There is a lot of debate on “what is high performance” and also some thruster ‘clone’ negativity on this site. I would say that high performance equipment is what gets you closest to actually surfing a wave how you would surf it in your mind, going anywhere on the wave that you want. Velocity is not the key factor - acceleration is. Being able to make immediate changes in any direction. That is why people ride a modern low-volume thruster - (if you are skilled) you can put it wherever you want and get immidiate acceleration on almost any part of the wave. It is a horribly slow design for straight line surfing but is not intended for that. I dont think that people who ride the pro model big brands are clones; those boards are tuned to be taken wherever you want to go - actually bring the surfer closer to actually surfing how they mind-surf. Many times someone goes to a local custom (like me) and winds up with something a bit different than he wanted - sometimes for the better but sometimes not. Confidence is a huge factor in surfing and if you think you are on the best board, you will be confident and surf better. Everyone knows those big brands are highly fine tuned for pro-level ripping. I understand where the standard consumer comes from, even though i would not chose that path. I would not buy one because i like to design my own and feel the different characteristics of what i put in the board. When i borrow these boards from friends i get on them and think - holy crap this thing rides good. But my boards do also - every board just rides differently, maybe mine not as good as a pro model, but i want to someday get them there, and also every once in a while one of my boards rides better than anything else i have ever ridden (then they usually quickly break!) However - different people like to surf differently, not everyone wants immediate acceleration in any direction - think squirley and slow if not ridden with skill - but some are willing to go through that stage to get to a skill level when they will be able to put their board wherever they want to on the wave. Some could care less and want to just harness the wave’s enegy and let it take them where it wants - this is awesome too but not really high performance. Single fins force you to ride right in the energy source and are are sooooo fun in the right conditions, but you cannot make one do what you want with the same reposiveness as a thruster. Longboards give the gliiiiiiide that is so fun. Boogies/mats/etc take riders where some few people dare to ride, but most who stand up find it far more exhilirating being able to stand and would not want to lay down, even if it means they still cannot ride the wave as well if they were laying down on a different craft. Its cool that so many on this site are trying to create something radically new that would enable people to come even closer to mind surfing - the immediate responce is always - that is so weird - it cant possibly work, but every new idea feels resistence from tradition. Its also cool that people build boards to surf exactly how they want to, not aspiring to surf like the magazine stars, and they build things differently just to have a different feeling ride - that is what lights them up. I am caught somewhere in between all of it - i enjoy all aspects of old and new and trying different feeling rides but still my favorite wave would be one to ride a small thruster on to try to rip and learn new tricks, basically to be able to try and surf all different parts of the wave in all different ways doing different moves, and the 6’0 standard does it the best. i dont know if anyone cares but im bored at work…going to puerto rico next week for christmas and i guess im just jazzed to surf some good warm blue waves and have too much surf dribble on the mind…
clap clap clap… great post. I’d hate to bore everybody with a book instead of a post, but after shaping my first board, it really opened me up to different tastes and styles (from thrusters under 6’5" only to longboards, eggs, fish, etc) I dont think its about shaping that perfect board for all waves ( although that would be nice) but more about creating a board for each wave, each season, hell even each mood that youre in. Because you’ll always learn something new if your eyes are open wide enough. Good luck in Rico, and many, many waves to you.