This is a very long initial first-day review of my new board. If you are not into detailed reviews, just close this post and happily move on. (Consider yourself warned!??).
Yesterday I picked up my new Sunova Ghost 8'10" x 31 ? @ 137.8 liters. This morning, I decided to take it out for a paddle, even though the forecast was for the surf to be flat.
The goal for this board was to find a balance somewhere between the great surfing performance of my 8'8" Sunova SP25, and the super stability of my Tabou 9'0". Based on today's short test, I think the Ghost nailed my goal of blending more volume and stability with at least equal, if not better, surfing performance. Below is a first-day review using comparisons with my SP25. Both boards had an NVS Peregrine thruster set with fairly upright 4.5" sides, and a 4.35" center with almost no tip rake. (I have a new NVS set coming for this board with Peregrine 4.7" sides and a 3.7" Knox Stabilizer center fin, which are the sizes I like on most of my other boards.)
Me: 74 years old, surfed my first wave at Waikiki in 1959 and have surfed most days from May through November since 1976. 5'11", 162 lbs (73.5 kg), two metal hips, back surgery, two rebuilt shoulders, a plastic eye socket from a surf injury, and multiple concussions which mess with my vision and my balance.
Stability: The moment I hopped on the Ghost (137.8 L), I could feel that the dimensions tell a much bigger story than the volume number alone, since it has just the right amount of increased flotation and stability that I wanted over the SP25 (137.7L). The Ghost is 2" longer, ?" wider, 1 1/16" wider a foot off the nose, ?" thicker (due to a domed deck), very slightly fuller pulled-down rails, and weighs 1.5 lbs more. Seems about right for the increased stability I was looking for. As I had hoped, it does not feel as corky as my larger Tabou, which has too wide a nose and much thicker rails than I would like. With all my surgeries and new body parts, getting to my feet is not easy on the SP25, and it was noticeably easier on the Ghost. Once up, it was noticeably more stable than the SP25, due largely to the large increase in width in the front half of the board, as well as being 2" longer with slightly fuller rails. (To confirm the difference in flotation and stability, my wife, who usually surfs a 114-liter board, found the SP25 to be challenging this morning when we switched boards, and found the Ghost to be super comfy.) The Ghost is not nearly as stable as the 145-liter Tabou, but has the priority benefit that I expect the Ghost to surf a lot better, more like the SP25 (or better?).
Paddling: Great paddling speed with more glide than either the SP25 or the Tabou. The paddling speed reminds me a little of my old 8'10" Speeed. Even though the Tabou is a much bigger board, it does not paddle as fast or glide as well due to an abrupt rise in the very wide nose-rocker which causes the board to plow water and decrease glide. When the wind came up today, I had to paddle quite a ways into the wind chop to get home, and the Ghost handled that beautifully.
Yaw: Even with the tiny fin set that I like, the 8'10" Ghost has minimal yaw, much less than the SP25, probably due to the more curvy outline of the SP25.
Wave catching: With a flat forecast, I expected to just paddle around this morning with no hopes of catching any waves. When I reached the usual peak, I was surprised to see a tiny one-foot roller coming in that may or may not break. I decided to see what the Ghost could do if I paddled for this tiny roller. It easily caught the roller long before it broke and quickly accelerated to a surprising speed for a gutless little wave. I ended up catching a dozen knee-high waves more easily than if I had been on any of my other boards. Impressive, even though that is not the size of wave I would normally bother to surf.
Surfing: I will have to wait for some decent-sized waves to get a feel for how the board surfs. A few of the knee-high waves had enough of a drop to feel nice bottom turns that brought me right back up to the lip, so I am optimistic. Cutbacks and roundhouses were sluggish, but I attribute that to the tiny, gutless waves. I am excited to get this board in some decent surf and see what she can do.
Tales of the tape: Even though the Ghost is 8'10" compared to the 8'8" SP25, the functional rail line is actually ?" shorter on the Ghost due to the 2.5" diamond tail compared to the square tail on the SP25. My theory is that the diamond tail gives two more inches for glide and stability when the board is flat, but yields a shorter rail line to aid in tight carving when up on edge, a nice combination of features if it works as I expect.
The Ghost is described as having a fairly flat tail rocker, but when I measured the boards lying flat on the floor, the Ghost has 1" more rise in the tail than the SP25 which is quite a bit. I am hoping this will show up when surfing decent waves.
Fin placement is an interesting topic. The Ghost is described as having the fin cluster moved forward, which I think is relative to the Sunova Creek. However, fin cluster measurements depend on where you measure from, the end of the rail line or the tip of the diamond tail. If you measure from the tip of the diamond tail, the fin cluster is about 1 ?" further forward on the Ghost compared to the square tail of the SP25. However, if you measure from the end of the rail line where the diamond tail cuts in, which I think is a better reference when carving up on rail, the fins are very slightly further back on the Ghost compared to the SP25. On today's tiny waves, I had to reach my rear foot back the same amount on the Ghost as I normally would on the SP25 to get the best performance.
The Ghost is described as having a very flat deck, but it is actually moderately domed compared to the SP25 which has a truly flat deck. I prefer the slightly domed deck on the Ghost, partly because the slight dome gives great tactile feedback in terms of exactly where your feet are relative to the mid-line and the rails.
The rail profiles are similar in general, but there is a definite difference in how the rails go up to meet the deck. The SP25 has pinched-down, low apex rails, with a paneled upper section that slants up to meet the flat deck at a definite angle. The Ghost has a similar low apex rail that gradually curves up to blend into the moderately domed deck. The end result is that the Ghost carries slightly more rail volume as it curves up to meet the deck. This allows the SP25 rails to penetrate the water slightly easier than the Ghost for my weight, while the tiny bit more volume in the Ghost rails provides a bit more secondary stability. For me, both work very well and both are slightly underwater when standing. Both rails allow for an initial tippiness that makes it easy to go rail-to-rail on a wave, while creating a nice secondary stability as the rails sink enough to encounter the volume of the thicker decks. (One of my other boards has a similar low rail profile but with a center thickness of only 3.7", which creates similar primary stability but with less secondary stability.)
A big shout-out to the team at Sunova. Like all Sunovas, I love the wood grain on the deck and bottom. Whoever picked out the wood for the deck of my board took the extra trouble to match the curvature of the wood grain to the curvature of the outline template in front of the deck pad. I love it, and appreciate the craftsmanship involved in picking out a sheet of wood whose grain would match the outline of the board. Very well done!! At first, I was not sure I would like the darker color of the wood compared to my previous Sunovas (Speeed, Flow Version 1, SP25), but I have come to love it, especially highlighted by the gold colored rails and deck pad.
There is only one thing I would change. For a decade now, all stock boards from Sunova have come with the same original 5" fin sets that are way too big and with way too much rake for optimal performance, even for big guys like Creek himself. These are high-quality fins, but all of my Sunova fins sit in a drawer because they are just too big and with too much rake to allow for high-performance SUP surfing on boards much over 8'. I am not sure how many people will agree, but I find that the average-sized SUP needs smaller fins than the average surfboard because the longer rail lines of SUPs provide plenty of drive. All the dozens of SUPs I have ridden between 8.5'and 9.5' worked better with smaller fins with less rake which allows for tighter turns and more maneuverability. I would love to see Sunova ship boards with fins more suitable to the board size for best surfing performance. I would agree with Creek who prefers 4.7" sides with 3.5" to 4" centers with not too much rake all around. If Sunova wanted to ship me some fins in that size range, I would be happy to test them.??
Select to expand quoteobijohn said..
I would agree with Creek who prefers 4.7" sides with 3.5" to 4" centers with not too much rake all around. If Sunova wanted to ship me some fins in that size range, I would be happy to test them.??
Note that Creek uses Quobbas. Using the same sizes as him, but with normal fins won't get you the magic :-)
I am looking at getting a board with a lot of glide for high tide waves. I currently have a JL super Frank which I love but find it misses waves because my paddling skills are not great. Do you think this would fit the criteria? I have had a longboard style but I prefer to surf from the middle of the board. Thanks
I have only ridden a Super Frank once, so take this with a grain of salt. I generally find that boards with very wide noses like the Super Frank tend to plow water in front of them which creates a sort of bow wake that the board has to overcome in order to start planing. A nose outline like on the Ghost tends to part the water better at the entry while still providing planing width further back in the template. So, yes, given boards of the same size, I would expect the Ghost to glide onto high-tide waves more easily. Part of the design intention of the Ghost was to make it easier to catch small waves and I certainly felt that. Check out some of supthecreeks YouTube videos where he catches 6" non-breaking rollers on the Ghost.
Hey jvriesinga.
After I shared my opinion based on just one test morning, I decided that I needed to get the board into the conditions you asked about and see how it goes. This morning was a higher tide with almost no waves breaking other than an occassional six inch to one foot crumbler that would quickly back off due to the high tide. The Ghost easily caught everything that came through even though my wife was laughing at me and kept saying there was no chance.
The final test came at the end. This little reef is about 150 yards offshore so we always try to ride the last wave in as far as possible after it backs off into a rollling swell which is usually less than halfway to the beach. If I keep paddling as hard as I can to stay on the roller after it stops breaking, I can sometimes make it three quarters of the way to the beach and that is only if the surf is at least three feet out on the reef.
Sometimes when it is tiny like this with a high tide, we paddle out on our fourteen foot downwind boards which will easily ride the tiny rollers the full 150 yards right up to the beach. Today, the last wave I caught was one of the smallest that crumbled into white water for just a few feet before backing off into a roller. To my amazement, the Ghost coasted the full 150 yards to the sand on an unbreaking roller with just the occasional paddle stroke to keep it going. In the hundreds of times I have come in from this break, I have never had a board, other than our fourteen footers, make it to the beach, or even come close, without sizable surf and
full sprint-power paddling the whole time.
So, yes, I can now say from experience that the Ghost has incredible glide in small high-tide waves, breaking or not.
Great review, thanks for that.
I have the 8'8 SP25 and was toying with the idea of getting the 8'10 Ghost. Your review answered a lot of my questions.
Cheers.
Select to expand quoteSteveo1 said..
Great review, thanks for that.
I have the 8'8 SP25 and was toying with the idea of getting the 8'10 Ghost. Your review answered a lot of my questions.
Cheers.
Hi Steveo1
Since you have the 8'8" SP25 and are considering the 8'10" Ghost, here is some reinforcement of my original post based on my second day of catching tiny waves on the Ghost and comparing it to the SP25:
1. It is way more stable, no comparison.
2. It is way more fun to paddle out on because of the stability and the amazing glide. If there were no waves and the water was glassy, this is a board I could choose to just go out and enjoy a paddle down the coast.
3. It glides onto tiny waves like it has a motor.
Unfortunately, I can't speak to how it surfs since we have not had anything over two-foot crumblers. I will update once we get some decent waves, which sadly won't be for at least four or five days according to the forecast.
Thanks for that.
Definitely things to consider. Looking forward to your review once you get it into some good surf.
Cheers.
I would add that the SP25 also has a forward fin placement, just like the Ghost - when compared to other performance boards.
When I spoke to Bert about it, he said on the length of boards I was looking at (around 8'8" if I recall correctly), fin position was the same. He did add that Sean Poynter has his fins set further back than the stock retail boards.
Bert also said to me that the SP25 has a boxier rail (compared to the Ghost) aimed at weaker waves, to give more skate. Where as the Ghost has a bigger range of waves it works in.
Select to expand quoteHoppo3228 said..
I would add that the SP25 also has a forward fin placement, just like the Ghost - when compared to other performance boards.
When I spoke to Bert about it, he said on the length of boards I was looking at (around 8'8" if I recall correctly), fin position was the same. He did add that Sean Poynter has his fins set further back than the stock retail boards.
Bert also said to me that the SP25 has a boxier rail (compared to the Ghost) aimed at weaker waves, to give more skate. Where as the Ghost has a bigger range of waves it works in.
Hoppo, thanks for joining the conversation.
When I measure from the rear corner of the rail at the start of the diamond tail or square tail to the rear base of the front fins, the distance is pretty much the same on the SP25 and the Ghost, as you said. If I measure from the center of the tail, the difference in shape between the square tail of the SP25 and the diamond tail of the Ghost adds another 1.5" of forward fin placement on the Ghost. I think the corner of the rail makes the most sense to measure from, which makes the two boards about the same as you said. Since the Creek also has a diamond tail like the Ghost, measuring from the tail end of both those two boards would probably make the fin cluster over an inch further forward on the Ghost, as we saw in the design drawings.
You made me curious about the rails, so I set the two boards up side by side on edge again to compare the rail profiles which are quite different through the mid-section. The SP25 follows a slanted straight line from just above the apex up to where that line meets the flat deck. The Ghost follows a continuous curve from the apex up to the curved deck which means the rails are thicker during that round transition from the apex to the deck. I would not call either rail boxier at the apex, but the Ghost definitely has more volume in the rails as they transition from the apex up to the deck. This is something you can feel by hand as well as on the water, where the rails of the SP25 definitely penetrate into the water more easily than the Ghost, which is one source of the extra stability of the Ghost, as well as why it sits a little higher in the water despite having the same reported volume in my case. As the deck thickness tapers down towards the nose and tail, this difference in rail profiles starts to disappear, and the two boards become very similar.
The extra volume in the rails of the Ghost has worked well in the minuscule waves we are having right now, but I am curious and hopeful about how the higher volume in the rails will still work for my weight in bigger surf. If it is an issue, I may use the SP25 in those conditions where I know those lower volume rails will penetrate more easily.
Great review Obi really like the detail and the comparison with the SP25 and am interested in your experiences with the ghost. Can't wait for you to get it out in better quality surf and feedback.
I'm putting a lot of time and thought in deciding what would be the best sunova sup to have as a two piece for travel and home and because of the added investment it has to be a quiver killer to handle different conditions and I want it to be a forever board. So to hear your mid 70's and frothing on this is music to this mid 60's bloke.
I'd swap out my 8'10" smik hipster which has been a great board to grow on and a mate of mine is probs going to pick it up.
Fly in the ointment is Rick and Sunova are working on a big wave version of the ghost, if I read Creek's recent comments on Youtube right and was hoping he'd chime in on this thread. However I think this ghost may have the all round capabilities I'm looking for.
Thanks for the effort and let us know how it goes in good waves
Hi backbeach.
Like you, I considered the new Ghost that is being designed for bigger surf. From what little I have heard, it has a bit more kick in the last foot of the tail rocker, a more drawn-in and more rounded tail, a narrower wide-point with about 10 liters less volume for the same length, and maybe a more dropped-down rail profile. I don't know how close they are to the final design, so all that information may already be out of date.
For my needs, I decided that I wanted to go with the current Ghost; I want the width and rail volume for stability in our often lumpy conditions. Yesterday morning, the lineup was a mess of cross swells coming from every direction, and the Ghost easily fulfilled my stability needs. I did not want to add any more length than necessary to achieve the volume I want because I still like to strive for vertical surfing, and extra length tends to get in the way on small to mid-sized waves. Extra length also makes it harder for me to get my rear foot right over the fins which is important to me. 95% of the time I am surfing in hip-to-head high conditions, with the largest being occasionally head+half. I am pretty confident that the current Ghost, with its wider and flatter tail (still more tail rocker than my SP25) to keep up speed in small to medium surf, as well as the easy wave-catching ability, will be just what I want for up to head-high. I am hoping that it will have no problem handling head+half. I will post here when I finally find out.
Sad to say, there hasn't been any surf over thigh-high since I got the Ghost, so I still can't speak to surfing performance. The one decent wave I rode so far surprised me in how much the Ghost hooked the end of the bottom turn to snap the board back up the face. It felt like the combination of the winger, the diamond-tail shortening the rail line of my 8'10" down to that of my SP25 8'8", and the tiny 3.6" trailer fin allowed for a very nice release of the tail when I pushed hard off the bottom. Hopefully that was just a small taste of what this board has to offer.
I finally got my new 8'10" Ghost out in some decent (not great) 17-second chest-high surf: enough to get an initial feel for how it surfs. The downside of these test days was the sizable and crazy amount of wind-chop and cross-rollers coming from two different directions. The ocean was so wonky that I would not have stayed out on any of my other boards, but the stability and paddling power of the Ghost made it doable (at least for a while).
As mentioned before, it is a fast paddler and the best I have ridden at catching waves, whether they are tiny or messed up with cross-chop. It handled everything from catching swells long before they broke, to late takeoffs dropping in with the lip through cross-chop.
Yesterday had the first waves big enough to drop in with sufficient speed to try some decent bottom turns. With the rear foot back over the front fins, where the bump in the rail outline is located, the board was happy to make tight turns right back up to the lip. It's nice that the deck pad has a small strip of a different color and texture to tell you the location of the front fins and rail winger. It is easy to feel how the board likes to turn around that subtle winger as it is designed to do. The board does look and feel slightly bigger on the wave than my 8'8" SP25, due largely to the wider and thicker nose right in front of you, but the bottom turns feel just as good, or some even felt slightly better than the SP25, because of the bump in the rear of the Ghost outline. The Ghost was fun and easy to snap turns into all the mini-bowl sections created by the cross-rollers. The shoulders of the waves were too slow to try any fully-carved roundhouses, so I am still waiting to see how that goes.
One thing that is quite noticeable is how much more forgiving the rails are on the Ghost compared to my other boards. When taking off or riding on waves with a lot of sizable cross-rollers like the last two days, it is easy to catch a rail, especially on re-entries. There were several instances where I could feel a cross-roller trying to grab my rail in a way that would have likely caused a fall on my other boards. The Ghost seemed happy to adapt to the cross energy without it catching the rail and dumping me.
The one thing I was feeling a little short on that first day was being able to generate as much speed as the SP25 by pumping the board down the line or by driving hard off a bottom turn. For the second day, I changed the front fins from my NVS Peregrine 4.75" front fins that are very upright with minimal tip rake, to some Futures Colin McPhilips 5" fins that have a little more surface area and tip rake but are still relatively upright with much less tip rake compared to something like the Sunova fins. (Colin is my favorite SUP surfer, as well as being a multi-time World and US Champ in longboarding.) This fin change made a world of difference, and I was able to generate a lot more speed through and around sections. My best theory is that the Ghost is about two pounds heavier than my SP25, so it needs a little more drive from the fins to accelerate it out of turns. I kept the little 3.6" NVS Taylor Knox trailer fin in place, though I may try putting in my NVS Peregrine 4.25" center fin for even more drive. That fin has a cut-off tip, so hopefully it won't stiffen things up too much. I was curious to see if the additional drag from the larger front fins would negatively affect the board's glide, but on the way home, it was still able to glide 50 yards back to the beach on a few inches of no-longer-breaking swell energy after the wave closed out at the end of a ride.
So far, the Ghost is everything I was hoping for in terms of more stability in wonky conditions, better paddling speed and glide, while not losing any surfing performance compared to my SP25.
I was wondering how the ghost would go off the back foot given a focus on forward fin placement allowing it to manouvre from the middle of the board and stoked with your results Obi. Wondering if that means it's got a fairly big sweet spot or just different responses dependent on ur foot placements-probably the latter. The ghost has got two old school board designs I've always liked i.e. flyers/bump and diamond tail. When I was a young bloke I had a 7ft Wayne Lynch flyer diamond tail single fin surfboard when he was shaping for Ripcurl and it was a fkn ripper.
We'll often have more than one swell and swell direction in the water where I surf, and it's mainly beachies so great to here that the board is comfortable in the rough and tumble, and it sounds like it's happy in the pocket too.
I'm a signed up member of the Quobba fin fan club (I think Colas may be El President!) and I'd put money on it that Creek would have feedback on how the ghost performs with them-and I'd hazard a guess they may go somewhere to bridge that gap with ur SP25?
Cheers mate
Select to expand quotebackbeach said..
I was wondering how the ghost would go off the back foot given a focus on forward fin placement
As I love to have the center fin forward, my advice would be to be sure to engage the rail when moving your rear foot on the stomp pad.
Basically, always remember to also "pinch" the inside rail when driving from the rear foot.
This way, you avoid the "squirreling" that can happen at speed with the rear fin(s) forward.
Select to expand quotebackbeach said..
I was wondering how the ghost would go off the back foot given a focus on forward fin placement allowing it to manouvre from the middle of the board and stoked with your results Obi. Wondering if that means it's got a fairly big sweet spot or just different responses dependent on ur foot placements-probably the latter.
Hi backbeach. I think your idea of"the latter" is spot on. With my setup of 5'" moderate-rake front fins, which would be unusually large for a thruster setup, and a tiny 3.6" trailer fin, I get the best performance with my rear foot right over the winger, which aligns with the large front fins. It will do easy roller-coaster turns down the line with the rear foot further forward, but will not go vertical. If I put my rear foot behind the front fins, it can be fun to overpower the tiny trailer-fin and slide the tail around for tight twin-fin style roundhouses. I wonder if using a more common thruster setup with all three fins being close to the same size would require moving the rear foot further back on the stomp pad, but I love the feeling of my hybrid thruster/ twin+trailer setup.
When you read about the fin cluster being further forward, remember that is in relation to the Creek, which is how the original CAM drawings and measurements for the Ghost were done. If you measure from the tip of those two matching diamond tails, the fins are further forward on the Ghost, but I am not sure that is the best place to measure from when comparing fin placement to other tail shapes. With tails like diamonds, squash, swallow, etc., I think it makes more sense to measure from the rear corner of the rail line, and not the end of the center line, which is not really involved when you are carving turns on a high rail angle. If you measure from the center line, diamond tails and swallow tails are going to yield wildly different fin placement measurements, so I think it is better to compare measurements from the rear corner of the rail lines on more exotic tail shapes. When I compare the rail-line length of the 8'8" SP25 and the 8'10" Ghost, the corner of the rail-line of the Ghost is actually half an inch shorter, which could explain why it can turn as well as the SP25 with its shorter center-line. Measuring from the rear corner of the rail line also makes the fin cluster very slightly further back on the Ghost than on the SP25, a very different result than when comparing it to the Creek with its matching diamond tail.
Yesterday I had the first chance to get the board out in some good quality surf. Not big at waist to chest high, but clean and fast over a shallow reef at low tide. The board was fast pumping down the line, which allowed me to finally test it out on some roundhouses. The board blew me away with how quickly it snapped around 180 degrees, which I think was a combination of the bump in the rail outline helping to release the tail, and being able to completely release the tiny trailer fin I had switched to. I got three of these on one wave so I decided it passed the roundhouse test. One thing I am working on is how far I need to move my back foot from rail to rail due to the widish tail. If I do that, the board loves tight turns; if not, it just yawns at me.
I am very happy with the current fin setup now that I have tested it in decent waves. I would say the board now outperforms my SP25 in terms of how tight it will turn, as well as in glide and stability.
Hi Colas. Like you, I would often prefer to run the rear fin forward on a thruster setup where the three fins are of roughly equal size. My current setup uses fairly large 5" front fins combined with a 3.6" trailer fin designed to be used with a twin-fin setup. The feeling on a wave seems to combine the best of a thruster setup and a twin-fin+trailer. The reason I mention this is that most tiny trailer fins designed to be used with twins, are mounted back on the base. A standard-sized center fin would feel stiff mounted this far back, but having the tiny trailer mounted back provides some forward drive when wanted, along with the option of overpowering and releasing the trailing fin for some tight twin-fin action.
Select to expand quoteobijohn said..
Hi Colas. Like you, I would often prefer to run the rear fin forward on a thruster setup where the three fins are of roughly equal size. My current setup uses fairly large 5" front fins combined with a 3.6" trailer fin designed to be used with a twin-fin setup.
Cool setup.
I go a hybrid route now: I just remove the swept back tip of the rear fin, as I found out it is what give the feeling of stiffness in rear fins (but provide the feeling of reliable hold in front fins). This way I can keep the hold of the base + mid sections of the rear fin while loosing it up.
My mate has suggested I put a US box in it and other boards as it gives the flexibility to move the centre fin as is the case with the hipster twin. Your set up Obi sounds like a 'twinzer'-basically large sides with a small centre.
US box would also allow for a 2+1 set up which would probably be redundant for the ghost.
Any thoughts?
Select to expand quotecolas said..obijohn said..
Hi Colas. Like you, I would often prefer to run the rear fin forward on a thruster setup where the three fins are of roughly equal size. My current setup uses fairly large 5" front fins combined with a 3.6" trailer fin designed to be used with a twin-fin setup.
Cool setup.
I go a hybrid route now: I just remove the swept back tip of the rear fin, as I found out it is what give the feeling of stiffness in rear fins (but provide the feeling of reliable hold in front fins). This way I can keep the hold of the base + mid sections of the rear fin while loosing it up.
Very interesting Colas. I'm a quad guy so Quobba sold me an extra rear fin but I felt it was a bit stiff. I put in a set of Futures Controllers and like them much better but they aren't as fast as the Quobbas. I may have to try your modification as it looks a lot like the Controllers rears.
Select to expand quotebackbeach said..
Your set up Obi sounds like a 'twinzer'-basically large sides with a small centre.
Just nitpicking, Twinzer is a canard quad, small "jib sails" in front of twin fins.
www.surffcs.eu/cdn/shop/files/FCSII_Panda_Twinzer_2_1200x_40898350-6c4b-4540-85d3-ae26398b5209_1200x.webp?v=1707823540
Select to expand quoteSUPaddict said..
Very interesting Colas. I'm a quad guy so Quobba sold me an extra rear fin but I felt it was a bit stiff. I put in a set of Futures Controllers and like them much better but they aren't as fast as the Quobbas. I may have to try your modification as it looks a lot like the Controllers rears.
You can see more of my experiments in cutting Quobbas at:www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/Quobba-Fins-?page=10#2788032
And more in French at: forum.gong-galaxy.com/viewtopic.php?t=15156
Too bad Quobba never produced their rear quads, you can look at how the prototypes also basically had just the raked tip cut off:
ttps://
Select to expand quotebackbeach said..
My mate has suggested I put a US box in it and other boards as it gives the flexibility to move the centre fin as is the case with the hipster twin.
Also, using a finjak allows you to move the rear fin around between waves on the water.
This is invaluable to understand the effects of the rear fin position...
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/Quobba-Fins-?page=7#2683476
Select to expand quotecolas said..SUPaddict said..
Very interesting Colas. I'm a quad guy so Quobba sold me an extra rear fin but I felt it was a bit stiff. I put in a set of Futures Controllers and like them much better but they aren't as fast as the Quobbas. I may have to try your modification as it looks a lot like the Controllers rears.
You can see more of my experiments in cutting Quobbas at:www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/Quobba-Fins-?page=10#2788032
And more in French at: forum.gong-galaxy.com/viewtopic.php?t=15156
Too bad Quobba never produced their rear quads, you can look at how the prototypes also basically had just the raked tip cut off:
ttps://
You think there's a chance they'll start selling the rear quads?
Select to expand quoteSUPaddict said..
You think there's a chance they'll start selling the rear quads?
I don't think so.
I think they made a lot of bad business decisions, both in distribution model (in France they chose a small unknown shop that does not even import all their models instead of the #1 fin retailer, despite all my efforts) and products (the niche, hard to produce, slider fin instead of more sizes or rear quads or twin fins that would have had a much bigger market and easier to make).They seem to have become dormant. Their facebook pages have been dead for 2 years now.
I would contact them directly and see if you can beg them in selling you one of their rear quads prototypes.
Select to expand quotecolas said..SUPaddict said..
You think there's a chance they'll start selling the rear quads?
I don't think so.
I think they made a lot of bad business decisions, both in distribution model (in France they chose a small unknown shop that does not even import all their models instead of the #1 fin retailer, despite all my efforts) and products (the niche, hard to produce, slider fin instead of more sizes or rear quads or twin fins that would have had a much bigger market and easier to make).They seem to have become dormant. Their facebook pages have been dead for 2 years now.
I would contact them directly and see if you can beg them in selling you one of their rear quads prototypes.
Yeah - I emailed them a while back asking and never got a reply. I figured they were out of business or didn't like me because I'm American. I wouldn't blame them for the latter. In my defense I'm Californian (or as we like to say "Southern Canadian") please don't hold it against me!
Re-profiled my rear fins today; I'm not going to quit my day job but I think they turned out ok. We'll see this weekend. Included a shot of the Futures Controllers for reference.
Re-profiled vs stock:
Both re-profiled:
Controllers:
Select to expand quotebackbeach said..
Fly in the ointment is Rick and Sunova are working on a big wave version of the ghost, if I read Creek's recent comments on Youtube right and was hoping he'd chime in on this thread. However I think this ghost may have the all round capabilities I'm looking for.
Hi backbeach
Sorry I was so slow answering, but since this is not my thread, I wanted to let it play out a while before I chimed in.
We are working on a step up Ghost called the "Ghost Up"
The Ghost will not change, it is an awesome board as is.... the "Ghost Up" will be another option of this design with certain features that are designed to slow the Ghost down and cling to a steep wall a bit easier.
I will do a full thread on the "Ghost Up" soon, as I don't want to side track obijohn's review conversation.Select to expand quotebackbeach said..
I'm a signed up member of the Quobba fin fan club (I think Colas may be El President!) and I'd put money on it that Creek would have feedback on how the ghost performs with them-and I'd hazard a guess they may go somewhere to bridge that gap with ur SP25?
Cheers mate
I use several fin setups on my Ghosts
Quobba Black Carbon Mixed Thruster set is my standard go-to on all size Ghosts
I also have recently changed out the center Quobba for a 3.6" Ho Stevie fin (back fins in Ho Stevie Quad Set. they are 50/50 foil, so can be used in a center position)
This is a favorite setup because I love the drifty feeling of the tail with the small center.... super loose, still carvy and really fun! Select to expand quotebackbeach said..
I was wondering how the ghost would go off the back foot given a focus on forward fin placement allowing it to manouvre from the middle of the board and stoked with your results Obi. Wondering if that means it's got a fairly big sweet spot or just different responses dependent on ur foot placements-probably the latter.
I get closer to the tail pad on my 8'5, but still not back that far most of the time.
However:
Casso is firmly on the stomp pad of his 7'11 Ghost
He totally rips OH waves on it. His videos are on Vimeo, but you have to be a member to watch them, so I took screen shots to show his foot placement and the waves he rides his Ghost in
Here's a link to the video
vimeo.com/paddlesurfer
Pics of Andrew Cassidy on his 7'11 Ghost
I always love videos of Casso surfing. Looking at his foot placement in Creek's photos brings up something I have been playing with on my Ghost the past couple of days on some decent shoulder-high waves. On previous boards in the 8'10" to 9'0" lengths, when I got my rear foot far enough back to press against the kicker, the tail would start to ride low in the water causing the board to slow down and me to move my rear foot forward a few inches to keep linking turns. I always assumed that was because the kicker on boards that long is so far behind the balance point of the boards. On my new 8'10" Ghost, I have been experimenting with getting my rear foot right up against the kicker whenever I have good speed, and the board is able to keep speed through linked turns. I am wondering if the widish tail, the sharp rails in the tail, and the flatter rocker all combine to allow the board to keep speed, even when my rear foot is that far behind the balance point of the board.
Obijohn good post ,triggered a thought process,if the fin cluster is moved forward on the ghost, perhaps the stomp pad should be further forward as well?
