New Board Day: Now I have a Quiver!

First time out on my new Diplock 'Flyer'. It's just a standard 'fatboy flyer' type shape, swallowtail, 7ft. I chickened out of the 6'8 model - not wanting to risk too large a step.

It looks so much smaller than my Mini Mal even though there's only six inches difference. So, it was with some trepidation that I entered the water this morning. The waves were not bad but a little choppy and messy. The bigger waves of the sets were pushing 4-5ft I'd say but I must admit to struggling slightly with understanding how surfers measure wave height. There were about five surfers out: I had been hoping there would be none!

The board immediately felt significantly wobblier in the water than my Mini Mal, however, it wasn't hard to find the right balance and paddle out. It was also harder to sit on it. I began to think that this was going to be back to square one and learning all over again. Fortunately this was not the case. The theory goes with transitional boards like this that it is a shortboard nose but with extra volume in the mid/tail section to make paddling and wave catching easier and it seems to work because my wave catching seemed little to no different from my Mini Mal - fantastic! The main difference was as soon as I was up this board is a very different beast. It flies down the waves compared with what I'm used to and is much more twitchy and ready to turn. You also need to get your feet in the right place because it's not as forgiving as a Mini Mal for adjusting your feet after popping up. I didn't get any long rides and had some faster wipe-outs than I've been used to, but I left the water feeling stoked that the progression seems smoother and more manageable than I thought it might be.

Oh, and what's more I like the green Loose Fit FCS fins and the 'rubbery' Terra Wax too.