Mandala/Swaylocks inspired Quad and some fin ?'s

I’d thought I would throw this one on here. I’m pretty stoked with the way it came out. This is board #4 for me, and my first quad.

Boards is:

5’7"

15"

20"

15.5"

2’ 7/16"

4" crack

Also the first time I attempted a acid splash/resin swirl thing and a first for installing the Future boxes. I got a bit of guidance on the template for the board and the fin placement from Manny over at Mandala so I must give credit where it is due. I would love some feedback on the board. Since #1 I’d say things are progressing nicely. The gloss on this one is great. I wasn’t really able to get the acid splah effect onto the rails…but at least the mud color came out nice. Any tips on how to get that right the next time? Also for those of you who ride quads…what general advice could you give about your favorite fin setups? There are just so many possibilities. I surfed it the past 2 days on the dying S.Swell we still have and the thing feels like it has turbo boosters on it. It’s so fast I’m finding it hard to control all the time. Right now I have double foiled Vector fins in front, and smaller regular foiled side fins in the rear. I will definitely be trying new fin combos to see how they work, but any personal recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward some replies.

Aloha.

Josh

here’s the pics…

and a few more pics…

looks great with the acid wash but what happened with the leash plug? just did the old school type tail loop but any ways the board looks great!

Josh, I didn’t get any feedback from others when I asked a similar question, so I did some of my own fin swapping when the S swell dropped on Sunday. This is the board I was riding: 5’9 x 21 x 2.65. I’m 6’0 195 lbs.

VF467 front, VF452 rear, conditions: 2-6’ pointbreak surf and 2-5’ beachbreak – first time riding the board, I surfed this combo for 3 sessions to get a feel for the board before I was switching fins around. Board was plenty loose off the bottom and top. Good drive. I could get the board to slide towards the end of a hard cutback. I believe the 452s were causing a bit too much lift in the tail. Board was skatey and fun and I was surprised at how tight the turns could be with 4 large fins.

VF452 front, FG1 rear, conditions: 2-4’ beachbreak – WAY too loose. Very skatey and slidey feeling. Might be good for 2’ and under waves.

VF460 front, F4 rear, conditions: 2-4’ beachbreak – stiffened the board up a lot. Good drive and felt smooth. Would be good for larger waves, especially point surf.

VF460 front, FG1 rear, conditions: 2-4’ beachbreak – NICE! Board had good drive down the line and turned smooth. Looser than above combo, but not as much as 467/452 combo. Nice smooth feeling to this combo. Will do more riding with these fins.

VF467 front, FG1 rear, conditions: 2-4’ beachbreak – felt similar to the 460/FG1 combo, but not as smooth feeling. Rode fine, but didn’t feel as good as the above combo.

I need more water time to try out more combos, but I hate wasting time or waves on setups that don’t work and then having to go in and change them. Wish I was in school on summer break right now. The vector fins from Futures, especially the 3/2 and 3/1 3/2, DO generate a good amount of lift. The much larger 452 fin was looser than the smaller FG1 when used in the rear with the 467 in the front. I’m waiting to get a set of the rainbow canard quads to try also.

You sure been cranking out some beauties…

What’s the logo?

looks familiar like a local plant but butterfly keeps coming back…

You templating these things or going freehand with a batten…

Anyway

bravo bravo

good work

school teachers must have a knack for this stuff…

one day you should drop by gangland and try my Mandala quad so you can really compare your handiwork.

you can even try my gemini as well, now that a quad on steroids

Aloha.

Oneula, thanks for the kind words. I would love to check out a “real” quad someday. I don’t ever see anyone with them, so next time I make the trip out west I’ll be sure to let you know. It must have been going off out there last week. A lot of spots over this side (H.Kai) were not working on the biggest days. Surfed the quad today at Lighthouse, and saw another fellow Swaylocks member (Gonzo50) in his fish, and his friend on the fish made by Gonzo. Everyone trading boards around. Fun times with the hurricane swell starting to show. I’m liking the board, just takes a little getting used to. It’s probably the fastest board I’ve ridden so far. Gotta try some new fin combos. Also trying to get a set of Canard Quads from Rainbow, hopefully I can take care of that soon. Hope you get some waves out that side from Jova, seems like it would be a good direction for you out there.

For the template I drew it out with adobe illustrator and then had it printed and I laminated it at school (shhhhh) a few times. Works pretty well, but I need to learn a more efficient way. Its kind of a pain. But easy to get nice looking curves with Adobe.

Hope to see you in the water someday soon.

Josh

Oh yeah…the logo is my initials. J.L. ALso drawn up on illustrator. :slight_smile: Gotta love it!

Aloha