The Yacht Club spent this last Saturday morning hitting up the Channel Islands Board Demo at El Porto. While the waves were not epic, they did prove to be rideable, even with a few fun sets rolling in. A combo S swell / NW windswell helped cross things up a bit, making for some shoulders to play around on, and the calm morning winds kept things relatively smooth.
Because I went with Kug, we got to demo two different boards and switch off in the water (score). Here's what we rode.
The Pod: 5'10" x 20 1/4" x 2 1/2"
"A requirement in Dane and Kelly's board bags, the Pod is built to fly. It will position itself into the smallest ramp and allow for a technical launch. Deep concaves with a foiled nose and a swallowtail keep the Pod lively and maintains its high performance. The 'snub' nose puts volume forward, allowing for maximum plaining and wave catching."
The Biscuit: 5'4" x 19 7/8" x 2 3/4"
"A short and stubby tri-fin; the Biscuit was developed with Rob Machado. Like Rob, the Biscuit rides free and easy in the smallest surf and catched waves like a board a foot longer... Everyone should ride this board at least twice."
Wow, that's a lotta name-dropping. Aside from that, these boards were pretty fun, however the Pod stood out for me. It was very fast and responsive, and the extra rocker on the nose allowed for some steeper take-offs. I would have loved to ride this board as a quad just to really step up the speed factor. Overall it got into a lot of waves and was a blast to ride.
The Biscuit was fun too, but almost more as a novelty than an actual performance shortboard. Like something you take out with your friends to goof around on. Yes, you can get good rides with it, but I'm not Machado and I don't spend most of my surfing time in Indo (yet), so the Biscuit isn't something I would drop $700 on. Ironically, this was the board I thought I would love the most, and I just didn't turn out to be true. That's were the magic of the demo day comes in. The Biscuit had almost no room for error, and seemed to bog down on turns. Hmmm, maybe if it had been a 5'6"......
In an attempt at journalistic integrity, I offer a quick Q and A with Kug regarding these boards. I do this because I am a strapping 6'3" 180 lbs, and not all of you out there might fit this description. Therefore, my experience on these boards might not speak to you more condensed-types. Here's what Kug (5'6" 120 lbs) had to say......
The Yacht Club: So Kug, what did you think of the boards today?
Jenny Kug: It was definitely really fun to try different boards, but overall I liked the Pod a lot better. And it was good to just get an opportunity to ride a board I normally wouldn't.
YC: What do you normally ride, and how did these boards compare?
JK: I ride a 6'0" x 16 1/2" x 2 1/4" Rusty Redline, it's my magic board. I love it. The Biscuit was weird, it was really hard to paddle and really hard to figure out where you should be lying on it because it was so short! It was pretty fun but I would like more rocker in it as I could get nervous taking off on bigger waves. I really liked the Pod, it was really fast...it almost slipped out from under my feet! But I could tell the 5'10" was too big for me. I would have to ride something at least a couple inches shorter than that in real life. I felt like a lot of board because it was really wide, so it was harder to turn quickly, but I could tell it had the potential to.
YC: Did you learn anything about what kind of board you might want to get in the future from this experience?
JK: I wish I could say I was super board-savvy. I like the fatter rail, but skinnier all together, with a little bit of rocker but not a ridiculous amount. Basically, I want a board that generates its own speed really well.
YC: Which board dealt better with the shit show that is El Porto on a Saturday morning?
JK: I'm gonna go with the Pod because it was way easier to duck-dive and maneuver. The Biscuit was so thick it took all of my being to push it underneath waves. I felt a lot more in control with the Pod, easier to do everything.
YC: What did you like about the Biscuit?
JK: It was just a fun, kooky board that was a challenge, something new. It would be really fun if the waves are shit and you're just fuckin' around.
YC: Any parting words of wisdom that you gained from this experience?
JK: It's good for your surfing to try new boards and to feel like an idiot for a little bit. Struggling is not necessarily a bad thing, it reminds you where you came from and teaches you where you want to go.
