Jacknife

First impressions

Conditions: HB Southside, glassy, peaky, evening jack off. 2-4. Good conditions. Actually, it was firing. Possibly as good as it gets in HB. Everyone looked like a hero tonight.
Fins: Quad/Futures/Vector2 (I'm not picky)

Pros: Smooth and Stable. Likes barrels. Easy to turn but not in a radical or explosive way, more like a strong fundamental way. Rides well off back foot- in fact a deck pad is highly recommended. I rode with wax only, I usually do this first then take a look at subtle deck compression so I can gauge where to put the pad later. I liked this board backside.

Cons: Slow. Maybe it's just my opinion but it paddled slower and had kind of damp feeling. My Hellrazor that has less volume seems to generate more speed. Again this is just my opinion.

Verdict: Definitely a fun board falling in the "Perf Hybrid" category for certain. Go smaller in length by 1 or 2 inches on this one or go by volume. This would be a great board for someone coming back from a longboard hiatus or for the weekend Joe looking to have fun. If you are Kelly Slater then stick with the High Performance boards. I have a feeling that future version of the Jacknife will have some subtle adjustments to include less rocker and less thickness in the middle of the board. Don't change the width- I love the width.

Next: I'd like to test it in different conditions and in thruster set-up.

Slow? Lean forward a bit! I found this board has lots of drive so you can afford to put some loose fins in it to loosen it up and get it turning the way you want.

I have only surfed my 6'0 JaKnife as a thruster. I tried Futures TP1, CM2 and the WCT's, I do prefer the WCT's, give good drive and pivot in your turns and really loosened up the board for me. Still getting used to it but so far i am really enjoying the ride and feel of the board especially in waves with a bit of juice.

I have a Simon Anderson 5 Fin set and the Rasta Quads to try next surf.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lizardman

First impressions

Conditions: HB Southside, glassy, peaky, evening jack off. 2-4. Good conditions. Actually, it was firing. Possibly as good as it gets in HB. Everyone looked like a hero tonight.
Fins: Quad/Futures/Vector2 (I'm not picky)

Pros: Smooth and Stable. Likes barrels. Easy to turn but not in a radical or explosive way, more like a strong fundamental way. Rides well off back foot- in fact a deck pad is highly recommended. I rode with wax only, I usually do this first then take a look at subtle deck compression so I can gauge where to put the pad later. I liked this board backside.

Cons: Slow. Maybe it's just my opinion but it paddled slower and had kind of damp feeling. My Hellrazor that has less volume seems to generate more speed. Again this is just my opinion.
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After riding mine for 3 months solid this is a pretty spot on assessment although I don't agree with it being a slow paddler unless you are comparing it to the spit/dom but maybe I need to surf the Hellrazor to compare?

I jumped back on my hellfire the other day (just because) and it made me realise just how loose and explosive it is by comparison, I've been riding the JK almost exclusively since I got it and thought it was loose enough but I realise now it is not as loose as the HF and not as fast either. It is fast down the line, but not up the face. It needs some juice to get it firing up the face, easy enough when it's sucking but fullish walls not so good. Certainly good in hollow waves and barrels and as Lizardman says it is a well mannered board. It does all the right things in a predictable way; handles the drop well, bottom turns well, releases off the top and out of the lip (when you get there) well, cuts back well and recovers speed well enough.

I tried it as a thruster with the R2s and it was OK in smaller waves but lacked a little speed and drive of the quad set up. I am now tweaking the fin setup slightly, I put my TC redlines in the front, they have a longer base, lower height and are more upright, it seems to have loosened it slightly and added perhaps a touch more drive to get it up the face a bit quicker.

This board likes clean waves it doesn't tolerate too much chop on the wave surface. It will surf knee high to almost double overhead (biggest I've been out on it) but it needs to be reasonably clean. The HF will tolerate a lot more chop before it starts to get caught up.

Lizardman, any further updates?

JK seems very underrated as it isn't posted as much as other models. I think it's all about "fashion"...
I will buy one anyway.
Hope it will work for me.
Any more reports after long time riding it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by H.S.O.

JK seems very underrated as it isn't posted as much as other models. I think it's all about "fashion"...
I will buy one anyway.
Hope it will work for me.
Any more reports after long time riding it?

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After some more time: while the HF will tolerate chop better, the JK will handle lumpy swell better. You know the kind where there is a bit of another swell in the mix and the waves tend be lumpy almost like they are wobbling with backwash? The HF will skip around and spin out I found while the JK will keep its edge. Once you find the fins that work for you (for me TC redlines in front and TC aqualine rear quads) this board is really handles any wave with a bit of shape from knee high to double overhead...probably even a bit more.

I really like the look of the JK, especially the rocker. I have no need for another board for that range though :(

Have been surfing a 6'6" jk a while, im 90kgs, found the 6'4 hf too slow to paddle (im a rubbish paddler) and the 6'6 hf too thick in the rail. I love the paddle speed, thickness, width and foil of the jk, and find it surfs really nicely, it's very forgiving and quite versatile. Sometimes feels a bit weired on my backhand tho but need to do some more fin experiementing. I've been using large sides (kenetic luke egans) and smallish blacksticks rear in a thruster setup and it feels both fast enough and loose. The beauty of the jk is you can go a little longer for paddling, while still enjoying a sensitive forgiving rail, which is a bug bear i have have with other firewire hybrid (hf, sf, dom) models...if you ride them a bit longer than the recommended...they just get too corky and loose that connection to the wave... It's a failing the firewirerange in my opinion.. Great for younger high performance surfers but less suited to the older guys..or busy professional types that don't get out much more than once a fortnight. If they made the mini an inch longer Id like to try that as it appears a nicely foiled and proportioned board. Have ridden the equivalent volume alternator but find the jk a bit more versatile and definitely much easier to get into waves and the shorter length is nice.

Thanks for the input

looking at getting a JK but don't know if I should go 6'0 which will be max id go for volume for my height and weight. the 5'10 will put me at the lower end of volume but allow me to surf bigger waves better when they come threw. WHYYYYYYYY is it a pain in the ass to buy a board sometimes!! HAHAHA!!!