Rumor has it more than 50 per cent of shortboards in the water in santa cruz are now quads.
Someone has been lying to you.
Maybe, but there’s tons of 'em in the water both there as well as here. Whoever told you that quads don’t go rail to rail or “vert” was lying to you. Not trying to start a scap here but your comment was misleading. I just had an hour long talk with stretch at the ASR show here in SD where he told me that many of his team guys have switched to quads. If the boards didn’t allow them to surf the way they want i’d have a hard time believing that they would order them. hmmm
Ever heard of Pat Taylor? Santa Cruz shaper for the last 25 years. The label is “Taylor Made”. He says in the last year his orders have gone to 50 percent quads and quad fishes and his fin orders reflect that. Stretch is the flavor the month up there right now and he’s ordering lots of quad sets right now from fins unlimited.
Rumor has it more than 50 per cent of shortboards in the water in santa cruz are now quads.
Someone has been lying to you.
Maybe, but there’s tons of 'em in the water both there as well as here. Whoever told you that quads don’t go rail to rail or “vert” was lying to you. Not trying to start a scap here but your comment was misleading. I just had an hour long talk with stretch at the ASR show here in SD where he told me that many of his team guys have switched to quads. If the boards didn’t allow them to surf the way they want i’d have a hard time believing that they would order them. hmmm
I find them more difficult to go hard rail to rail, and to take vert. I pivot off the rear fin hard when I hit the lip vert, and there is no rear fin there on a quad. The first few times I did it I slid on my butt because I had no fins engaged in transition. The guys who’ve ridden the quad more admit it is tougher, but they get used to going soft when the nose goes vert and not pushing the snap until the other rail gets hooked in. But it is not the same.
Same with going rail to rail, they aren’t as smooth. there is kind of a catch-release phenomena when you transition that isn’t there on a thruster.
Now, there are guys who ride quads rail to rail and vert, but the ones I know admit thrusters do both better, mainly for the reasons I outline above.
I haven’t been in the water in Santa Cruz since mid November (made 10-20 trips a year in the last decade) but there were hardly any quads there then, certainly less than 10% of all surfboards. Whereas I am sure it is growing quickly, the 50% mark is still a long long way off.
I like quads, a few of my friends are real good surfers and real dedicated quad riders. Most of my quad riding has been on their boards. But all of us freely admit that quads surf differently from thrusters, and we do our best when we choose slightly different lines on thrusters than on quads. Quads do some things better, thrusters do other things better.
And I still think anyone looking for a “quad like a standard thruster” is misguided. Just as misguided as someone looking for a “thruster like a standard quad”.
For a high performance quad, what would the concaves look like as they run by the fins? Would there a be concave between two fins and then one going down the center or would your typical single to double work?
Good points Dave. Being a quad devotee from the early 80’s, i’ve found a renewed interest in them. Mostly it’s the speed and dragless highline section clearing capabilities I like the most.
However back in the day we didn’t have anything like the fin options we have now, so I think Shapers have found something once again to dig their design teeth into with all the different combos between modern bottoms,wings and swallows and fin boxes for switching it up. For me I’ve just been learning how to stick my same moves but at way higher speeds. I like speed and quads fly, so I look at as a challenge to my surfing ability. Definately have to adjust your surfing a bit by keeping more over your board and I think you actually stand a bit more forward over the front fins to get that power spot, but once you find it you can push into the board pretty much as hard as you push your thruster. Another aspect is playing around with toe on the fins. Especially the rear fins. Since alot of quads have slightly wider tails,straighting up the rear fins a bit adds hold and down the line speed. Double foils or even 80/20 foils seem to help as well. Gonna be interesting where the 4 fin design takes us this time around…
Anyone try those new futures -Vectors2 with their quad trailers?How about the futures Vectors 3/2 with a smaller quad trailer?what fin options are availible for quads in heavier larger ridersin waves of size?
Actually, I sell them through my shop and websight. Those are Steve Forstalls. The three are clark foam from awhile ago. The one is Brazilian Rhino foam. I think it’s 6’8’’ x 15.5 x 21 x 16 x 2 3/4 something like that. That board was sold awhile ago. Glad you liked them. They are great hotdog boards and should work up to about six feet.
It IS possible to make a quad that surfs almost identical to a thruster. A few years back I was making a bunch of quad kiteboards for waveriding with the trailer fins pulled in to about 4" apart. They worked really well, allowing the fin cluster to be further forward than with a tri.
I made a couple of surfboards with the same fin setup, front fins about normal thruster position, and trailers about 1" further forward than a thruster trailer & about 4" apart, no toe. The board templates were standard thruster.
I gave it up because they surfed exacty like a thruster, back then people thought quads were weird and I wanted to sell my boards eventually.
I’m thinking about reviving the design, maybe widening the back fin stance to 5 or 6", and trying a little different outline.
lokbox,I’m interested on the quads you’re riding.My quiver has changed in the past couple of years…riding singles,twin fins,and bonzers.I’ve paid close attention to the different characteristics each board offers…trying to adjust my surfing to each board.However,I still find myself riding them like my standard thrusters(on certain situations).Its something I’ll probably never grow out of and will carry that on to a quad.In your opinion,when comparing a thruster to a quad,do you change your dimensions (alot or just a tad) if you still want it to somewhat perform like a standard thruster?thanks.
I’d have to agree with Lokbox with the “speed and dragless highline section clearing capabilities.” This is a “high performance” quad I made for myself. I say high p. cuz its not a fishy shape, and is only 2 1/4" thick, although its a tad wider throughout.
I can’t see myself ever picking my 6’1" thruster up when I could surf this quad. It does it all well, and is much faster than the thruster w/similar dimensions. It holds a higher line, and will go top/bottom just as well. This thing just motors though sections and flats that my thruster tends to bog a little. Considering I haven’t even played around with the fins yet, I’d say I’m a faithful quad devotee. They are just another way to surf a wave, and they are fun as hell if you like going fast. Who doesn’t?
I like the idea of actually pulling the tail in a bit rather than widening it like most are doing now. The use of double wings goes well with the quad design, and with a narrower tail(more like your thruster or even narrower) then possibly smaller rear fins you could get a good combo that’ll hold in anything. The possibilities are endless at this point. Food for thought - Brian Bulkley got equal 7th in the pipe masters in the early 80’s on a quad gun. Pulled in tail and he said it was one of his best ever pipe boards…
my brother is a “quad”… he’s pretty good , but i wouldn’t say he’s high performance… he’s got three kids after the accident, and a good job… so he’s doin’ pretty good
i havn’t played around with quads at all. anyway, if you were to get/ make one try some of the fins set ups that people mentioned to get their boards to preform the way they claim, to go verticle if you have the dimensions of the stretch pull that tail in a tad.
Another option on the Outer Banks is Tim Nolte he has been doing a lot of quads in the last 2 years. He is a great shaper and a perfectionist, all work on his boards is done in house. He also has at least 5-8 years working with EPS & epoxy, makes his own EPS blanks in house.
His shop # is 252 491-2590 and is located in Currituck about 2 miles before the bridge, stop by and talk with him.
I’ll have you know that I was planning on making another fish-like quad, but this time with those wings in the tail. I have 1 Clark 6’2" blank left and that’s what it’s going to be for sure now. Hearing how much you like the wings on yours clinched the deal. But I do have 2 questions for you (which will add to the overall thread, so I don’t consider this hijacking too much)
What are the position of the wings on the tail or the board/s you like? Looks to me as though they are somewhere at the trailing edge of each fin, but would like to hear what its like on your board.
What are the bottom contours on that board, or other quad’s that have worked well for you in the past?
I agree about Brian Bulkley. His boards just look like they work well, never having seen one in person. Like you said, he’s been a fan of quads for a while, and not just jumping onto all the hype. Looking forward to your reply.
