Gregg,
Thanks for the opportunity to give it a go. It really felt elegant. Just paddeling it was an experience!
Roger
Anytime, Roger. Jim’s 11’1 is scary fast. Was your PG Simmons model a 10’2? I could hardly believe that little Stage 4 had no problem driving the board. How does that tail compare to the others? Most are arc tails, right? I thought I remember Paul foiling the tail on the EPG a little thinner. Very fun board - thanks!
that little stage 4 is a powerful fin-heaps of drive and manuverability.probably the best fin ever made…
Jim Phillips is da man!
I have an 8,2 (just like a Kind Creation or Cooperfish Comet) and the thing is soooooo fast on a rail. Best rail I ever had. Paddles like a 9,6, so it gets into waves really early, but turns easily and sets up really well for barrels. It is the best board I have. I only ride it a couple times a month, but if there is hollow surf, then I am the tube master. People comment all the time and I always tell them the same thing: Don’t talk to me. Talk to the board.
I can’t get tubed to save my life on any other board (I have five), but that one gets in everytime. It holds the line.
Oh and, yeah, it has a Greenough flex fin. Stage Four. Kicks butt. Actually thrusts on a bottom turn. The board rides great at mushy San-O or at hollow Blacks. Unbelievable.
I already made a cyanide capsule for the day the board breaks.
Seriously, though, I plan to have a 9,0 made exactly like it.
Hopefully Jim will do it for me. I’m sure his friend Bud Ice will be with me. That should help.
all glory to the equipment!
No, glory goes to the shaper. If I had to rely on my own shaping skill for my boards, I wouldn’t surf well at all. I rely on the shapers I know, and boy they are good. Real craftsmen/artists/inovaters (sp?).
Jim Phillips is waaaaay underrated. Maybe that isn’t the right word. Put it this way, based on his skill, he should be in the same conversation when people discuss famous shapers.
Another unknown who is amazing with a planer is Rod Sorenson. He never went bigtime, but he is all-time. I have NEVER had a dud from him. His boards are super light and too inexpensive. He only shapes for friends these days, or people who beg a lot.
I take that back. There was ONE bad board he made for me. A noserider with terrible rocker. But guess who custom ordered the blank: Yep, me.
Craig Hollingsworth: Made two boards for me: A ten foot longboard (standard squash tail/single fin) and it is one of my best friends. I love that board. He also made a 7,6 pintail for me, tri fin. I asked for something that was a mix of seventies and nineties. I told him to make me a pintail with a modern tail and a seventies nose and rocker. He crafted a masterpiece, by hand, and did nothing but apologize when I picked it up. It looked nothing like today’s mini-guns with tapered decks, skinny noses, etc. This board had weight (6+6+6 oz with gloss and polish) and had a perfect shape. He made it just like I asked, but was humble, thinking it wasn’t very modern. But it is perfect. I love that board. It will ride anything well. Amazing board, and it really comes alive in big surf. If you rode it in head high surf you would not be impressed. But take it out in ten foot pointbreak and you will be flabbergasted with its ability to turn on a dime and speed down the line.
Finally, I have a Rusty Pirannah (store bought----I know, I know) but it’s really good, due to Rusty’s hard work in refining shapes. I don’t really agree with his philosophies about low-volume shapers, but he is a good shaper.
We have the luckiest sport. We are literally surrounded by legends whom we can walk right up to, shake hands, and catch waves with, be they shapers or pro surfers.
We can surf where they surf (Pipe, Malibu, Waimea, etc.).
But just try to get a football game going at a stadium with the pros, or a basketball game. How easily could you arrange a tennis match with McEnroe or other pro athlete? But you can literally surf with and get boards from LEGENDS.
I love surfing, damnit!