Hey Buzzy, I’m 43 yrs old and 86kg and have the 6’4” Futura.
First thing I noticed about this board was how stable and forgiving it is – foot placement for me isn’t as critical as what my mates are telling me about the Hellfire. In fact I’ve been able to ride out of waves easily with my feet way out of position due to a hairy take off.
For me anyway the Futura is performance when you need it and then a hybrid when you need it – how this board still slips under the radar is beyond me.
I cannot comment about the Hellfire but I came off a 6’1” El Fuego and it also has a bit of meat in the tail. I found that when I did a reo the board seemed to project me out the lip and I lost a bit of control on the way down. (This is probably more about my surfing ability than the board) now this would suit a lot of surfers....but not my style.
The Futura however is completely different – it seems to “Absorb” the power when you push back hard but accelerate away from the lip when you don’t – but in such a controlled manner in either case. I can only put this down to the thin tail punching through the lip a bit more. It is so, so smooth out of the turn and I find myself doing reo’s that I have never done in 25 odd years of surfing with such confidence and flow – in my mind anyway
My mates cannot get enough of their Hellfire’s so I don’t think you could go wrong on either.
I’m also in Sydney so if you can’t get a hold of a demo you can have a go of mine.

Thanks goanna. Good to hear. I think I'll pull the trigger and join the small Futura club, I'd better just hold off until finances are 100% clear,

Good to hear!

i grew up surfing bunnies...would love either board there...to get the best from the hf you should ride it shorter...i've ridden the futura in 604 and it was no problem at that size..also ridden 600 and 602....the futura is so underrated..it takes your shortboard act to lesser waves...the hf on the otherhand (if ridden short) takes you "barefoot" surfing..!!

also to generalise....front foot = futura....backfoot = hf

Order placed. Took the punt!

which one?

Hey Core, this is spot on!
wish I thought of this before my blab

I went the Futura. Ill find out the next day or so on delivery. I'm looking forward to it. I am a bit of a backfooted surfer but then again the board I'm replacing is kind of foot neutral in that you can surf it off either foot, and in any event I think I drive off the front foot for projection and do more aggressive turns off the back, so a bit of both.

Great work! you'll love it
should have the new 5 fin setup as well I suppose.

I'd imagine so, yeah, although I'd probably just be surfing it as a thruster, so the extra fin boxes are more of a theoretical benefit to me than real!

Incidentally, what sort of fins are you using in yours? My first port of call would be to try GAM's and PC7's, but I'm also thinking of getting some K3's.

found the PC7's were way too stiff....couldn't turn the board at all - but settled on PC5's and they have been spot on.

Hi There
Currently have a 6 1 elf and am considering futura
My questions are Is the futura 6 4 as easy to get into waves as the elf and do you notice the difference from wide point forward on elf to wide point back on futura. Really love how the elf gets in early. Does the futura get in early as well. And do you notice any big difference going from 6 1 to 6 4 i mean as in length of turns. Hoping Goanna or somebody that has surfed both boards can help out
Cheers!

Hey Hedonist,
I don't really see any difference in wave catching between these two boards.
As far as the difference, yes the Elf was a pocket rocket meaning I could whip it into tight little turns - something you are probably enjoying now! It also feels like it gets up and goes a lot quicker due to its twitchiness
The longer Futura does draw turns out more but covers the small waves that the Elf did and takes me into larger surf with a lot more confidence than the Elf - I mainly swapped over for this reason.
Now here's the clincher which I discovered after buying this board - stability, stability, stability. Yes the Elf was a little easier to "whip around" in a tighter radius but the Futura has me making a hell of a lot more manoeuvres *
This was all at 85-95kg of weight

* Disclaimer: This person may have grandeur perceptions of his actual surfing ability but hey he's loving his surfing anyway!