ceeperchunk

 

It's taken a while but i have finally managed enough sessions on the new mandala to form an opinion! I've never heard a bad review of one of Many's boards and im just going to add to the general hype about his shapes here.

Ive ridden quite a few different mini simmons over the last few years and prior to that i'd put quite a lot of time into various iterations of fish, both the classic twin keel and the double bump quad speedialler style. About a year ago i kind of rediscovered my little 5'6 Gulfstream keel fish. I think if i'm honest that it was maybe just a tiny bit too small for my shortboard abilities when i first had it and i never rode it all that much. Fast forward to last year and my general small board ability had definately ramped up a few notches. Getting back on the fish (which is very much from the performance christenson school rather than a cruisy "retro" place) suddenly opened up much more vertcal surfing and bigger roundhouse cutbacks than the seapea and other mini simmons allowed. However this new found "radicalness" (tongue firmly in cheek) came at the expense of the flat out mush/speed generation of the seapea or the TW bar of soap.

Bottom line was to start looking for something that sat between the two with more of the fish's urning ability but still the speed generation the mini simmons excel at. 

Manny would be the first to say that very little is new in board design but he does seem to have a talent for adding his own tweak to things that work very well and his family of ASQ (arc swallowtail quad) boards are no exception. Broadly speaking they are a version of the mini simmons platform with a rolled entry and flat rocker but they are narrower than the classic outline with a little more curve. They are quads and the bottom goes from belly into spiral vee instead of a single concave through the fins. The rails are more foiled than a classic simmons also.

All of this adds up to a really fun board that hits the middle ground i was looking at. It generates tonnes of speed in mush - the simmons style belly and the big concaves guaruntee that but the thinner rails and the quad set up along with a narrower curvier template yield a much more responsive board that will go more vertical and wrap through cutbacks much harder/easier than a traditional simmons shape. I think the vee and the quad fins help here too.

It was a long wait but oh so worth it!

a healthy obsession?

So the following was a piece that i originally did for Dan Crockett's kook project but in the end didn't get used. It found a home in Corduroy lines magazine issue 13. Much as i'd love to think everyone who reads this blog has bought a copy, i know that , partly for reasons of geography, plenty of you wont which is why i'm reprinting it here........

We're pretty cool right?

Basking in the reflected glow of the way surfing is perceived by the media. Congratulating ourselves on our status as those in the know. Inducted into a tribe with it's own language, customs and traditions that those on the outside could never truly understand. Pursuing waves for the childlike fun it brings into our lives as we pit our athletic bodies against the forces of nature.

But maybe there's a darker side, a compulsion, a desperate need to repeat the thrills. The tug of the sea ever stronger once the hook is set. As any old sailor will tell you, the sea can be a cruel mistress.

The following is (only slightly) modified from one of the many self tests for addiction to harmful substances or habits found on the internet.............................be honest, i bet you score pretty highly!

Do you often find yourself spending more time surfing than you intended to?

Is it hard to imagine a life without surfing?

Has excessive surfing or surfboard buying resulted in financial difficulties for you?

Do you sometimes feel that something inside you, beyond your control, pushes you to surf?

Do you hide your surfing habits or purchases from family and friends?

Have your relationships with family and friends ever suffered because of your surfing?

Do you feel "high" following a good surf?

Have you tried to stop "over surfing" but been unable to? (e.g paddled out on a day you know will be rubbish just to "get wet"?)

Do you often feel compelled to surf even though conditions are not ideal or you cant afford the time?

Do you feel surfing helps you cope when you are lonely, anxious, disappointed, depressed or angry?

Has your desire to surf ever interfered with work or school?

Do you find that your friends are determined by your surfing habits?

Do you plan your life around surfing?

Do you ever feel anxious about how long it will be until your next surf?

Have you ever failed to keep promises as a result of going surfing?

Sadly not everything we love is as good for those around us....

one for tommy...