my advice to prospective buyers is to talk to Simon about your needs (and aspirations, lol). Both boards work in a wide range of conditions, but I got Simon to shape me the 7'8" so I can use it when a little less area in the tail (than the Minion) is an advantage - so when it's a bit bigger and/or powerful. It is a bit of a hybrid between the Jackson Close model and the PaddlePop. I am currently comparing its performance set up as a thruster. Haven't come to a concluded view yet, but think that it probably is best as a quad up to head high, then thruster in overhead conditions.
Although, don't get me wrong, the Minion will handle bigger waves. I have often surfed it in overhead conditions at Big Left here in Vic.
On surfing the Minion, I agree with the comments that you have to get your back foot back on the tail pad. I would also recommend that you go shorter than you might at first think you need. But talk to Simon (or Chris Clarke or other Deep reps) about this. And that is the beauty of custom, you can end up with the precise dimensions that suit you.

Nice Boards
Rosscoe, whats the dimensions of the 7'8" reference width and volume

Nice Rosscoe.
Been flogging my 8'0" Minion as often as I can, and the JC 9'2" gets hauled out on the bigger and/or choppier days.
Love both boards. If they were anything else, I doubt they'd still be in one piece.
I was thinking of doing a combo JC/paddlepop next, around the 8'6" or 8'8" mark, and you have just added fuel to the fire.
Enjoy!

I see most of you guys are running futures fins.... Any reason for this??

HI I have 2 questions for all you mini shredders out there:

Firstly have any of you been using them in bigger waves and how do they hold up ? The starboard guys seem to say that the Hypernut holds its own quite well in the bigger stuff and I was just wondering if this is the same for the minion ( I know there are a lot of different design variations) ?

Secondly , I guess the idea of this design is that you can drop a lot of length and some width and still retain a similar amount of stability, tracking and glide.
I was wondering just how much width people had dropped from their traditional shapes and if it held up stability wise?

cool so a reduction of 3 inches in width and its almost the same stability that is pretty impressive

My 2 cents. I went from 8'8"x32" to 7'10"x29" I struggled at first. In pretty good conditions the dxifference in side-to-side stability and end-to-end stability were noticeable. But it did not take too long before I felt comfortable in good conditions. The other difference is that you don't get much glide, so you have to catch the wave a little later - which is fine if there is not a lot of competition and you can position yourself in the best position. When it gets choppy the stability difference is more noticeable. I still use the bigger board (or my Speed 8'10" x 29") if it is very windy or more water movement (or more competition). But once you are on the wave, you will love the maneuverability of the Minion!

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Brenno said..

Loz79 said..
I see most of you guys are running futures fins.... Any reason for this??

Um, 'cause the quality fins came with the board? And they fit in the holes?
But seriously this is the first board I've bought where I haven't cast the supplied crap plastic fins aside, and gone on the hunt for something decent.
I've snapped plenty of FCS fins, reckon you'd have to try pretty hard to do the same with these.

Thanks for pointing out the obvious,

I have one on order and being custom boards was given the option of whatever I wanted to have installed. Seen most have futures system so was just curious. I've gone with the FCS2 system as even though I'm aware that quality fins are supplied, I have a mountain of FCS sets spare and in other boards and so handy just in case I need to swap at some point...

After checking around the opinion seems 50/50 between future and fcs although the fcs2 may start to tilt a few opinions?...time will tell I guess

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Loz79 said..
I see most of you guys are running futures fins.... Any reason for this??

All fin systems have advantages and drawbacks, but I would point out a major advantage of the FCS system for me... C-Drive fins are only available in the FCS format :-)

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Supmaori said..
Mate I had a couple of boards the 8'10 fanatic pro and Fanatic 8'6 which think was around 30' wide. My minion is 7'8 and 27' wide..it's my go to board in all conditions now..doesn't mind chop but u have to have had it dialed in when using in less favourable conditions. It's as stable as the pro fanatic IMO
I have had my minion close to double overhead..no problems...handled it well. My pro fanatic is dry as a bone.
Chur

Thanks for the reply mate, So you have also dropped 2 to 3 inches in width and are loving it. I recently bought a hokua 8'8'x32 and still have a JP surf 9'2x30, on the 9'2 x30 I am solid as a rock when its clean but I can't handle all conditions, The Hokua I can ride in anything that I would want to go out in and It is probably just slightly more stability than I need. That is why I was wondering about width on the minion I had been thinking of 8'2 x 30.5. i had sort of been holding out for the Hypernut (mostly because I could demo it here in WA) but with the extra expense over the minion I don't know if I can justify it plus the 8'0 hyper nut might be wider than I need. i would like either of those boards to be my go to board for 80% of the time and it is not that often that I am getting out in double overhead or even close to it. for reference i am 105kgs, 6'3, intermediate but prefer my boards to be on the comfier side