Board Review - The Lost 'Rocket'
board reviews are always good even if they are just one surfers opinion...Glad you are enjoying the newy and these shorter and wider boards certainly are fun and the diversity that available is amazing, great times in surfboard design I reckon....
What's the fin set-up ZZ? Straight ahead thruster?
Yeah mate, they are thrusters. The fins are set wide though, which I noticed right away, and was curious to see how it works. But it reminds me of an article written by Bob McTavish who was talking about how fins work partly though their proximity to the rail - and that in the past we were more worried about them in relation to each other, to the detriment of their performance. Can definitely see what he is talking about with this one.
I'm going to do a board review for kicks. Don't know if they are done here, or if it will be of any use, but going to do it none the less.
I recently purchased a 5'7 'Rocket' made by Matt Biolas at Lost Surfboards. I was looking for a small wave alternative to my regular 5'10 CI Whip which I use mostly in average to good surf. The Rocket, at 5'7, has the same amount of foam as a standard 6 footer, it's just redistributed to different areas of the board, as the nose and tail are both wide and stumpy, and the board has plenty of volume. The tail is the most unusual feature of the board, with a bizarre modified round tail - it's hard to describe, and best looked up online. It's unlike any other board I've seen. The rails are quite soft, the rocker is flat except through the tail where it kicks, and it has a nice single concave running through it.
So how's it go? Well, the first few times I took it out I was treating it differently to a regular board for the fact that it is different, so I was nursing it somewhat, feeling it out so to speak, and my impressions were mixed. The wide tail was giving it a skatey and unsurfboard-like feel, I was concerned it might spin out etc. Then I decided to hammer it, and wow, did it respond. Suddenly it just came to life - it is unbelievably fast. I like fast surfboards, and this is lightning - it was making sections I felt I would have struggled to make normally, as well as traversing nicely over fatter sections. Put up on a rail it carves through long roundhouses, and then into the lip it was turning on a 5 cent piece. It goes well in waves up to head high so far, and there are no issues with it feeling too small or under gunned yet. It sat comfortably in the tube as well, which is always good news.
Overall, the wider tail feels quite different from a standard thruster, and initially it feels wierd, but that doesn't affect the performance. It's an unbelievably fun addition to my quiver, and will be my first choice for a while I can see.