10'+ Boards, let's see em..

Yes Cobra next year

Nice..

11 Sugar with a new rear end and belly

Geez, how good's that.
Thats the sort of shape that'd go well up here Mac.
Be keen to see how she turns out after glassing.
Sick.

Macaha,
whats the theory behind losing the rolled/v-bottom?
my 12' Munoz is surprisingly manoeuvrable, for a 12 footer, and I always attributed that to the v-Bottom....
that said, I also run the 12' Munoz with a set up that most would think was underpinned, so that's probably helping in loosening up the tail.

Here's the new one- I need to get a better pic of the outline/plan shape/whatever it's called.... the angle in the pool pic doesn't do it justice.
10'1" x 24" x 3 1/2"
2x 6oz deck with 6oz knee patch, 1x 6 oz bottom with 6 oz fin patch.
Given I'm heavy footed and tend to surf off my back foot, next board I'll ask for the deck patch to run further to the tail.... if there's ever a heel compression in this one!

I'd been slowly saving up to buy a 'real' 10' Tak In The Pink from Northcoast. I love my 10' "Epoxy Flyer" ITP, but the build quality ain't so great. Please note that the "Epoxy Flyer" is not considered an 'official' Takayama product in many circles.

I also love my 9'6" Tea Tree, but I'm a big guy, unfit and unskilled, so I grab the ITP over the Tea Tree 90% of the time.
Knowing Josh at Creative Army had a lot to do with the design of the Tea Tree, and I'm always fascinated with fin set ups, I emailed Josh asking about what fin set up was considered in the design of the Tea Tree. I mentioned that I was looking to replace my ITP (despite being somewhat committed to saving for a 'real' ITP), and asked about a couple of boards on his website and how they compared to the ITP and Tea Tree.
Josh came back, answered my fin question, and said that he'd just added a new board to his range that he felt combined the best elements of the Tea Tree and the ITP. I shot Macaha a message, given he seems to have a whole bunch of knowledge about board builders, even outside of McTavish!, and his response pretty much convinced me to drop the coin on a board build, sight unseen. Worth noting, this is my first 'custom' board.

I had a great and informative chat with Josh about my skill level, waves I ride, what I like in boards etc, discussed a number of different options in his range, but settled on this one. His standard dims for the board at 10'1" is 23 something " (3/4?) x 3 1/2". He suggested pushing it out to 24" to give it a bit more volume.

I picked it up this morning. Rocked into his place, board was on stands... first impression blew me away.
On the stand, it really had my favourite elements of the Tea Tree and my favourite elements of the ITP.
Carrying it to the car, the weight was really evident. Heavier than I expected, but it truly feels 'solid' - like if it smashed me in the shin like my ITP did, rather than shattering the rail (as per my ITP - but remember, this is the 'epoxy flyer'), I'd end up with pins in my shin.
Certainly heavier than any of my other 10'-ish boards. But heavy in a good way.

Drove to the Noosa 'woods', between the groynes. Was coming up to high tide, waves were mushy and fat. Paddling out, it really just felt like 'my' board. Yes, I bought, so it is mine. But having my colour combo, and how solid the board felt, it really felt like 'mine'. Took me a few paddles to get my positioning on the board right. Outside of poor wave selection (of the poor waves on offer), I was seemingly often too far back. Once I got that sorted, I started catching a few. Sadly, nothing of note to get a real feel for the board, but once I ran onto the minuscule inside sections, dodging people on the inside, it really feels like it has the 'magic' that the Tea Tree has. You think about where you want the board, and it's already there. I need some better walls to see it really perform.

Josh provided specific fins for me that he felt would give me a good balance of 'tip time' (re: hold) and maneuverability. It feels like it may have a little too much 'hold' given nose riding is something I only dream of. I'll give it a few surfs as is, and may swap in my Takayama fins off my ITP for a few runs. I'll grab a photo of the fins tomorrow too.

Got home, stripped my rushed wax job off, took a couple of pics for you lot, then started rewaxing it in the basement- where the beer fridge is. Every time I've hit the beer fridge this arvo/evening, and there's been a fair few trips, I look at the board and think "Yep, that's the one".
I should add (and I've already been waffling, so what's a bit more), I was really paranoid about stripping the rushed wax job off.
I bought the "Epoxy Flyer" ITP damn close to a year ago (a week off). Rushed wax job, three quick waves, stripped the wax and the deck was already showing more foot compressions than I thought possible with three waves. Stripped the wax off this one, not surprisingly, not a single indent/compression/mark on the deck.

Right now, i couldn't be happier.

And if you've read all this, kudos to you. Or you really need to get a life. One of the two. Maybe even both?

Cheers!

Beautiful board, Damned67. Great write up, too. I don't have a life, I even scrolled ALL the way back up to give you a thumbs up.

One of the first threads I ever stumbled upon in here, years ago, was a fin thread.
Back then the resident fin guru was Lacey.
And one of the first quotes I saw was about how many fins he owned and he said something like: "I have fins coming out my arse."
And I thought, this looks like a fun place to hang out.

P.S. More of Skip Frye's wisdom (from Surfer mag online: www.surfer.com/features/wisdom-skip-frye/ )

"Shaping and riding an 11- or 12-foot board really takes you back in time. The trim and the glide when you're on a board that long are incredible. I've heard a story of Duke Kahanamoku building himself a 16-foot board, back when he would mostly have ridden 10-foot boards. On his first ride he went so fast he screamed and hooted all the way to the beach. Back in the early '90s, those big boards were pretty much all I wanted to make. I felt like I was relating to the same stoke Duke had experienced."

So, in terms of the plan shape, this Cruz, the Tea Tree and the ITP would be virtually indistinguishable.

Comparing rocker between the Tea Tree and the ITP, the ITP is much flatter and the Tea Tree has a more nose rocker. This Cruz looks like a perfect blend of the two - flatter than the Tea Tree and more nose rocker than the ITP.
I love how flat the ITP is, but the lack of rocker in the nose makes it easy to perl/pearl.

While I clearly need to get some decent surfs on the new board, it really does come across as a perfect bled of the two.

And why do I seem to have a thing for 'high performance nose riders' when I can't nose ride (or 'high performance' surf)?
Takayama says/said the ITP is '2/3rds nose rider, 1/3 performance longboard', or at least I think it was Takayama.
For me, I think the '2/3rds nose rider' gives it great stability and the '1/3 performance longboard' keeps it loose on the tail, where I tend to surf from, lending to great maneuverability. At least, that's my thoughts.

Cheers!