These boards are shaped out of California by cross-over skateboarder/surfer/shaper/artist Ben Wei. They made some press a few years back, but I have not heard much of them since except the occasional sighting in punked-out surf vids featuring aerialist anti-establishment surfers.
I purchased this board on a whim for cheap. Darn glad I did.
5’7” x 21” x 2 3/8” Very flat deck brings a lot of foam out to the rails, so it feels much thicker than that last measurement suggests. Thick, “hockey puck” lookin’ roundtail.
Side fins are pushed out to the rails, center fin is pushed foreward. MVG’s are my addition After experimenting with fin combos, I did find they surf best with big thruster fins all around (those are the M7’s).
They are actually made to translate skateboard-style maneuvers to the water (the website www.fiftyfiftywaveskates.com explains it better than I can), but I’ve been absolutely shocked at how well they flow in the small stuff. I was expecting lots of speed, but also slidey, wobbly and out of control feeling. Definitely not so. I feel like my small-wave shortboarding abilities have been renewed. The board rides high in the water, so it skates high and fast, but the big double-foiled thruster fins keep it in check. Wide-radius round house cutbacks are smooth and controlled, weak sections are no problem, and scaling slopey faces and crumbly lips to rip it of the top are the norm. I feel like a grom again; I regularly find myself waking up at 5 AM to check the surf, even when no substantial waves are predicted. Knee to waist is plenty of size to let loose and have fun, but I have surfed up to head high on it with no problems.
Anywho, I thought stubby-lovers, especially chipfish, would like to see this board. The outline photos seem to have gotten distorted from my taking them on an angle and repeated resizing of the photos, but hopefully you’ll get the gist from them.
solosurfer- as I said, I really expected this to be a squirrel-y, slippery-as-a-soapdish ride. I’m used to much much thinner tails for “edge control”. The hard edges and thickness of the taill keeps the board very “free”, but the bigger double-foiled fins seem to keep it under control. I’ve even been able to square-off the bottom pretty hard, which was surprising (but did take a little adaptation of technique… hard to explain, but this board allows me to think farther ahead and aim farther down the line).
ChrisP- sorry, meant to specify my dims too- 6’0" tall, 180 lbs, have only ridden it with a fullsuit so far. Don’t have the nose and tail measurements on-hand, but will post them whenever I get a chance to do so.
The interesting thing about that board is that it has such a basic looking shape. By that I mean I look at it and think, “Geez, I could shape something like that” and I have never shaped a board.
Whereas, if we are talking about a Lazor Zap with a loaded dome and refined rails, planshape, and rocker in a combination McCoy has spent decades refining I would never dream of attempting to duplicating it.
The interesting thing about that board is that it has such a basic looking shape. By that I mean I look at it and think, “Geez, I could shape something like that” and I have never shaped a board.
Whereas, if we are talking about a Lazor Zap with a loaded dome and refined rails, planshape, and rocker in a combination McCoy has spent decades refining I would never dream of attempting to duplicating it.
Some can get close on Mccoys…but thats about it. Some can get really really close. I have seen them, but I am 100% sure Geoff could find the flaws even in the close ones. I agree with your sentiments here cuttlefish. Mccoys stuff is not just a tail or a rail, but an entire concept. I still like this little zappy looking thing, but with those edges, it’s going to get slippery when it doubles overhead. Maybe just head high. Like tossing a rock across a pond.
Can anyone explain the McCoy design and how it is supposed to ride different??? I always was intrigued by the boards because Cheyne was one of my favorite surfers. The interesting thing is that the new potato chips have changed from the 80s boards, and yet this design is still around and it doesn’t seem like everyone is out to copy it like every other board.
I think they look really fun, thick, wide, thumb tail, looks easy, yet fun to ride.
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The interesting thing about that board is that it has such a basic looking shape. By that I mean I look at it and think, “Geez, I could shape something like that” and I have never shaped a board.
Whereas, if we are talking about a Lazor Zap with a loaded dome and refined rails, planshape, and rocker in a combination McCoy has spent decades refining I would never dream of attempting to duplicating it.
Some can get close on Mccoys…but thats about it. Some can get really really close. I have seen them, but I am 100% sure Geoff could find the flaws even in the close ones. I agree with your sentiments here cuttlefish. Mccoys stuff is not just a tail or a rail, but an entire concept. I still like this little zappy looking thing, but with those edges, it’s going to get slippery when it doubles overhead. Maybe just head high. Like tossing a rock across a pond.
I’ve probably written this before but I can say I and my best mate were 2 of the first groms to have Lazor Zaps at Bondi after Cheyne and his brother showed up with them.
My mate’s zap had a nose that pointy he had a squash ball stuck on the end so he wouldn’t impale himself.
This was before Star fins and I can still remember surfing it on a Nth NSW trip and getting it up on a rail in big roundhouse cutbacks at the wreck on Main beach Byron and popping out the fin all the time.
I see the prime focus on these boards seems to be punting them into the stratosphere so the hard edges in the tail shouldn’t be a problem really.
Yep, I think the waveskate and Lazor Zap are two very different boards. I think people are picking up on the pulled-nose, wide and round tail outline- similar, but def not the same. Other than that, the foil is very different, as are the bottom contours, and rails.
Still have to pull the N & T dims- will try to get to that soon.
I am sure that thick tail will get washy in larger surf, but so far so good.
I do have an FCS 3D Red-tip to try in the center plugs- not a winged keel, but similar thought. Just have not gotten around to it yet as I have not felt the need for even more lift/speed.
Actually might eventually rout and install a finbox to try some larger center fins in it, but that is down the road. Right now I am just enjoying it as-is.
Can anyone explain the McCoy design and how it is supposed to ride different??? I always was intrigued by the boards because Cheyne was one of my favorite surfers. The interesting thing is that the new potato chips have changed from the 80s boards, and yet this design is still around and it doesn’t seem like everyone is out to copy it like every other board.
I think they look really fun, thick, wide, thumb tail, looks easy, yet fun to ride.
Mccoys paddle really easy, flow through the water really well, ride on top of the water rather than in it and stick like glue in th pocket. Especially in the tube. Not speaking for Geoff…but to me his entire philosophy on board design is about function over fashion. Not to mention quality.
I think he is one of the last left trying to create rather than copy. Keep in mind that the new potato chips with narrow noses and wide tails are still just a whittled down lazor zap. Wave Ski, The Tail, The modern Thruster, and many others have taken “Mccoy’s” Lazor zap outline and said they had something new, but Geoff showed everyone how to make a wide tail work properly and I have rarely seen it work without using most of what he put into that type of design. Many of those designs work in smaller surf…Geoff’s hold in the size too.
Cheyne also has some designs he worked on from his years of experience with Geoff and being one of his main riders. Cheyne experimented even more by changing fins and such. I think since about the mid eighties and until fairly recently…board design was stagnate for the most part. It seems in some ways it’s starting to take up where Geoff left off, while Geoff and some others have continued moving forward.
Looks like a modern knee board design is all. The fins being forward, thickness and stubby all have some attributes of what kneeboarders ride around here. Maybe someone started standing up on kneeboards and thought, they had something. I’ll have to try surfing one of my friends shorty kneeboards.
Also rode a FCS 3D Red Tip in place of the M7 center fin this AM. Surf was really weak, lots of flat spots in the waves that required long connections that are usually not a problem on this board. But, it did not quite do what I expected or hoped . Instead of creating a lifty, speedy feeling in the tail, it actually anchored it down a bit more. Felt draggy on the takeoff and I felt like I lost the ability to skate or pop over the gutless sections and into the next desirable section down the line. But it did seem to create a pretty bite-y feeling when I finally found a few sections that bowled up for carving- the harder I pushed against the fin, the more it lifted and maintained/created speed coming out of the turn.
Perhaps this fin would be good for more point-break-style, wedging-up waves. Or perhaps this board is just not suited for this fin. I actually want to try it a bit bigger (but still under-head) and more hollow surf (and perhaps on a different board) to see if that anchored-down feeling results in more control in the steep sections/barrels.
I know the winged keel is sensitive to the tail rocker angle at whatever point the fin is, so if there’s more rocker to the tail than angle on the wing element, the thing drags a pocket of turbulence behind it. The wing element has a negative angle of attack in that case. I think if you adjust your stance a bit back or just weight a bit more backfooted, you’ll improve the fin’s AOA.
Here is a rocker profile. Not quite as flat as I pictured in my head, but also remember this is the Zach Reinhardt model, which is more “shortboardy” than some of the others. I talked to a friend who is shaping himself something based on the 5’0" Ben Wei model, and it sounds like that one is much flatter to me.
I measured the nose and tail rockers on mine, but it was a little difficult because the MVG’s were bottoming out on the floor, lifting the tail and lowering the nose. I therefore balanced the board on a magazine (Surfermag big photo issue) that was approx 1/2" thick, measured the distance to the floor, and subtracted 1/2" to approximate the rocker measurements. Hopefully those are close enough.
4 & 1/8" nose rocker
1 & 5/8" tail rocker
Also noted a single rail-to-rail concave throughout, as deep as 1/4".
IMPORTANT EDIT: I originally reported the width measurement as 21". It is actually 20" wide. Sorry for the goof.
After experimenting with fin combos, I did find they surf best with big thruster fins all around (those are the M7’s).
