Board advice

[terry]

Hi guys
Just after some board advice from the experts. I am 55 years old, 5 ft 10 and 75 kilos. I am pretty fit. I live on the south coast of New South Wales and surf most days. I mostly ride HP longboards, logs and a Surftech 6 ft 10 Soulfish, which is coming to the end of its life. I was thinking about getting a 6 ft 10 Addvance. Any thoughts on this? I could go a smaller board, but I am not getting any younger.
Thanks for your ideas,

Terry

[iggy]

For the description you are giving you could perfectly be ion the 6'6" Addvance. It alll depends on what you want to get out of the board.
But seems like you will profit of the extra length when it comes to paddle so probably the 6'10" is the right call in your case

[Goanna]

Hey Terry, get on up the road to Natural Necessities Surf shop - they have a lot of Firewire demo boards to ride then you'll know for sure

[iggy]

Thanks Goanna

[buzzy]

Yep, 6'6" or 6'10" Addvance sounds perfect, probably the former, and demoing is the best bet.

[terry]

Thanks guys. I will get along to the local and have a look. Yeah it is either the Addvance or perhaps some thing like a Surftech nugget.

[STC67]

Definitely 6'6.

[STC67]

I can't rate this board highly enough for the Fellas like me who don't want to flounder on a HP shortboard. I have already plugged the Addvances ability to handle the steeper sucker stuff but yesterday I was surfing waist high weak waves and the ADDvance was the only option as I didn't bring the Sweet Potato. I was surprised at the speed I could generate and fun I had. Take a step forward and the board accelerates but does not become stiff as a plank.

Well done guys on this design. This board could easy be a one board quiver.

[terry]

Those new Activators look pretty sexy too.

[samtheman]

Terry,
Get the Addvance, you wont regret it. I got the 702 and loved it, a really versatile board, from knee high to well overhead.
I enjoyed it so much that I moved down to the 610 and it's my go to board.
I've also ridden the 606 and it floated me fine, but I like the wave catching advantage the 610 gives me.
I can still compete with the young groms and hotties!
Definitely a far superior board to the surftech mccoy.
Oh yes for your info I'm 60 yrs young and 98kg

[iggy]

Sexy indeed!!! the tail pretty intriguing

[Chris]

yeah terry i cam to the same conclusion in one of your other threads, that the Addvance may be a good route to go.

[terry]

Thanks again Chris. A 6'10" Addvance will do the job well I reckon. Thanks also to all involved for this amazing forum. It is a wonderful entertaining resource that I enjoy so much.

Terry

[terry]

Thanks samtheman. Wise advise indeed. The Addvance 6'10 sounds like the board for me. You are only as old as you feel. We still got years ahead of us with boards like this.

[terry]

This may be completely dumb and not really something anyone here can answer, but I wonder how much difference there is between a 606 Addvance and my 610 Surftech Soulfish. Both are wide in the chest area, have a pulled in nose and narrowish tail. If anyone can shed some light, then thanks.
http://surf.surftech.com/featured-boards/surftech/tuflite-soul-fish/

[cuttlefish]

Not too difficult....3 litreage more volume in the addvance (stupid spell check...curse you).
The advances nose rocker will handle steeper drops and not catch coming back down in the trough of a wave on re-entries.
The tail is narrower and has more curve from the wide point to the tail.
This means it will turn quicker and hold in better.
The soul fishes forte will be a cruiser ride with good planing speed over flat and/or fat waves.
Back to litreage you will find the addvance has similar floatation but may have to work a bit harder to get into waves because of it's lower surface area and rocker and shorter length.
So far so good?
BTW the addvance does vertical (I do mean vertical) re-entries with absolute ease

[terry]

Cuttlefish. You deserve a forum award of some sort for such an in-depth answer. Thanks very much. Once again I am amazed at the standard of answers and the level patience coming from all the folk here on the forum. Now I only have to decide between a Dom or an Addvance. Haha. It is not a problem you could complain about.

[cuttlefish]

Fyi nev rides a 6'6" addvance and is similar age/weight.
Have a look at the old firewire forum and find the thread about the addvance and the firefly by nev.
May Help the decision process.

[terry]

Thanks again cuttlefish That actually does help. It has been suggestedby JaM71 that I ask you about potatonators. These were not really on my shopping list, but how are these boards compared with the Addvance or Dom in replacing the Soulfish?

[cuttlefish]

Read the "Small wave assisinator" thread on the potatonator section and that should help.
The addvance would be the replacement closest to the soulfish for it's glide factor and it will be a forgiving ride compared to the potatonator which is, more like the dominator, aimed more for "in the pocket surfing" for average surfers (non-pro - don't get your egos all bruised).
The addvance will as I said suprise you with how hard it can be turned but it doesn't need to live in the curl.

[terry]

Sounds like the way to go cuttlefish. Now I suppose the 606 is more my size than the 610. I feel better already.

[terry]

Definitely 6'6.
You think 6'6" is the way to go STC67?

[spyker06]

Can you duckdive with the 6'6 or does the buoyancy get in the way?

[Chris]

modified duck dive....that's always the sacrifice of increasing float.

[iggy]

Can you duckdive with the 6'6 or does the buoyancy get in the way?

It does get in the way but the amount of waves you get makes you forget everything else!!!

[STC67]

Sounds like the way to go cuttlefish. Now I suppose the 606 is more my size than the 610. I feel better already.

Yeah 6'6. I am 95kg and would be happy to downsize my ADDvance from 7'2 to '6'10 looking for a bit more performance. I can duck dive my 7'2 but need to be careful of timing.

Go for it. You will be stoked

[terry]

Already organising demos. Can't wait. Thanks again.
ps. Have you gone off the Activator idea?

[spyker06]

Yeah I'll make it work, not a big deal. Excited to get my 6'6! Thank you to Firewire for making this board. Addvance, not just for old guys... hehehe

[STC67]

No not really, I'm going to check out boards on Friday. It's just I have so much faith in the ADDvance shape the I am having trouble getting away from it. I am going to PNG later this year and want to take 2 boards otherwise I would be staying with the 7'2 ADDvance. Very nearly bought a 6'5 El Fuego but I think I am too heavy for it.

[terry]

Good luck with the board choice. It is a fun activity.

[terry]

This may be completely dumb and not really something anyone here can answer, but I wonder how much difference there is between a 606 Addvance and my 610 Surftech Soulfish. Both are wide in the chest area, have a pulled in nose and narrowish tail. If anyone can shed some light, then thanks.
http://surf.surftech.com/featured-boards/surftech/tuflite-soul-fish/
So is the Soulfish more like an El Fuego?

[iggy]

Not quite
You'll find the El Fuego way more maneuverable an performant
628
629

The soulfish will be more like a cruiser drawing straighter lines

[terry]

632 This is my Soulfish. Would it have the same characteristics?

Thanks again

[Magnet]

I have ridden the 6'10 soul fish a lot, My daughter rides it now, plus have ridden most of the FireWire models but not the advance. The soul fish is actually a good board, its refined rails make it nice to carve for such a big board and it's mainly the surf tech stiffness that holds it back. Its low rocker starts topping out in steep or bigger surf too. I actually think the activator will be the closest to it in feel as it looks as though it also has nice refined rails, plus has that nice pulled in swallow tail like the soul fish. So at the same volume paddling should be similar but on the wave it will be WAY better with more rocker, Nevs magic and the FireWire flex. You may feel 10 years younger! The advance is a much thicker, blockier board, with quite different volume distribution, hence being able to go smaller and get the same volume, so will have quite a different feel But hey, I haven't ridden one!

[terry]

Thanks for that info magnet. Great advice.

[iggy]

632 This is my Soulfish. Would it have the same characteristics?

Thanks again
Look how much straighter the outline is from the middle down to the tail on the soulfish, that's gonna make the board being a bit more cruisy and go straighter down the line than the EF. The flex characteristics of the FW tech will also allow the EF to feel more lively for sure

[terry]

Ok. That all makes good sense. Thanks again.

[Chris]

cheers all. great feedback and advice. thanks for the help!

[terry]

I have ridden the 6'10 soul fish a lot, My daughter rides it now, plus have ridden most of the FireWire models but not the advance. The soul fish is actually a good board, its refined rails make it nice to carve for such a big board and it's mainly the surf tech stiffness that holds it back. Its low rocker starts topping out in steep or bigger surf too. I actually think the activator will be the closest to it in feel as it looks as though it also has nice refined rails, plus has that nice pulled in swallow tail like the soul fish. So at the same volume paddling should be similar but on the wave it will be WAY better with more rocker, Nevs magic and the FireWire flex. You may feel 10 years younger! The advance is a much thicker, blockier board, with quite different volume distribution, hence being able to go smaller and get the same volume, so will have quite a different feel But hey, I haven't ridden one!
Yeah, thats it. Gonna get one of these Activators. Can't wait to hear some actual reports on them, but they sound like what I am after.10 years younger is good value I think.

[Chris]

High performance dominator. A bit more sensitivity in steeper/faster surf. Super fun though and still paddles like a hybrid. A champ of a board!