Thanks guys, I awkwardly tried to measure Blurr and was about 4" inside step rail but of course quite thin on rails/nose/tail. I surfed my 29.5" wide JL Worldwide today in smaller surf, had a blast. I'm thinking I'll use my JL on smaller rough days, ST on smaller clean days and push it a little on size, hoping to talk to shaper next week, will report back.
Talked to Kirk at L41 - he's really nice and helpful. He said thinner would be more responsive, which sounded better to me than having extra float, so went with 7'6" x 28" x 4" for 100L. It will be interesting to see how stability changes going shorter but fuller outline, but I feel like I played it safe by staying at 100L, and I flatwater paddle my kids' 7' all summer so not too worried about row effect stuff. Nagging doubts that I should have gone shorter but whatever. Shipping prices have gone way up, which could have been a deal breaker, but I didn't mind a road trip to pick up. I'm psyched that for ~$1500US I can find a board in the exact dims I want with solid construction.
Only thing left to figure out is fins (sold separate). I can just use the quads on my JL board... I know people like controller setups on these, I'm a little unclear on whether the current Futures Controller that you see online are what people used with these boards when they came out -- Kirk mentioned something about this but I didn't totally follow. I could go Colas route and grind down my smaller orange Quobbas fins, but I have a unique ability to screw up DIY projects:) But currently my orange Q side fins just collect dust
The Machado fins look great and I can think of worse people to throw some money at. If you are interested in the controllers they seem to be available plenty of places online. I have always heard the were the fin of choice on boards like the l41. I have a set that I ran on a very wide tailed prone board(FireWire sweet potato) and I have to say they were magic.
Fins are pretty personal and board specific but only c-drives unlock the magic of my l41. On my narrower tail boards I use standard fin shapes and have played with qobba.
Sisurf, I confess I still have some c-drive fins, but no longer any wide tailed boards with twin tab boxes to use them in. Are you finding they work well in the l41 because they add drive with that long base while still being able to break them loose due to the skinny tips?
The c-drives just feel really good and drivey pumping or turning agressively on the wave and banking the board from rail to rail. Without them the board feels blah to me. I don't slide the tail but I think the design does combine drive with sharp abrupt turns, if you bank the board enough. I don't think they help at all on longer more carvey turns, cutbacks or just trimming down the line but they don't hurt much if at all. Mine are smalls which aren't really that small, most sup reports I read people were using the bigger ones, even twins in some cases. I've used the same c-drives on other narrower tailed boards and they didn't make much difference so I only have one quad set.
Select to expand quoteslsurf said..
The c-drives just feel really good and drivey pumping or turning agressively on the wave and banking the board from rail to rail. Without them the board feels blah to me. I don't slide the tail but I think the design does combine drive with sharp abrupt turns, if you bank the board enough. I don't think they help at all on longer more carvey turns, cutbacks or just trimming down the line but they don't hurt much if at all. Mine are smalls which aren't really that small, most sup reports I read people were using the bigger ones, even twins in some cases. I've used the same c-drives on other narrower tailed boards and they didn't make much difference so I only have one quad set.
Slsurf ,very informative ,thanks ,I have smik short Mac,that I would consider a pulled in tail,my first surf with med c drive thruster,was exactly how you described I will try with a quad set up med fronts small rears,my observations /concerns is the Smik rear quad position seems a long way back compared to other quad/ clustering,so the extra base on the c drives are a long way back/ stiff !? Any way I will try and put that out of my mind and give it a go,as I have heaps of small quad rears in normal fin's maybe I might stumble across a good combo ?
Sisurf, thanks for the info. I am not normally super picky about fins, but it's always good to learn that sometimes there is a cheap fix that will light up a board.
My new custom spitfire
7'10 x 27.5in approx 95 ltr
had it out this morning in waist to chest high, it excelled with machado quads after trying AM in thruster, I'll give the thrusters another chance in different waves.
For Dutch sloppy small waves, I was also searching to have a board that suits me well in these conditions.
The idea was to have a board that will pick up early and has a lot of glide, but then you need to go long, maybe 8'+ or so. I've tested a longboard shape, a 9'2 with 120 liters but it wasn't my cup of tea, even though I could take off earlier and it had a ton of glide. The pumping on the face and getting a few turns in before the wave is gone is for me more worth it than cruising around on longboard sup.
I've had different shapes and lengths over time and with the longboard shape ruled out, it had to be a short SUP. For the weak waves and small days is a wider tail recommended, it just picks up easier because it's wider. As I had already small boards (Hypernut 7'4, Gong Fatal 7'7) for small days I wasn't convinced either and I kept coming back the last years on my current boards a JL destroyer 8'0 for choppy days and the JL destroyer 7'7 for clean days. Nevertheless I wanted to try again a board that was dedicated to small waves. Read a bunch of stuff here on the forum and decided to go for the Gong Mob 7'6 Rad with 105 liters.
I'll post some pictures later this week, my first session was also already in the books, but nothing really to report on. Just learning the board really.
Select to expand quoteestingo said..
As I had already small boards (Hypernut 7'4, Gong Fatal 7'7) for small days I wasn't convinced either
Yes, the Fatal is not designed for weak waves, with its somewhat pulled-in tail, curved outline, thin rear rails, it needs some power and/or speed.
It works nicely for me in 1' hossegor oceanic waves, but would need at least 2' in the Mediterranean sea.
Its 'ecological niche" is small but somewhat powerful waves. i guess this niche was not enough to sustain a production line, and is not made anymore.
Yes, I agree and in the end, I sold the board to someone at the Mediterranean Sea in Italy, because I just couldn't use it a lot of times in the Netherlands. Eventhough the board was quick and turned great. I think with the Mob I have a better weapon to tackle those waves over here.
Here some pictures:
For me a tommo style board is the most fun in small, weak surf. wide nose and tail, minimal rocker to get going early and generate speed instantly.
I have a naish raptor 7'0 x 28 x 95L that makes knee high windslop a fun experience. it rides like an oversized wakeskate
Select to expand quotestamp said..
For me a tommo style board is the most fun in small, weak surf. wide nose and tail
Yes, but except for the square nose, that pushes water.
A round / roundish nose is nearly as stable, but paddles much faster, resulting in earlier wave entry.
Plus it has less swing weight and is less cumbersome in radical turns.
I am even tempted to reshape my Gong Fatal square/diamond nose into a round nose...
I,m very interested how you gonna like the Mob. We have quite specific conditions in the netherlands I,m still searching for that magic board as well.
Select to expand quoteJeroensurf said..
I,m very interested how you gonna like the Mob. We have quite specific conditions in the netherlands I,m still searching for that magic board as well.
Haha yes, exactly, good to hear that I'm not the only one. Let's hope this is the one, for those specific conditions here in the Netherlands.
Select to expand quoteestingo said..
Yes, I agree and in the end, I sold the board to someone at the Mediterranean Sea in Italy, because I just couldn't use it a lot of times in the Netherlands. Eventhough the board was quick and turned great. I think with the Mob I have a better weapon to tackle those waves over here.
Here some pictures:
So for me this looks like a mini longboard with a shortboard tail? Then this board should be fine on a steep wave as well.
Jimmylewis and sunova have some boards like this but gong is half the price.
Select to expand quotesurfinJ said..
So for me this looks like a mini longboard with a shortboard tail? Then this board should be fine on a steep wave as well.
Jimmylewis and sunova have some boards like this but gong is half the price.
Yeah, I bought the board with the 30% discount and it was a good deal to be fair. The JL Super Frank was also on my list for the small wave shape but it was indeed double the price. Today I had a good session with the Mob, but I'll wait still a few more sessions before I write a review about the board, I think it's fair enough to have a few sessions in before making any judgment.
For your shape explanation, I have to politely and slightly disagree with you, it looks maybe like that but it is definitely a different rocker, a wider swallow tail isn't particularly a shortboard tail, also the slightly reduced hips are a bit less than a hipster twin but still. Then you have quad only, for the wide tail which you don't see very often on a longboard. The bottom outline is also not really comparable to a longboard, and most important it doesn't surf with its length of 7'6 as a longboard either. Nah, maybe the only thing is the nose that is familiar with a longboard...
I agree and also think with its rocker you can take it out on steep waves as well but for those conditions, I'll take another board out, to be honest.
Select to expand quotesurfinJ said..
So for me this looks like a mini longboard with a shortboard tail?
Not really, It is closer to a fish in feel.
It is a mix of the old Fatal and One Gong shapes.
The "mini longboard" shape (with a longboard rocker) in the Gong line currently would be the 8'0" NFA and 8'5" Zero.
The tail is quite powerful, so it can be hard to manage in steep waves if you want to turn tight, especially if you oversize it.
The "Rad" variant (as opposed to the "Cool" one) has a bit more range in steep waves.
It is a shape designed to extract as much juice as possible from weak waves, so it can be handful in hollow ones.
Great to see this thread. I am also excited how the new MOB shape is working in the Netherlands.
I don't like the super fat tails but maybe it works in the Netherlands. I also had a search for a good board that fits the Dutch messy and mediocre conditions. I had the old MOB 7'4 (the red/brown one) the hypernut 7'8 and now the Fatal 7'4 for about 3 years.
The Fatal is for sure my favorite. I use it with a twinserXL+small center setup or normal large fin setup.
Just depends on the spot and waves. The Hypernut was a super easy and loose board, but I like the way the Fatal turns. Not on the tail/fins but on the rail. And it's much more aggressive. We sometimes get steep waves (Zandvoort) and then the Fatal is perfect. When the waves a more bulky or weak It's just a bit more work to get it up to speed. But it works pretty good for me.
The only thing is when the waves get much bigger the board can't handle the speed anymore. Maybe a SMIK Hipster is a better allround board, but no experience with that board. Looks like a great shape.
My set up right now for my 95+kg:No waves:
14ft flatwater racer.
still dissapointing waves: Starboard 10x29x123l longboard.
Dutch mush: Hypernut 7.10
Very good days at home, smaller or slower days at the Atlanticcoast during trips: Smik Hipster 8.3x31x123l.
Proper big Ocean days : Smik Spitfire8.6x30x125l.
Hoping soon to find a proper DW foil boards that might double up for sup surfing that just not breaking swell in the back.
Nice looking board what I can't believe is the price such a good deal for sandwich construction here on the west coast US everything that's available is more than twice that.If Gong was available in the states I would jump on that.
Select to expand quoteKDog said..
Nice looking board what I can't believe is the price such a good deal for sandwich construction here on the west coast US everything that's available is more than twice that.If Gong was available in the states I would jump on that.
That's the direct sales model (no middleman, no fragmented stocks to discount each year) + economies of scale.
Boards that are sold in France via the traditional network of distributors+resellers are also twice the price for the same construction.
But in shops the consumer can see the boards, try them... it has a price, there is no free lunch.
Select to expand quotestefanzeegal said..
I like the way the Fatal turns. Not on the tail/fins but on the rail.
[...]
The only thing is when the waves get much bigger the board can't handle the speed anymore.
Yes, that's the curved outline.
It rolls into the turn... but at speed it rolls too fast, you have to somewhat kill the speed to turn in bigger waves, can be tricky.
Select to expand quotestefanzeegal said..
Great to see this thread. I am also excited how the new MOB shape is working in the Netherlands.
I don't like the super fat tails but maybe it works in the Netherlands. I also had a search for a good board that fits the Dutch messy and mediocre conditions. I had the old MOB 7'4 (the red/brown one) the hypernut 7'8 and now the Fatal 7'4 for about 3 years.
The Fatal is for sure my favorite. I use it with a twinserXL+small center setup or normal large fin setup.
Just depends on the spot and waves. The Hypernut was a super easy and loose board, but I like the way the Fatal turns. Not on the tail/fins but on the rail. And it's much more aggressive. We sometimes get steep waves (Zandvoort) and then the Fatal is perfect. When the waves a more bulky or weak It's just a bit more work to get it up to speed. But it works pretty good for me.
The only thing is when the waves get much bigger the board can't handle the speed anymore. Maybe a SMIK Hipster is a better allround board, but no experience with that board. Looks like a great shape.
So true, the Fatal was also really a small wave machine. I still regret that I sold it, I had the 7'7 (120 liters) it was hard to learn the board in the beginning but it was worth it, on the waves was it turning really quickly and it was also lively.
With the Hypernut 7'8 (115 liters) I also had the same idea to have a good board for those small slow waves, but it wasn't my cup of tea, for this one I didn't regret to have sold it. It was more stable than the Fatal 7'6 due to its shape and tail, but it was nice to have tried the board as well. Colas made a topic on those differences between boards with Horizontal and Vertical surfing www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/Review/Boards-for-Vertical-or-Horizontal-surfing-?page=1
Coming days and next week, there should be some waves in the Netherlands, so I'll take the mob 7'6 (105 liters) for some more waves
Just added pictures for reference for small wave boards under 8'
I just ordered my small wave machine. A custom SMIK hipster twin with a round nose 8"4 x 32 @ 140L. At 6"3 and 100kg it should work well. I did have the 8"4 hypernut but found it lacked control and drive
Cool! Sounds good!Select to expand quoteSydneySUP81 said..
I just ordered my small wave machine. A custom SMIK hipster twin with a round nose 8"4 x 32 @ 140L. At 6"3 and 100kg it should work well.
Always curious how the hipster twin would go, people that have this board love it!
