That outline template used for (most of) your 5'5'' has some good history. I think I mentioned it on another thread but it should be on here also.
It's from a 1980 MTB ''rocket pin'' shaped by Robert ''Bobby'' Strickland. In the late 70s-early 80s Pat Mulhern was blowing minds (and winning lots of pro contests) on these boards. RS was a VERY talented craftsman who lost his life tragically in 2002. He influenced a lot of shapers, me included. He is missed....
Over the years, I've pulled that old piece of masonite out every now and then when I needed a section of it's curve. Recent years brought a little more use. I was fooling around one day, drawing up things just to look at, when it hit me that I could just truncate the tail and it would both move the widepoint back and widen the 1' tail mark. Now I'm using it a lot for boards like yours. It takes a diamond or swallow tip section very well.
The original was a double-wing rounded pin twin fin, so there's not enough left for most people to recognize. But I know there's a little history in every one....
i just picked up my new 5'5" quad coil and i love this thing i rode it the day i got it and that thing can do anything it held in the tube and it kept its speed through every turn it is just the greatest board i have ridden i also have a 5'7" coil that i have rode a couple times in nicaragua when it was over head high and that board is great coils are by far my favorite boards to ride in any conditions.i have a lost sd3 that is no where near as good as coils plus whenever i ride the lost in hollow waves i think its going to break but with my coils i just am 100% sure im safe with them.overall they are great boards
Oh and after recently being gifted with a (flat to V) Grygera 7'6" that works so well I am cursing my backyarder hubris, I'm done shaping for myself. A pro with 15 or 20K boards out of his planers knows way way way more about what makes this stuff work and *how to put it all together*, I don't care who you are.
I dunno, backyarder hubris is OK. Making your own board is still a very rewarding experience. From the pro's perspective, it at least gives people an appreciation for what we do. OTOH, experience counts and I like it when folks appreciate that.
n4s, I'll be shaping yours in the next couple of days - should be a fun one...
I done been relaxin'. Had a fun time at the beach with wife and son, played biology class with a bunch of kids; pulling little shrimp and crabs and fish out of clumps of sargasso weed. Then of course the prerequisite Labor Day cookout, now I'm watchin' college football and bothering the internet. Tomorrow when I go to ''work'', I get to shape surfboards. I feel relaxed..... and lucky!
Random action photo of Kyle Garson riding a COIL in the NKF contest this past Labor Day weekend. He went on to win the whole thing in some scrappy Florida surf:
Mike, looking forward to meeting you at the CFL Fish Fry next month. Looks like it's setting up to be a good time.
Great stuff, Lawless and Mike. It must feel good to see validation like that.
Mike- Dropped by NFE this past weekend, checked out a few of both your and Kirk's shapes. A good number of them had "hold for..." tags on them, and a friend of Rick's says he has been eying a 6'2" you shaped and might pick it up. You might be getting another call from Mark to re-stock soon.
Surfed with RDJ this past Friday, definitely not optimal conditons, but fun nonetheless. I got to check out his new widerboard. It appears you put a more quad-y fin setup on it, which makes sense since he prefers quads but wants the 5th box option, whereas I prefer thrusters (yes, I'm back to riding the widerboard primarily as a thruster) and wanted the quad option.
I'll post some pics and a review of my new widerboard/qualifier blend as soon as I get into some proper surf going right. Good story behind the board, how I got it, and where I surfed it, but so far it has only been out in lefts or junky surf and even though it's performed up to my expectations I'd rather wait to review it until I get a good day of rights on it.
The delivery story on rdj's board is hilarious (well, as it turned out. it could have been a 7000 mile truck ride from FL to NJ, and that might not have been funny). All's well that ends well. When you post your report and the story, I'll fill in what went on from our end. Good example of why we ship with solid, reliable carriers.
Sak, what's your analysis of your board quad vs tri?
And yeah, Kyle is a great guy to get on Coil. Kirk's been on fire shaping for pros lately!
Baord goes
great as a tri-fin.I’d say different,
not necessarily better, well maybe a little better when it matters (real waves
rather than sectiony windswell).I
choose the quad option when the wave has a bit more slope and abbreviated
bottom turns and skating/weaving through the more gutless sections is preferred
or necessary.Whenever I see a bit more
steep-ness or feel like I want the ability to dig deeper and pump rail to rail
or drive through bottom turns, I will choose the tri-fin option.I also tend to go for the tri when
predominantly on my backside since it seems to help me get a little more oomph and
distance out of my bottom turns and lets
me default back to bringing the board under control when I make a
backhand-related error (I admit I have a bit less dexterity on my backhand as
my forehand).
hmmm, good question. I move my back foot around a bit depending on the conditions and situation; its really second nature, but I have seen me adjust pretty significantly, even in mid-ride, in photo sequences and video. I'd bet I am probably a bit more back over the fin cluster when riding as a tri and probably more foreward when riding as a quad to facilitate glide, but I'd have to make a point of observing it in situ to be sure of that.
I know I do. Which is probably why I have so much trouble with thrusters. I feel like your back foot position is more criticial for a tri. If your back foot is too far foward the board bogs. Quads seem more forgiving with foot placement and more able to be front foot driven and I'm more of a front foot surfer from surfing fish so much. I spend most of my time trimming off my front foot and I feel like I don't shift my weight back to my back foot until I've already initiated my turn with my front foot. Watching hackysaky ride his board as a thruster I see him pumping and turning off his back foot and using his front foot more for control. I definitely see a difference in how he drives the board when it's set up as a quad. More carve and less snap. So far I have mostly ridden my Coil quad/tri as a thruster with a set of K 2.1's. Went right on a wave at Morro Bay and saw it closing out in front of me, I was able to cut back and go left with that quick thruster snap and pivot. Don't know if I could have done that as quick riding it as a quad. Quads seem to need to carve more to maintain drive rather than that snappy thruster pump. I have the Coil set up with the Strech template quad set for this next swell. Hope to get a better feel for it.
Now I'll have you looking at your feet while you're surfing, haha. Is that low going to get off you guys so it'll clean up a little and you can surf? Good reports from outer banks today, after many days of rain and onshores.
wouter, save up and get the fish. it is frickin awesome.
riderofwaves, check back on page 3 and you can see wouter's 5'9'' fish. It's hard to miss with the ''international distress orange'' halo color. I'm surprised the Dutch navy doesn't come and try to rescue him every time he takes it out.
I think he wants a board for sub-kneehigh windslop, I'm going to discuss that with him.
Ok been putting this off long enough. I bought a 6'5" step-up Coil from Mike about a year ago. It's a great board and I was really impressed with the Coil construction. This summer I decided I wanted to get a good wave shortboard. Basically for about stomach to head high and semi-clean to glassy conditions. A board that would really shine in good surf. Talked with Mike and we decided on a blend of his Widerboard groveler and Qualifier pro model.
I was planning a trip out to CA that involves a work trip and then a surf trip driving down the coast from SF to SD. Had some valuable help in the planning from afoaf. The trip was getting closer and it's around the time Mike said the board would be ready. Of course Murphy's Law strikes and about 3 days before the trip Mike emails to say the board is ready. Figures. I tell Mike about the trip and he gets stoked on the idea of shipping to me while I'm out there. Perfect! So off I go excited to test drive my new Coil on my CA road trip. When I get to CA I check the package tracking and it's scheduled to arrive the day after I'm leaving the hotel by SF and driving into Big Sur. I call up Mike and him and Kirk are going nuts on the phone with Fedex trying to figure out what happened because their shipping method should have had it to me before I left the hotel. I have to give credit to these guys for customer service because they really jumped on this and were in contact with me constantly. We figured out that that what would likely have to happen is that the package would have to travel it's route to the hotel, then be picked up again and shipped back to NJ. It wasn't really a huge issue because I had brought a small wave board with me and they were shipping it back to my job where it would be waiting for me when I got home. But... the day I check out of the hotel and go to work I happen to check the package tracking and it said "DELIVERED". Holy crap! So I haul back to the hotel, pick my new Coil and I'm stoked to start the surf part of my trip! Again, gotta hand it to Mike and Kirk. These guys were practically ready to fly out to CA and rescue the board if that's what it took. I really appreciated their effort.
But on to the board. When I unwrapped this board the first thing I thought was how DAMN SEXY it was. The outline just screamed, peeling jersey south swell to me. Perfect outline, rocker, and foil. I could go on about all the spots I surfed it, but I'll touch on my two favorite waves. Morro Bay was where it really lit up for me. CA was getting a south swell which means all lefts. It was semi-glassy and 3 - 4ft maybe 5ft on set. Nice long peeling lefts. I had the k2.1 performance core fins in. They really felt good in the board. Not too much fin, not too little. I really hate lefts, but I was able to carve and do a really hard cutback. The board is so light and lively, you feel that flex off the bottom turn and it returns the input you give it. Walking from the parking lot by the rock down to the beach I got a lot of looks and even heard a guy in a group surfers say, "check that thing out". So the Coil tech really was peeking some interest.
Next spot is Blacks Beach. My favorite break in SoCal. Beach breaky goodness just like home. Again it was all lefts and maybe head high. This board paddled great, and caught waves with ease. Bottom turns were smooth and controlled and carving was second nature. I was really wishing I had some rights, but the day was all lefts.
This weekend we had a low of the coast blowing hard ENE for several days kicking up a nice chest to head high swell for Saturday. East swells by us are notoriously closed out, but this was a weaker windswell so it was just peaky enough to get a mix of rights and lefts. Lefts were staying open a little longer, but I was determined to get some rights on the Coil. This time I dropped in the Stretch quad set. Conditions were a little bumpy and choppy and the waves had a good wobble on them. But even so, with the board set up as a quad I was able to beat sections, turn some hard carves and even smack a few close out lips. I could just tell how the board would be so MONEY in a nice lined up south swell, which is exactly what I wanted. A performance board for good waves. I could feel the speed difference with the quad set in there. No hard bottom turn necessary, just drop and take a high line for speed. If I was traveling somewhere that I knew I would be getting some good waves, this is the only board I would need to bring with the K 2.1s and the Stretch quads I'd be set for anything up to a foot or two overhead. Lately I mostly shape my own boards for waves under head high, but I wouldn't consider anything but Coil and Mike for a straight up performance shortboard. Just can't recommend it enough.
rdj tells the shipping story well, but here's what happened from our end.
We've shipped to California a lot, and it usually takes 3-4 days to get a board there. We had 5 days to work with. No problem, right? Well, I start getting these em from rdj that tracking indicates the board's not even close, and he's leaving to head south. So we go over to phone calls to figure out what we can do. Wait an extra day in SF? Re-route to some point in SoCal where he can pick up? Or my least favorite, re-route back to NJ, giving the board a 7000 mile truck ride and depriving rdj of using the board on his trip. So rdj and I are going back and forth on the phone while Kirk is talking to FedEx. We decided to go with the trip back to Jersey so as not to further foul up the ''play'' portion of rdj's trip. I wasn't very happy.
Then the next day my phone rings and I see rdj's # on the call. Uh-oh, I'm thinking. Scared to answer, but it's my job. What I don't know at this time is that Kirk had gotten a call from the hotel in SF a couple hours before telling him they had this package for someone who'd already checked out and left. Kirk told them FedEx would be back to pick it up on their next round. In the meantime, rdj, on a whim, had checked the tracking one more time and hustled back to the hotel to get it just before it got back on a truck bound for NJ. As soon as I heard rdj's voice on the phone I knew he had good news. Now we're laughin' but it was an adventure there for a while.
n4s, it was me you saw at the fish fry . i took out the widerboard first to then compare all the other boards to . that way it would be fresh in my head . i had the tom caroll aqualine front fins in and the strech rears in , both pushed all the way forward in the fusions . in any kind of soft wave this has been my set up of choice . so anyways , it was fun riding new stuff that day but nothing came close to my board . it cathes waves better , goes faster , turns better , absorbs surface texture better , has a wide open sweet spot , and seems to stick to my feet really well !
Well I finally got to break in my new board in style. I spent the last week on the outer banks of NC and ended up scoring an epic swell. We stayed in Cape Hatteras right around the corner from the lighthouse. The smallest it got for the whole week was chest high and wind was offshore somewhere every day. It ended up being an all coil trip for me. I didn't anticipate the size we ended up getting but my other coil 6'0"did great even when it got big. The swell models showed the low pulling north the night before we left leaving us with 3ft swell for the week. Instead it sat there pumping big swell the whole week and creating offshore wind for all but one day of our trip.Friday night and Saturday morning it was 3 foot overhead+ and hollow enough to fit a small sedan in the tube.
I rode the new fish for the first three days and then again on the last evening, the other board in the heavy stuff. I thought about taking the new one out on Saturday morning but I didn't want to take a chance at damaging it. I cracked the rail on my other board the night before on a heavy 6ft peak. Its difficult to damage these things! After a small cracked rail and a cut knee I was a little reluctant to subject my new favorite board to the 6-8ft hollow punishment on Saturday morning.
Anyways back to the review of the new board. This board is nothing short of a magic little race car. At this point I have only ridden it as a quad and as far as I'm concerned that might be the only way I ever have it set up. As the saying goes, if its not broken dont fix it! The board is really responsive and provides a lot of drive. I love the fact that it has fuller rails especially in front of the center line. I paddles like a dream and is pretty forgiving for my heavy front foot. I also notice that with one pump out of my bottom turn I can pretty much get around any section that even has a chance at being makeable.
I rode it with the fcs GMB quad template for most of the trip. The rear fins on this setup are pretty big and I think that helped for the most part since it was pretty hollow and steep even when the swell was smaller. I also think those bigger trailer fins helped in the hollow conditions since the tail on this board has some decent surface area. I was really surprised how well the board held as a quad even in really steep drops and hard bottom turns. These fins have heaps of drive and feel really good and solid. I did not feel much release but with this setup there is a lot of fin in the water. Once the waves lost a little size and steepness I felt like the size of the trailer fins were overkill. The board didn't feel like it wanted to go on a rail as easy. Sticky would be the best way to describe it.This setup was with both front and rear fins pushed forward in the box.
On the last day I rode the board with the tc aqualines. I had ridden them once before I left for the trip in chest to head high waves and had great results. I plugged those in and had a blast in chest high wedging rights. The day I rode these fins it was a lot more sectiony. No barrel sections, just a nice short top to bottom wall. These fins both front and rear are are quite a bit smaller than the gmb's. I noticed an immediate difference in feeling, they loosened the board up a lot and gave it a more responsive snappy feel. With these fins the board turns on a dime and turns in general were easier to initiate. I really like this setup a lot. It didn't feel like it mattered as much where my back foot ended up, the board just went where I wanted it to go. I don't know that the board would have held as well on some of the drops and bottom turns from the day before with these smaller fins. I had the front fins pushed forward in the box and the rears pushed back. Fine tuning I suppose.
Overall I couldn't be happier with the new board. I got the 5 fin setup with the initial idea that if I didn't like the quad I could always revert to a thruster. As far as fun factor I feel like the board with the quad setup just makes my sessions a lot more enjoyable. There is a lot more speed which is providing a lot more opportunities.
Mike I saw one other coil shaped by you while I was up there. It was a 5'6" quad fish being ridden by a heavier set local guy. I stopped and talked to him in the parking lot and he was really happy with the board. He said he got it from a buddy and he said it was one of the best boards he had ever had. I watched for a bit and he was ripping. I also had a lot of the local guys wanting to look my new board. They were all pretty suprised when they saw your name signed on the bottom of the board. Anyways its a great board. Thanks again!
Here is a link to some of the photos of the swell.
Mike, I was surfing a not so secret spot near the Cape and there was a guy I met who really liked his Coil, one that he painted the middle black and he is on his second board. He was really stoked on your boards. I also have a friend that has one and he really likes his board too, looks like new no dings. You guys have a good thing going. I wanna order one this winter.
Kirk and I will hopefully hook up soon and work on getting some sick new graphics on those boards.
Had an all-AM session with rdj (took the day off and my mother in law watched the girls so I could surf), I just had the best barrel I had all year and some of my best turns in a long time on the widerboard (riding with K2.1 thruster setup). Definitely made a point to put the rail in and feel the (re)Coil and it felt gooooood. I have had a poop-eatin' grin on my face all afternoon. I'm frothing for my wife to get home so I can head back out there on the imcoming tide. Thanks for the smiles this board puts on my face.
I have had a poop-eatin' grin on my face all afternoon.
THAT is why we do this thing called Coil.
Did you let rdj get any?
Yes sir he did let a few through for me. This was my first day out in good waves on the new widerboard/qualifier hybrid. All I got to say is damn that board is fast. Screams down the line with the Stretch quads in there. Was able to pull into a few steep low tide waves that I probably would not have made on any of my other boards. At this point I completely understand why Hackeysaky sold off his entire quiver to restock it with all Coils. Other than my own shapes, I could pretty much be happy with just Mikes Coils.
At this point I completely understand why Hackeysaky sold off his entire quiver to restock it with all Coils.
Just to clarify, I have replaced my daily-drivers with Coils, which I ride +95% of the time.
I do still have my specialty shapes (fishes, LB's, step-ups, funky stuff), just in case someone hears me talk about them or they show up in a photo or two... don't want to look like a liar or exaggerate-r.
Coils may be tad more expensive than your standard high-end PU, but well-worth it (both performance and durability); point is, I phased out those boards by choice, not because I had to in order to fund the Coils :)
Mike, I have some ideas swimmin' in my head for some new boards sometime, we'll talk when the time is appropriate.
... don't want to look like a liar or exaggerate-r.
Coils may be tad more expensive than your standard high-end PU, but well-worth it (both performance and durability); point is, I phased out those boards by choice, not because I had to in order to fund the Coils :)
Mike, I have some ideas swimmin' in my head for some new boards sometime, we'll talk when the time is appropriate.
You're supposed to exaggerate... it's the internets.
Just another testament to the durability of these boards. Surfing for about 6 or 7 hours yesterday and between a collision with another surfer (I was on the inside after catching a wave trying to avoid him and he didn't see me) and a good smack of the rail into my shin on my dismount, I can find nothing wrong with my board other than a very slight spider crack on the rail. Standard construction board would probably need some repairs. That piece of mind alone is worth the extra FEW bucks for a Coil.
Yep, AB3E is this Saturday at Harvey Cedars in LBI. Everyone I surf with just can't wrap their heads around my springfish, but the thing works really well. I gotta put a profile shot of it up here sometime. I'll have someone shoot such a pic this weekend.
Going to have any pics or at least analysis or discussion on Hackeysaky's Coil that broke just after the AB3? I heard that there didn't seem to be any glass under the non-woven fiber (polyester)? That's different than the insides of the one I saw. Was it one with the new grid fabric on the outside? Inquisitive minds would like to know.
Going to have any pics or at least analysis or discussion on Hackeysaky's Coil that broke just after the AB3? I heard that there didn't seem to be any glass under the non-woven fiber (polyester)? That's different than the insides of the one I saw. Was it one with the new grid fabric on the outside? Inquisitive minds would like to know.
Dave
So, this happened exactly 48 hours ago. There were only 5 people present. Myself, hackeysaky, Marlin Bacon, Matt Campbell, and Matt's friend. Just wondering how this spread so quickly?
That outline template used for (most of) your 5'5'' has some good history. I think I mentioned it on another thread but it should be on here also.
It's from a 1980 MTB ''rocket pin'' shaped by Robert ''Bobby'' Strickland. In the late 70s-early 80s Pat Mulhern was blowing minds (and winning lots of pro contests) on these boards. RS was a VERY talented craftsman who lost his life tragically in 2002. He influenced a lot of shapers, me included. He is missed....
Over the years, I've pulled that old piece of masonite out every now and then when I needed a section of it's curve. Recent years brought a little more use. I was fooling around one day, drawing up things just to look at, when it hit me that I could just truncate the tail and it would both move the widepoint back and widen the 1' tail mark. Now I'm using it a lot for boards like yours. It takes a diamond or swallow tip section very well.
The original was a double-wing rounded pin twin fin, so there's not enough left for most people to recognize. But I know there's a little history in every one....
Glad you're enjoying it!
[email protected]
The memo is in full effect, it just took me a couple hours to adjust. I'm not used to going that fast:)
Now you have me wondering what a double-wing round pin twin fin looks like!
i just picked up my new 5'5" quad coil and i love this thing i rode it the day i got it and that thing can do anything it held in the tube and it kept its speed through every turn it is just the greatest board i have ridden i also have a 5'7" coil that i have rode a couple times in nicaragua when it was over head high and that board is great coils are by far my favorite boards to ride in any conditions.i have a lost sd3 that is no where near as good as coils plus whenever i ride the lost in hollow waves i think its going to break but with my coils i just am 100% sure im safe with them.overall they are great boards
You have won the ''best day to pick up a board and have ideal surf to test it'' award; last Saturday was perfect for that 5'5''.
[email protected]
mike ,
have you ever thought about posting some pictures and descriptions of the boards that are not on the Coil website ?
We're going to add some stuff to the website soon, that's the correct place for the pics, etc.
Some of the recent contributors are threatening to post pics of some cool stuff, hopefully they will..
Thanks for the input from SoCal!
[email protected]
Just ordered a new step up from Mike
Super stoked!Frothing to get it in some
SoCal Fall juice.I'll post pics and a review
The shaper interaction is one of the most
important parts in getting a great board
and Mike does a fantastic job in working out
the details
Oh my gawd. Killer. I want.
Oh and after recently being gifted with a (flat to V) Grygera 7'6" that works so well I am cursing my backyarder hubris, I'm done shaping for myself. A pro with 15 or 20K boards out of his planers knows way way way more about what makes this stuff work and *how to put it all together*, I don't care who you are.
I dunno, backyarder hubris is OK. Making your own board is still a very rewarding experience. From the pro's perspective, it at least gives people an appreciation for what we do. OTOH, experience counts and I like it when folks appreciate that.
n4s, I'll be shaping yours in the next couple of days - should be a fun one...
Happy Labor Day to all!
[email protected]
Thanks Mike!!
Hey, aren't you supposed to be relaxing today?
I done been relaxin'. Had a fun time at the beach with wife and son, played biology class with a bunch of kids; pulling little shrimp and crabs and fish out of clumps of sargasso weed. Then of course the prerequisite Labor Day cookout, now I'm watchin' college football and bothering the internet. Tomorrow when I go to ''work'', I get to shape surfboards. I feel relaxed..... and lucky!
[email protected]
Random action photo of Kyle Garson riding a COIL in the NKF contest this past Labor Day weekend. He went on to win the whole thing in some scrappy Florida surf:
Mike, looking forward to meeting you at the CFL Fish Fry next month. Looks like it's setting up to be a good time.
Kirk Brasington shaped that one for Kyle recently and it seems to go very good.
We can't keep any secrets around here, can we? (Well, maybe a few....)
[email protected]
Have the Coil guys been stiffening up the flex around the planing area with carbon?
Great stuff, Lawless and Mike. It must feel good to see validation like that.
Mike- Dropped by NFE this past weekend, checked out a few of both your and Kirk's shapes. A good number of them had "hold for..." tags on them, and a friend of Rick's says he has been eying a 6'2" you shaped and might pick it up. You might be getting another call from Mark to re-stock soon.
Surfed with RDJ this past Friday, definitely not optimal conditons, but fun nonetheless. I got to check out his new widerboard. It appears you put a more quad-y fin setup on it, which makes sense since he prefers quads but wants the 5th box option, whereas I prefer thrusters (yes, I'm back to riding the widerboard primarily as a thruster) and wanted the quad option.
I'll post some pics and a review of my new widerboard/qualifier blend as soon as I get into some proper surf going right. Good story behind the board, how I got it, and where I surfed it, but so far it has only been out in lefts or junky surf and even though it's performed up to my expectations I'd rather wait to review it until I get a good day of rights on it.
The delivery story on rdj's board is hilarious (well, as it turned out. it could have been a 7000 mile truck ride from FL to NJ, and that might not have been funny). All's well that ends well. When you post your report and the story, I'll fill in what went on from our end. Good example of why we ship with solid, reliable carriers.
Sak, what's your analysis of your board quad vs tri?
And yeah, Kyle is a great guy to get on Coil. Kirk's been on fire shaping for pros lately!
[email protected]
I am really excited to get my new Coil. I hope I am paying the new board penance now with this flat spell from hell.
Baord goes great as a tri-fin. I’d say different, not necessarily better, well maybe a little better when it matters (real waves rather than sectiony windswell). I choose the quad option when the wave has a bit more slope and abbreviated bottom turns and skating/weaving through the more gutless sections is preferred or necessary. Whenever I see a bit more steep-ness or feel like I want the ability to dig deeper and pump rail to rail or drive through bottom turns, I will choose the tri-fin option. I also tend to go for the tri when predominantly on my backside since it seems to help me get a little more oomph and distance out of my bottom turns and lets me default back to bringing the board under control when I make a backhand-related error (I admit I have a bit less dexterity on my backhand as my forehand).
Excellent analysis. Do you place your rear foot diff quad vs tri?
[email protected]
hmmm, good question. I move my back foot around a bit depending on the conditions and situation; its really second nature, but I have seen me adjust pretty significantly, even in mid-ride, in photo sequences and video. I'd bet I am probably a bit more back over the fin cluster when riding as a tri and probably more foreward when riding as a quad to facilitate glide, but I'd have to make a point of observing it in situ to be sure of that.
I know I do. Which is probably why I have so much trouble with thrusters. I feel like your back foot position is more criticial for a tri. If your back foot is too far foward the board bogs. Quads seem more forgiving with foot placement and more able to be front foot driven and I'm more of a front foot surfer from surfing fish so much. I spend most of my time trimming off my front foot and I feel like I don't shift my weight back to my back foot until I've already initiated my turn with my front foot. Watching hackysaky ride his board as a thruster I see him pumping and turning off his back foot and using his front foot more for control. I definitely see a difference in how he drives the board when it's set up as a quad. More carve and less snap. So far I have mostly ridden my Coil quad/tri as a thruster with a set of K 2.1's. Went right on a wave at Morro Bay and saw it closing out in front of me, I was able to cut back and go left with that quick thruster snap and pivot. Don't know if I could have done that as quick riding it as a quad. Quads seem to need to carve more to maintain drive rather than that snappy thruster pump. I have the Coil set up with the Strech template quad set for this next swell. Hope to get a better feel for it.
Now I'll have you looking at your feet while you're surfing, haha. Is that low going to get off you guys so it'll clean up a little and you can surf? Good reports from outer banks today, after many days of rain and onshores.
[email protected]
did i mention i love my coils and DEARLY miss a board for gutless waves??
life is hard on me, with only 2 coils.
wouter, save up and get the fish. it is frickin awesome.
riderofwaves, check back on page 3 and you can see wouter's 5'9'' fish. It's hard to miss with the ''international distress orange'' halo color. I'm surprised the Dutch navy doesn't come and try to rescue him every time he takes it out.
I think he wants a board for sub-kneehigh windslop, I'm going to discuss that with him.
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Ok been putting this off long enough. I bought a 6'5" step-up Coil from Mike about a year ago. It's a great board and I was really impressed with the Coil construction. This summer I decided I wanted to get a good wave shortboard. Basically for about stomach to head high and semi-clean to glassy conditions. A board that would really shine in good surf. Talked with Mike and we decided on a blend of his Widerboard groveler and Qualifier pro model.
I was planning a trip out to CA that involves a work trip and then a surf trip driving down the coast from SF to SD. Had some valuable help in the planning from afoaf. The trip was getting closer and it's around the time Mike said the board would be ready. Of course Murphy's Law strikes and about 3 days before the trip Mike emails to say the board is ready. Figures. I tell Mike about the trip and he gets stoked on the idea of shipping to me while I'm out there. Perfect! So off I go excited to test drive my new Coil on my CA road trip. When I get to CA I check the package tracking and it's scheduled to arrive the day after I'm leaving the hotel by SF and driving into Big Sur. I call up Mike and him and Kirk are going nuts on the phone with Fedex trying to figure out what happened because their shipping method should have had it to me before I left the hotel. I have to give credit to these guys for customer service because they really jumped on this and were in contact with me constantly. We figured out that that what would likely have to happen is that the package would have to travel it's route to the hotel, then be picked up again and shipped back to NJ. It wasn't really a huge issue because I had brought a small wave board with me and they were shipping it back to my job where it would be waiting for me when I got home. But... the day I check out of the hotel and go to work I happen to check the package tracking and it said "DELIVERED". Holy crap! So I haul back to the hotel, pick my new Coil and I'm stoked to start the surf part of my trip! Again, gotta hand it to Mike and Kirk. These guys were practically ready to fly out to CA and rescue the board if that's what it took. I really appreciated their effort.
But on to the board. When I unwrapped this board the first thing I thought was how DAMN SEXY it was. The outline just screamed, peeling jersey south swell to me. Perfect outline, rocker, and foil. I could go on about all the spots I surfed it, but I'll touch on my two favorite waves. Morro Bay was where it really lit up for me. CA was getting a south swell which means all lefts. It was semi-glassy and 3 - 4ft maybe 5ft on set. Nice long peeling lefts. I had the k2.1 performance core fins in. They really felt good in the board. Not too much fin, not too little. I really hate lefts, but I was able to carve and do a really hard cutback. The board is so light and lively, you feel that flex off the bottom turn and it returns the input you give it. Walking from the parking lot by the rock down to the beach I got a lot of looks and even heard a guy in a group surfers say, "check that thing out". So the Coil tech really was peeking some interest.
Next spot is Blacks Beach. My favorite break in SoCal. Beach breaky goodness just like home. Again it was all lefts and maybe head high. This board paddled great, and caught waves with ease. Bottom turns were smooth and controlled and carving was second nature. I was really wishing I had some rights, but the day was all lefts.
This weekend we had a low of the coast blowing hard ENE for several days kicking up a nice chest to head high swell for Saturday. East swells by us are notoriously closed out, but this was a weaker windswell so it was just peaky enough to get a mix of rights and lefts. Lefts were staying open a little longer, but I was determined to get some rights on the Coil. This time I dropped in the Stretch quad set. Conditions were a little bumpy and choppy and the waves had a good wobble on them. But even so, with the board set up as a quad I was able to beat sections, turn some hard carves and even smack a few close out lips. I could just tell how the board would be so MONEY in a nice lined up south swell, which is exactly what I wanted. A performance board for good waves. I could feel the speed difference with the quad set in there. No hard bottom turn necessary, just drop and take a high line for speed. If I was traveling somewhere that I knew I would be getting some good waves, this is the only board I would need to bring with the K 2.1s and the Stretch quads I'd be set for anything up to a foot or two overhead. Lately I mostly shape my own boards for waves under head high, but I wouldn't consider anything but Coil and Mike for a straight up performance shortboard. Just can't recommend it enough.
Here's a few pics of the new stick.
rdj tells the shipping story well, but here's what happened from our end.
We've shipped to California a lot, and it usually takes 3-4 days to get a board there. We had 5 days to work with. No problem, right? Well, I start getting these em from rdj that tracking indicates the board's not even close, and he's leaving to head south. So we go over to phone calls to figure out what we can do. Wait an extra day in SF? Re-route to some point in SoCal where he can pick up? Or my least favorite, re-route back to NJ, giving the board a 7000 mile truck ride and depriving rdj of using the board on his trip. So rdj and I are going back and forth on the phone while Kirk is talking to FedEx. We decided to go with the trip back to Jersey so as not to further foul up the ''play'' portion of rdj's trip. I wasn't very happy.
Then the next day my phone rings and I see rdj's # on the call. Uh-oh, I'm thinking. Scared to answer, but it's my job. What I don't know at this time is that Kirk had gotten a call from the hotel in SF a couple hours before telling him they had this package for someone who'd already checked out and left. Kirk told them FedEx would be back to pick it up on their next round. In the meantime, rdj, on a whim, had checked the tracking one more time and hustled back to the hotel to get it just before it got back on a truck bound for NJ. As soon as I heard rdj's voice on the phone I knew he had good news. Now we're laughin' but it was an adventure there for a while.
[email protected]
Mike
Got a chance to feel one up Sunday at the Oceanside Fish Fry
Saw a young gun ripping out in the water that I some what thought I recognized
Any how later I see a Coil making it's way through the parking lot and gave chase
It was him and we had a little chat about the board and fins he was using.
Really impressed.the foil, outline,construction all top shelf!!
Who da guy? That looked like a fun event.
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I think he said Jason .But I'm terrible with names
He got right after last years ASR show
6'2" x 19 1/4 convertable round tail.I think based on the wider board
I think he's North SD county
Maybe mid twenties
and RIPS!
Names? I can barely recall my own...
I think I know who you saw, but I can't remember his name either ;)
(just protecting his privacy)
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n4s, it was me you saw at the fish fry . i took out the widerboard first to then compare all the other boards to . that way it would be fresh in my head . i had the tom caroll aqualine front fins in and the strech rears in , both pushed all the way forward in the fusions . in any kind of soft wave this has been my set up of choice . so anyways , it was fun riding new stuff that day but nothing came close to my board . it cathes waves better , goes faster , turns better , absorbs surface texture better , has a wide open sweet spot , and seems to stick to my feet really well !
me , 28 , name is Todd , and n4s pm me when you get your board i want to check it out . Mike , thanx again for the great board!
Well I finally got to break in my new board in style. I spent the last week on the outer banks of NC and ended up scoring an epic swell. We stayed in Cape Hatteras right around the corner from the lighthouse. The smallest it got for the whole week was chest high and wind was offshore somewhere every day. It ended up being an all coil trip for me. I didn't anticipate the size we ended up getting but my other coil 6'0"did great even when it got big. The swell models showed the low pulling north the night before we left leaving us with 3ft swell for the week. Instead it sat there pumping big swell the whole week and creating offshore wind for all but one day of our trip.Friday night and Saturday morning it was 3 foot overhead+ and hollow enough to fit a small sedan in the tube.
I rode the new fish for the first three days and then again on the last evening, the other board in the heavy stuff. I thought about taking the new one out on Saturday morning but I didn't want to take a chance at damaging it. I cracked the rail on my other board the night before on a heavy 6ft peak. Its difficult to damage these things! After a small cracked rail and a cut knee I was a little reluctant to subject my new favorite board to the 6-8ft hollow punishment on Saturday morning.
Anyways back to the review of the new board. This board is nothing short of a magic little race car. At this point I have only ridden it as a quad and as far as I'm concerned that might be the only way I ever have it set up. As the saying goes, if its not broken dont fix it! The board is really responsive and provides a lot of drive. I love the fact that it has fuller rails especially in front of the center line. I paddles like a dream and is pretty forgiving for my heavy front foot. I also notice that with one pump out of my bottom turn I can pretty much get around any section that even has a chance at being makeable.
I rode it with the fcs GMB quad template for most of the trip. The rear fins on this setup are pretty big and I think that helped for the most part since it was pretty hollow and steep even when the swell was smaller. I also think those bigger trailer fins helped in the hollow conditions since the tail on this board has some decent surface area. I was really surprised how well the board held as a quad even in really steep drops and hard bottom turns. These fins have heaps of drive and feel really good and solid. I did not feel much release but with this setup there is a lot of fin in the water. Once the waves lost a little size and steepness I felt like the size of the trailer fins were overkill. The board didn't feel like it wanted to go on a rail as easy. Sticky would be the best way to describe it.This setup was with both front and rear fins pushed forward in the box.
On the last day I rode the board with the tc aqualines. I had ridden them once before I left for the trip in chest to head high waves and had great results. I plugged those in and had a blast in chest high wedging rights. The day I rode these fins it was a lot more sectiony. No barrel sections, just a nice short top to bottom wall. These fins both front and rear are are quite a bit smaller than the gmb's. I noticed an immediate difference in feeling, they loosened the board up a lot and gave it a more responsive snappy feel. With these fins the board turns on a dime and turns in general were easier to initiate. I really like this setup a lot. It didn't feel like it mattered as much where my back foot ended up, the board just went where I wanted it to go. I don't know that the board would have held as well on some of the drops and bottom turns from the day before with these smaller fins. I had the front fins pushed forward in the box and the rears pushed back. Fine tuning I suppose.
Overall I couldn't be happier with the new board. I got the 5 fin setup with the initial idea that if I didn't like the quad I could always revert to a thruster. As far as fun factor I feel like the board with the quad setup just makes my sessions a lot more enjoyable. There is a lot more speed which is providing a lot more opportunities.
Mike I saw one other coil shaped by you while I was up there. It was a 5'6" quad fish being ridden by a heavier set local guy. I stopped and talked to him in the parking lot and he was really happy with the board. He said he got it from a buddy and he said it was one of the best boards he had ever had. I watched for a bit and he was ripping. I also had a lot of the local guys wanting to look my new board. They were all pretty suprised when they saw your name signed on the bottom of the board. Anyways its a great board. Thanks again!
Here is a link to some of the photos of the swell.
http://www.easternsurf.com/feature_lowprofile/index.html
The outer banks are money for the beginning of September but you really got it good. You couldn't have timed your trip better.
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Mike, I was surfing a not so secret spot near the Cape and there was a guy I met who really liked his Coil, one that he painted the middle black and he is on his second board. He was really stoked on your boards. I also have a friend that has one and he really likes his board too, looks like new no dings. You guys have a good thing going. I wanna order one this winter.
Kirk and I will hopefully hook up soon and work on getting some sick new graphics on those boards.
PJ
www.victimboardart.com
Hi PJ, thanks for checking in.... Happy customers = good. The Brasington boys get all the credit, though.
You should hurry up and order yours because that will be the trial for the graphics.
[email protected]
Mike,
Had an all-AM session with rdj (took the day off and my mother in law watched the girls so I could surf), I just had the best barrel I had all year and some of my best turns in a long time on the widerboard (riding with K2.1 thruster setup). Definitely made a point to put the rail in and feel the (re)Coil and it felt gooooood. I have had a poop-eatin' grin on my face all afternoon. I'm frothing for my wife to get home so I can head back out there on the imcoming tide. Thanks for the smiles this board puts on my face.
THAT is why we do this thing called Coil.
Did you let rdj get any?
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Yes sir he did let a few through for me. This was my first day out in good waves on the new widerboard/qualifier hybrid. All I got to say is damn that board is fast. Screams down the line with the Stretch quads in there. Was able to pull into a few steep low tide waves that I probably would not have made on any of my other boards. At this point I completely understand why Hackeysaky sold off his entire quiver to restock it with all Coils. Other than my own shapes, I could pretty much be happy with just Mikes Coils.
Just to clarify, I have replaced my daily-drivers with Coils, which I ride +95% of the time.
I do still have my specialty shapes (fishes, LB's, step-ups, funky stuff), just in case someone hears me talk about them or they show up in a photo or two... don't want to look like a liar or exaggerate-r.
Coils may be tad more expensive than your standard high-end PU, but well-worth it (both performance and durability); point is, I phased out those boards by choice, not because I had to in order to fund the Coils :)
Mike, I have some ideas swimmin' in my head for some new boards sometime, we'll talk when the time is appropriate.
You're supposed to exaggerate... it's the internets.
Just another testament to the durability of these boards. Surfing for about 6 or 7 hours yesterday and between a collision with another surfer (I was on the inside after catching a wave trying to avoid him and he didn't see me) and a good smack of the rail into my shin on my dismount, I can find nothing wrong with my board other than a very slight spider crack on the rail. Standard construction board would probably need some repairs. That piece of mind alone is worth the extra FEW bucks for a Coil.
Another review of the widerboard yeilds favorable results:
Watch out ESA here she comes!
Great pics and just what we needed to remind us of the simple joy that is surfing. That smile says a lot.
Aren't you guys getting ready for the AB3 up there? Your fish is going to shock some people.
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Yep, AB3E is this Saturday at Harvey Cedars in LBI. Everyone I surf with just can't wrap their heads around my springfish, but the thing works really well. I gotta put a profile shot of it up here sometime. I'll have someone shoot such a pic this weekend.
We just love messin' with people's heads. It's part of the job when you're blowing up the status quo.
Or you can tell them that Wes Laine was riding one even smaller a couple of years ago.
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Going to have any pics or at least analysis or discussion on Hackeysaky's Coil that broke just after the AB3? I heard that there didn't seem to be any glass under the non-woven fiber (polyester)? That's different than the insides of the one I saw. Was it one with the new grid fabric on the outside? Inquisitive minds would like to know.
Dave
So, this happened exactly 48 hours ago. There were only 5 people present. Myself, hackeysaky, Marlin Bacon, Matt Campbell, and Matt's friend. Just wondering how this spread so quickly?
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