Believe me that`s part of the magic that allows this board to excell on a wide array of conditions

well shes earned her first battle scars today wakeboarding. got a few toesized pressure marks going... suprised it went so quickly but yea...its not a wakeboard:P

i have to say im loving it. took a few gos to get used to it as it is a bit lighter than i normal SB. the float feels great and im ready for the next swell to kick it....

p.s. whats the difference between quad and thruster? i didnt feel too much of a difference behind the boat except that the thruster was a bit more turny...like classic roundhouse spray some water in the air type of carvy... the quad seemed to have a shitload of hold but only in a straight line.... any tips??

luismx

Quad setups can vary hugely depending on fins. You can make them stupidly tracky and fast in a straight line or really loose and even slidey. When/If you find that magic 'best of both worlds' set then you'll probably wonder why you ever rode thrusters. I've had really good sessions with a quad set and really terribile ones because I've been trying different fins. I reckon they are a lot harder to dial in than a thruster set, but you can get more acceleration, better top end speed and really good hold through fast turns if you get everything right.
If the waves already offer lots of down the line speed then a thruster is good for controlling that speed, if you want to create your own speed then quads are going to rule. That's my take at least.

Well said.

how do i know if the quad is "working" for me? im not the best surfer. good paddler, get up quick and get going down the line. few little up-down squiggles on the face and if it starts to peel off ahead of me,i do a small floater/reentry type of snap. i surf too little to be talking about drive and so on. have only surfed thrusters till now... is there something to expect or anticipate on a quad?

luismx

I'd stick with full quad sets in that case and you won't get confused with all the swapping around. SF4s are a good start.

I'm enjoying quads in my Dom in ultra small waves; I think the quads are probably a touch quicker and even looser. But I definitely can't push as hard in turns. I also find that the optimum place for my foot on a thruster is too far forward on a quad. The quad seems to draw attention to the thickness of the board, whereas with a thruster I really don't notice.

well according to stormsurf,i shall be getting some swell tomorrow and tuesday....some wind waves built up across the atlantic....ill give the sf4s a try and if it gets bigger/cleaner ill try out the thruster to get an idea of how they work on the dom:)

so i finally got to give it a go! the first few waves felt a bit....weird...... the board floated almost too much for me to drop into some waves... after about 3-4 failed attempts i got up and moving across the line. one of the first things i felt was the board being very skatey under my back foot. it drifted out a bit on the bottom turn but i quickly got it back up and running. it also took me quite a bit to get used to the back footed bias of this board. i was surfing it fairly neutral at the beginning and only later remembered that the board was made for backfoot surfers...

the quad didnt feel that 'fast', like everyone has been talking about, but i guess that also has to do with the fact that the waves wernt that powerful afterall. it had great hold and allowed me to do some quick slashes along the face and on the lip. i wont be trying the thruster anytime soon as it felt great as a quad.

i still have to dial in my foot position and my pop ups (havnt surfed in 2 years), but all in all im very pleased with how the board handled todays conditions...

any tips on stance postions? should i surf the Dom from the start on my back foot or wait till im up and moving, then slide myself back a bit? where does my backfoot need to be positioned on a quad? directly over the fins or in the middle or...? ive added a few pics so that you can see how the conditions were.

thanks luismx

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I find my pop up puts me in a good position for a driving/projecting bottom turn on a thruster set up but I need to shuffle my back foot back or sometimes both feet back a tad for more vertical/pocket surfing. I have no idea if that's normal or ideal.

If you were sliding out in a bott turn that's definitely a sign to get your back foot more back. I find that board much more likely to slide in quad v thruster set up.

I tend to prefer a thruster set up. For those size waves i would typically surf as a thruster, but the waves were pretty crumbly!

well, i had an amazing evening surf yesterday as the swell suddenly picked up and the wind dropped.... it was probably around headheight with sets coming in even bigger.

that board ripped! i dont think ive ever surfed that good in my life. did my first proper top-turn and board just slungshot me out of it. unbelievable... the board built up so much speed down the line and on pumping...it was unreal. the quad seemed to manage the conditions without the slightest of problems. i couldve used a knubster or a thruster to make it more rounded, but that quad held great, turned on a dime and created insane amounts of speed...

unfortunately i didnt get any photos but the trusty old gopro made me a couple of videos ;)

yeah luis!! love to hear it! Keep the photos coming!

so my fellow FW riders... ive got 2 questions heading your way.

1. deckpad/grip vs. kicktail only vs. none? so far ive been using it without. never had any problems with that and never felt like i was missing out. i know its a 50/50 thing...either you like it or you dont... what do you say?

2. whats next? this may sound a bit weird but i love making "fantasy" quivers. im unfortunately not in the situation where i can surf endlessly or even have the money to afford other boards, but i would like to plan ahead. im studying industrial design in Austria and in 5 years ill be done and hopefully out of this place and on to somewhere surfable! ofcourse this all depends on work and life and so on, but i would love to work for Firewire and live on the US west coast:).......ah dreams,anyways back to the topic. whats next? which boards can i get ready for? i got the dom as a singleboard quiver and have been thinking of, purchasing later on, a sweet P and alternator.

woops pressed the post button...

would that cover my wavely needs? a simple yet effective trio? the long john, mid sized marvin and fat moby? or is there more instore from FW?

good night.
luis