I'm on Acid ,now I'm going Insane .9.11 sunova board build .

Sweet green machine Tardy. Looking forward to hearing how it goes in the water!

Yo Tardster - what's happening with the new stick man??
Any updates/photos you can share brus?
Gotta be close now eh?

I don't know what you are growing out on that island of yours but no potato farmer can afford so many boards ...

Love me a gun shape. Following with green interest.

forgot to say it has speed to burn ..

Looks superb BUT why are Sunova still using FCS 1 box's instead of FCS 2's. I,m struggling to find decent large FCS 1 fins these days

Yew Tardy, that is one gunny beauty. Gets the imagination stirring.

Thanks surfinJ. and Rick I might try that combo out ...but I reckon its going to be hard to loosen up a gun to much as 9,11 is a long board
I was on the tail yesterday and it turns pretty good for a longer board ,because of the length and speed of the board It didn't really sink the tail
as it had great glide ,it still takes a bit of skill to ride it as its narrow ,also you had to walk up the tail to spin it around quick to catch a jacking up peak .
but i had a good day on it yesterday in waist to shoulder high waves ,15 knot off shore wind ,so the length helped me paddle faster onto the waves ,i didn't relies how fast i was going on it ,as i came off the top in some white wash and it just kept powering through it ,and it took off down the line .
You have to ride guns different ,like get well in front of the wave before planning a cut back ,as you need more time to flick it off the top .
its great for getting out the back through the waves. couldn't believe i was still standing up after busting through a few broken waves .
I'm set for the big winter swell this year

As a matter of interest, I bought one the same size as Tardy's (9'11 x 28.5) - it arrived on the same shipment. Mine is plain old XXX construction.

I had it out in lumpy conditions (at Flinders) in a building swell.

As always, it took a bit of time to "dial it in".

My first reaction was surprise at the instability - it is tippier than I hoped. I expect it is a combo of 29.5 width and 140L (a tiny bit corky) - most of my boards are just over 120L, 30.5 wide - I am 100 kg and 6'3.

My second reaction was surprise at what it took to turn it around to paddle for a wave. It is 9'11 and tippy so it took more time/effort/care (of course) to turn it around when compared to my 9'1 Acid (or shorter boards)

Where I surf is very often lumpy, so all of these factorts lead to a bit of frustration initially.

But once I learned how to get back on the tail to pivot the turn (in preparation for the wave), and generally mastered the feet position to deal with instability, the board was fun to ride.

At 9'11 it is easier to pick up the wave earlier.

With its rocker I managed some pretty steep drops without nose-dives/pearling.

The swell picked up to overhead size so it was not quite at the "insane" size recommended - but I wanted to try it out before trying it in insane conditions.

I was very pleased with the manouverability. I managed some turns that I didn't expect I could do, and that was without having to get too far back on the tail.

So, overall, I was pretty pleased.

It is maybe worth sharing a bit of my recent journey.

I am not getting lighter, and my favorite spot is almost always lumpy (it is 1 km off-shore) and I was sick of ****ty sessions or missing sessions because of conditions. They are powerful waves (especially when compared to the Westerport waves) so they will punish you if you f&ck-up.

So I bought a 9'4 x 31.5 136L Acid. I figured that would be good when the conditions aren't great but there are still waves.

And I bought the 12' x 32" Point break for when the conditions weren't good and the surf was small.

I have had the Point Break out a few times, it is fun, but ****ty conditions are ****ty for all boards, and while it is very easy to stay upright, the surfing is largely point and shoot. You can certainly turn it, MUCH easier than the 14' Search, but it is 12'... It is perfect for the clean, small wave days - small out there are still waist high.

I have had the 9'4 Acid out a few times. It does what I wanted it to do. As always, when you switch from board to board it takes a few waves to figure out foot positions and how the board will respond. Of course, it does not respond like my 9'1 Acid or the other smaller boards, but I am still having fun on the 9'4, and on those other boards, in those crappy conditions, I would not be having fun.

So, it has been a fun journey.

lucky all right ...I don't think i could ride the next size down ,tiz a good size for me ,

Looks great on the water !