Hi all, this is a follow-on from the"Robin Mair is da man" thread where a few of you have been asking for ride reports on Robin’s quadmatic design… so here goes:
Firstly, im not going to comment on the design of the board as Robin summed this up perfectly when he posted the write up for this board in the quivremag. Only to say that from a design point of view it’s almost like the board was designed to suit the fins… But who am i to comment as such a novice in terms of experience as a shaper compared to the designer / shaper of this board. Link to the board as follows - http://www.quivermag.com/boards/mair-surfboards-2010-0
So, a bit of background to this board first - about 5 years ago I met Robin at his house in Hanalei. We spoke for a few hours which was an inspiration to speak to such an experienced but also dedicated and as those of you who have visited Robin in his shaping bay will know, fastidiously tidy shaper. Through this discussion, Robin showed me a number of boards he had shaped - some were his (the cuttlefish that was yet to be ridden) and some were for customers. One such board really caught my eye that had been shaped for a customer that was about to take it on a trip to South America. The board was (from memory… which may have slightly faded) 6’6" by 19 1/2" by 2 3/4" - it was purple and had a deep double barrel concave through the rounded pin tail… At the time, if id asked Robin to shape me a board, it would have been exactly that shape and dimensions… but the thing that really got me was the concaves. I was only around for a few weeks and there wasn’t time to get one of these shaped and finished so I went away with the board as a vivid memory.
Fast forward 4 years and I was planning a work trip to the usa with a stopover in hawaii on the way back… I thought this would be a good chance to order a board from Robin and pick it up on the way through - my surfing and the boards I ride has changed over this time so i hit up Robin’s website to get a few ideas and poped him a quick email as we have kept in touch via email over the years… In the first email was me thinking “I know exactly what I want” and basically named a model from the website, gave a few descriptions like “I really want those deep double barrel con caves” and gave some specific dimensions and thought we were on our way… Robin in his wisdom knew better and honored my request with a design matching the request and sent it with a descriptive email outlining that the design I requested will go fine, but he had been working on something that he felt would go heaps better… Enter the quadmatic. So a series of email exchanges followed to refine the shape, mainly with the dimensions and we finally landed on the 7-0 that you see in the quivermag (above link).
So - I’ve ridden this board in a variety of conditions over the last 3 months and the board just goes really well in all the conditions I’ve ridden it in.
The first thing i noticed when paddling the board is just how easy it is to paddle… The board is a wave machine and gets me in early on most wave I paddle for… But then once on the wave, this board really comes into its own - the tail gives plenty of control and the fin setup gives a surprising amount of manouverability for a board this length. (I’ll explain later)
So to start with, Robin recommended positioning the fins in the middle of the boxes for front and rear but on his, that he’d moved the rear fin all the way forward in the box. I stuck with the original recommendation for 3 surfs and then moved the rear fin as per Robin’s comment… The fins havnt been moved since!
so on the fins - its hard to describe and I don’t want to get too scientific but they really hold in well down the line… And then when turning, they seem to give you a lot of control but also seem to give you a “spring” out of your turns… Its kinda hard to describe to you without actually having you ride it. And again for a board this length, it’s surprising how easy it is to get it from top to bottom - the board and the fins just work so well together.
The best way to rate how well this board works for me is that I have a quiver of 12 boards, of which most get well ridden depending on conditions and normally over 3 or so months I will have utilized at least 4 different boards in my quiver… Over the last 3 months this is all I have ridden
Mahalo for posting this report, stoked the board is working out for you. I can’t believe how many of these I have orders for seems like everyone wants one, I think the idea of something that paddles really well and yet surfs insane has finally sunk in with some people. The reality is you can improve your wave count without sacrificing performance and the versatility really makes a difference in the number of boards you really need.
As you said a quiver killer indeed, bad for us shapers, but good for the surfer, at the end of the day that is all I care about, creating something that allows someone to have maximum fun with minimum hassle.
The link that Cam provided shows the profile, but I will attach it again here. I have also attached a photo of the shaped blank taken from the tail, it is a little fuzzy but you should be able to make out the concaves.
Yes, there is a well defined edge the entire length of the rail, the hard edge in the tail has a very slight break on it in order to allow the glass to wrap, the entire length of the edge is then built back up with resin and dialed back in during the sanding stage.
The thing that this particular photo does not show very well is that there is no vee between the concaves instead there is more of a bowl, the vee becomes more pronounced behind the concaves. The bottoms of the concaves are also pushed out closer to the rails. I shape the vee into the tail first and then add the concaves afterwards so the stringer is higher than the rails at the concaves. I actually layout a series of lines on the bottom to mark where the concaves are positioned and then make an initial cut with my planer to set the depth of the concaves, after that I blend everything in with a Surform that has a Microplaner blade, followed by various flexible sanding pads and Abranet screens.
I keep threatening to do a CAD drawing showing how the concaves are shaped and flow into the vee in the tail, but I have not found the time to get it done yet! Maybe one of these days I will get to find the time to do it.
Thanks tons Robin - Guys like you, sharing the depth of knowledge you have, make this place the place that it is… The greatest freakin’ surfboard site on the planet! Ha!
If you ever get out to Hanalei Kauai, you have to see Robin. There’s a gold mine of knowledge in his head. A real pro board maker. I was very impressed with the things he talked to us about, and I am so looking forward to trying his newest quad fin setup.
Robin, I can see how the bottom makes it hard for you to put the fin boxes in. That is so nice.
Sad thing is that I’m torn between making my own boards or stop making my boards and go back to buying really good ones from guys like him and all the other master builders.
Nice photo of the tail end of your board. Having been shaping a concave tail on an EPS bellyboard this afternoon, I can appreciate the precise blend you have achieved in those complex bottom contours. Seeing that photo reminds of what a hack I am.
I've said before that I consider you to be one of the best shapers on the planet and I'm sticking to it.
Good to hear from you and mahalo for the kind words!
But don’t be so hard on yourself you are a long way from being a hack!
Those bottoms do take a little work but they are so worth it for the performance you get. I have tested them on everything including old-style single fin guns and they just work insane, well worth the effort. It seems that over time I have been going a little deeper with the concaves, which has just added to the performance. I pretty much use this bottom on every board I shape now, because it does nothing but improve the performance of the board. I have tried it on everything from 6-0 fishes to 10-3 guns with equal success, really exciting.
As sharkcountry mentioned putting boxes in the concaves can be a bit of a bear but I have figured out a way to make it work consistently with ProBox, although I know my laminator cringes when he sees me coming, but he has it wired now!
Hi there Robin! long time no speak, as you may read on my other post im back in the game! if you see the vid in the post of me thats my 8'10 gun that i retro fit the probox quad to with help from you on the positioning! so thanks it still rocks, and just as luck would have it i come back to sways in time to see this post! wow thats all i can say, if ever theres a board that screams yes i want it, i need it that has to be the one! and of course knowing your fins and layout knowledge its gotta ride damn sweet, how much may i ask? know anyone who ships to uk?
Howzit Robin, Ian Vernon of Sunburnt Surfboards does some of the most radical concave bottoms I have ever glassed and then would want like 10 degrees cant on them,talk about cringing, but I always pulled them off for him. Who does your glassing these days,Dave Implomb or John Delaney? Aloha,Kokua
Dave Implom has pretty much always done most of my laminating. John Delaney used to do some of my balsa guns and standup paddle boards before Dave started doing epoxy, but now that he is doing epoxy he is doing those as well. Dave does good work!
Good to hear from you again. I checked out that van you are living in that thing looks cool. For some reason when I tried to watch the vid it said that it could not be found or something.
The Quadmatic is a sweet board and I have a few orders for them and everyone that has got one really digs them. Just finished shaping a 7-5 version and three more to do that length, followed by a 7-3, funs! I’ll have to get back to you on what it would cost to ship to the UK, maybe you should consider taking a trip to Hawaii!
I read on your web page that you might make a trip down under to Australia, that might be another possibility as I’m going to be going down there in a couple of months and will be setting up a shaping room there so that I can shape a few boards when I’m down there. If you are going to be there after I’m there I could make the board and leave it there for you when you got there and you could pick it up, just a thought.
I’m also going to start making my fins in Australia so that people can get them a little easier instead of having to order them from Hawaii.
But I will look into shipping costs but I’m willing to bet it is going to be prohibitive, although I might be able to piggy back a ride in someones container when they ship over a load of boards from California, let me look into it and get back too you, mahalo!
Howzit Robin, Yes Dave is a really good glasser and a good shaper also, he was one of BrewersGhost shapers til he and Dick had a falling out. Years ago when Dave broke his hand he had me come in and be his Ghost glasser and finish all the boards he had in the factory up Power House Rd. He's another one who would call me when he ran out of certain materials or FCS plugs and fins. It seemed like almost all the glassers called me for that ,Even Max when he had the factory that Dave took over. Dave and John both were there for me when I had questions about painting boards at first. Aloha,Kokua
I Know this is an old thread but was wondering if there are any others out there with a report on Mair boards? I was looking at photos of his 9’1" asymmetrical
All his boards look very interesting but There is little information on them. At least I have found little on his boards.
