Which Quad?

I've decided to step into the modern world and pick up a Quad on my next trip to Maui. I'm 72kgs and ride a 76 litre single and an 83 litre thruster mostly in powered up conditions.
I've read a heap of reviews and am leaning towards a 78 litre Goya or 80 litre OES. The other boards I like are the 83 litre RRD or 85 litre Quatro LS but would they be too big as my smallest board?
I've yet to ride a Quad but common opinion seems to be you can ride 5 litres bigger with no loss of high speed control - is this your experience?
thanks
Steve

+1 for the *board. 77 or 82 might suit considering what you have said in the post above.

I rode a demo 2010 model star quad last year and loved it, was one of those boards I just got on a clicked with straight away.

I have heard that about the Evil Twin as well, seemed like it wasn't the best. I can say from my experience the 2010 Quad was nothing like that.

I should say, I currently ride JP Twin and have never owned a starboard. But the ride of the quad was really nice.

But if you are going to Maui surely you will get the opportunity to test ride a few boards before making a purchase.

i have a 68litre JP twinser quad. favourite board ever. im 70kgs.

Quads are so 2011. I wouldn't be surprised if the Thrusters will dominate the market in the future. Stone has been building Thruster boards for years... I guess he was onto something long before anyone else.

Can't believe the Fanatic quad hasn't been mentioned yet! I'm ~72kg and ride an 86L because here in NSW it's often light and I like to get out as often as possible, it's just that touch more floaty than the 79L. It's my 'big board' but it shreds waves harder than my 75L gun down the line single...and i'm not even joking. I've never noticed a control issue (given board size/my weight) but I do tend to sail slightly larger boards so maybe i'm more used to it.

It seems as if everyone bought a Fanatic quad last year because they were everywhere, now you can take two things from this, they were the latest must have 'thing' or they were really that good. Personally I think they really are that good. I don't profess to have experience on a massive range of wave boards, particularly quads but i've never, ever ridden a board that shreds as hard on a wave as the Fanatic quad :)

PS it also looks pimp

The Fanatics look pretty good, a few mates have them and talk them up, prob in top 2 for production Quads.. i rode a custom quatro the other day, not too bad, fun on a wave could go into turns at full speed and it would grip, bit of a dog in the lulls, the tail was pretty thin and sunk like a brick, found this on the older model singles aswell..

The Evil twins were good boards, just needed different fins to stop that sticky feeling, dunno about the quads though they just didn't look right..

If you like twins you should stick with them, still heaps of fans of them in W.A, i'm still loving them..

If you cant find a production board you like get a custom..

I (74kg) purchased a 74 litre Starboard quad IQ after falling in love during a test ride last year. Haven't ridden any other quads and I was dubious about the quad concept being a 'gimmick' but I found I could really bury the rail (often too much) during my bottom turns without spinning out (even when overpowered) and it was still as loose as i wanted it to be on the cutback. It probably does not point upwind or plane as early as a single fin but I find it a pleasure on the wave (and that's why I bought it)! Yes you can afford to go bigger if you want earlier planing or stability, but if you have larger boards to compliment it, then i see no need to go bigger than a 77 litre.
NB! The original starboard quads (prior to IQ) had the larger fins at the front (with no option to reverse the setup) and although I haven't ridden one, i believe that this was a major flaw!
I've also heard/read good things about the Quatro and JP equivalents.

Stoked with my fanatic 86, check out Boards mag from a few months ago or board seeker on line. They did a big test on most of them and fanatic rated highly. Worth checking Oes though as build quality is exceptional.

yup... the 86 and 93 Fanatic Quad pretty trump all the tests in the wave board categories. They do take a bit more work to get planing but then again it's a wave board.

@jsnfok, thanks for the board mate. Took it out for a spin the other day and it's a great board.

I don't know what the thinking behind a FSW with a three fin setup is... but you'll find that quiet a number of the thruster and quad board have very narrow and thin tails (eg Fanatic Quad, JP Thruster). I am guessing the narrow tails make up for the extra lift the additional fins provide.

I tried the JP Thruster in both a single fin and three fin setup in overpowered conditions with a small sail. Personally I like the three fin setup better. The board is a lot let forgiving as far as spin outs are concerned.

Are there any benefits of using a tri or quad compared to a single fin for bump and jump conditions choppy, confused high wind mess water states. Im only asking as im starting to think about my sub 100 ltr board thats going to be a good all rounder. Im 70kgs but i dont want anything too small or it would never get used.

Have tested a few quads and twins on our local lake on windy days including 1 nato fully maxed 4.0 session and the single fin still trumps all for control and speed on the flat. Got the GPS out cause freestyle wasn't going to happen and it's short runs but got 34 on the single couldn't break 30 on the twin.

or instead of just tapping the red thumbs button like a zombie you could say:

Mussolini was doing some of the best moves and turns over the 2 days of competition and was seriously impressive on Tabou boards

Jaeger was doing the sickest turns of the whole comp on a custom thruster - sick enough to let him relax a bit on the jumping front

bring on the next wave of red thumb tap zombies!

I agree, if I were in the market hmmmm the 92 wood is nice.

Maye have to see what the annual work bonus brings.

Given that the person that seems to be dominating Corros is riding a Thruster your statement is obviously wrong.



As for Quads:

Pros: most drive through turns of any board style currently available

Cons: too much drag when free sailing

After having used Twins, Thrusters and Quads I'd say if it has to be one of those:

Twins: If you like to do lots of tail slides

Quad: If you primarily sail in down the line waves and want to maximise your fun.

Thruster: If you need an all rounder because you sometimes might also want to do some free sailing or onshore wave sailing (do we actually have that in Australia?)