There you go, keep your current sweet for smaller waves and purchase a 5"5 baked for when your feelin good and the waves are on! Nothing like riding a little board on a bigger wave the speed is amazing. In my 5"3 baked, I am currently liking rastas front fins and controllers in the back, tried this on cuttles recommendation and it works....cheers cuttlefish!

Well that is one option. But IMHO the smaller the better with these boards. Another option would be chin ups and push ups for strength. Sprinting for cardio and firing up your metabolism. Cut out all sugar including fruit, fruit juice etc. You ll easily drop a couple of kgs feel fitter and stronger, and you ll be thinking of a 5"5 baked potato for summer instead!!!!!

Hi C0111N5 in answer to your questions yes dbah was wally (its always a bit punchy more so that day as it was dead low) and IMHO yes much greater performance in these type of waves than the sweet p

Check out cuttlefish"s extensive and detailed board and fin ride report coming soon!

You need to update your signature grasshopper (this will be a fulltime job with your track record lol!).......so how did your baking go and did ya get those controllers?

Mate, i got one with the five fin option by mistake, i didnt notice till i got home. I am not complaining though. I ve had a lot of fun with mine using rasta quads front fins and the deviant fin (i dont own a futures thruster fin set yet). Surfed dbah last sunday arvo really clean wally a frame peaks and got some great waves. The type of wave where you had to stay close to the pocket and the board flew, able to pivot easily then accelerate into the close out section. Almost put my back out on one sliding turn.

I rode this fin set up on a messy head high beachbreak and had more joy when i switched to a quad set up......but that might just be me nothing to do with the board.

Its a bit smaller and straighter today so back to the rasta quads this arvo me thinks. I have a set of futures wct s on order for another board but i ll try them in the baked for sure.

Cool idea, can i borrow yours for the next 6 months!

Imagine, someone doing a thing like that, the cheek of it.

Unless I just bought a 5"3x21 1/4x 2 3/8 potatonator with a baked potato sticker on it!

On the website they re a quad, but they re turning up in aus with a five fin set up. I just sold my sweet p and picked one up, using the rasta fins......but will have to invest in a futures thruster set. Any ideas which would go best? The five fin set up is an unexpected bonus!

Hi casurf, I ve ridden the sweet p and baked p, both are a bundle of joy and different to the other boards that you mentioned. Both excel in smaller waves and fatter high tide waves. They require weight on the back foot, are very manouverable with the bonus of a bit of foam giving you length of ride. I found the bp had a bit more whip in turns and easier taking steeper drops. Only had it out in head high waves tho and either would suit your small wave
Needs. Hope this helps

I ve been frothing over the look of them for months......could be a rash of sweet potatoes on evil bay shortly

Cuttles you ve blown my cover! I am gonna have to go in there with a fake moustache and dodgy German accent now, lol!

Wow, looooooonnng wave Iggy, great stuff. Surfing in Montreal who would've thought........I'll never whinge about our cold snaps again!

Thanks guys, I got a heap of waves at a spot which is heavily populated by logs proving that in the right size waves the Sweet P is competitive.

Nice art work Tre, how did you do it?

Surfing the Sweet

This is my 5'6 Sweet in action at a secret North Coast local this morning dodging the resin tinted logs and European backpackers:)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j9jn...ature=youtu.be

Good advice, but what about a 6 ft potatonator? They have plenty of volume, go top to bottom and would feel comfortable given their genetics (70% dom)

Yeeeeww! Should be a good weekend for it, look forward to hearing about it

Suncoastslop, as the guys mentioned they don't spin out but they absolutely fly which could be an issue i guess. There is plenty of rail line so you can jam them forcefully. I prefer mine in fatter waves but others may differ.

Hi a vern,

I am 41, 74kg and 178cm. I really think that volume is apersonal thing dependent on the individuals experienc and body. I am quite fit but my glutes, hamstrings and back are pretty stiff so my pop up is not as quick as it could be. I compensate this with a bit of extra foam. When i bought the sweet p 12 months ago i was 80kg so could drop to a 5"4 now but quite like the foam for grovel. I can surf 29 to 34 litre boards ok, 36 litres are very comfortable anything above is extremely comfortable. The only way to be sure is ride differnet sizes and boards......then there are fins ha! It never ends, i think that the 5'6 or 5'8 will be fine for you, just comes down to your personal variables and how fit you are. Hope this helps.

Hi Suncoastslop, Remember the swell over easter? I surfed mine on high tide beachies a couple of those days which would have been head high plus. I frothed about it in a post on here somewhere. It was so much fun and i seriously believe that on one backhand wave i went the fastest i have ever been on a surfboard in my life. I use futures controller fins which are a big fin and would have helped that day for sure.

To clarify The tweak i d like to see is the ability to go up and down easier, laterally they surf unreal.

Hi suncoastslop,

I had an interesting conversation with cuttlefish the other day as i love this genre of board. I have a sweet p but have been borrowing a mini simmons. I havent been so impressed and prefer my sweet p, Cuttles words of wisdom were that the sweet p is a modern update of the 1950 s simmons design. When i laid the two boards side by side bingo! I could see it. Its hard to say without fondling or testing the baked potato but personally i like the look of it, aesthetically it is very pleasing to my eye. I am hoping that it will be another modern design tweak/improvement on the simmons design. If its not, i ll keep my sweet p.......My sweet p is a year old now so i feel an upgrade would be justifiable!!!!!

Hi A Vern,

I have a 5"6 and regularly ride it in head high waves, its a lot of fun. If the waves are pitching i.e. A low tide beachie or point, for me its a little tricky. However, having seen the video which you posted ,dont worry thats sweet p country. They re great when you have a fat wall to lacerate. I use contoller fins from futures and reckon that they are great. However, i d love to try the new rasta fins. Whether you prefer a 5"6 or 5"8 is a personal thing and depends on your prefered volume....if you re comfortable with the volume, the length will not be an issue.

The 5"8

Wow cuttles, you certainly dont fluff around! I think that you will have a lot fun on the peaky beach break days.....keep off the points with it tho or it ll be on evil bay shortly

Look forward to the ride reports

Good post cuttles, quite a dilema you have. I think you nailed a couple of good points 1) the spud is a niche board not an allrounder 2)having demoed a 5'8 and 5'10 i agree the potatonator is more versatile. Perhaps the 5'8 spud (or mini simmons) could be a niche board in the niche section of your expansive quiver to be used when you feel 100% and feel the need to go short, fast and loose. Personally, i feel there is always room for such a board. There is nothing like catching a great shaped decent size wave on such craft.

As you are taking the 5'8 out in decent hollow waves this would indicate that you have fully dialed in the spud for mine, your only question is.....do you have room in the garage for another board? Perhaps firewire can send you a "demo" sticker so that your beautiful wife would be none the wiser......or just keep it in a board bag.

I would keep the 6 ft spud because from our conversations it serves the purpose that you bought it for, so the 5"8 would be the "blast" the "i cant believe i can ride this board in these waves" board. Sounds like you would need to do short sharp sessions on it though, like 45 mins then switch the a longer board or visa versa.

As you know, i never leave home without mine and jump on it for the end of most sessions regardless:)

Hi terry, sizing is very personal as you can demo a couple of options take advantage. Work out the volume ythat you are comfortable with. I am 74kg (41 years young) and am happy with 34 to 36 litres volume but I am not a fan of the dominator....this is my personal taste. I love my sweet potato tho! I am going to demo a 5.8 potatonator this weekend. My friend cuttlefish has a 6.2 potatonator which he reviewed on this forum pnator small wave assinator thread.....he s a little bit crusty..49 I think and 90 plus kg. sorry ti twist your melon just something for you to consider

Hi terry, just to put it out there have a look at the potatonator (plenty of info on the forum). They have the genes of a dom and pack plenty of volume. Off hand I think that you would get a higher perfoming package than the addvance......have a chat to cuttlefish he has ridden both and is a big unit. They also pack more volume than a dom.

Let us know how you go on the 5"6 suncoast slop, so many people wrestle with the sizing dilema of the spud. Once on one and you have a few surfs (regardless of if its a 5"6 or 5"8) you wont regret your purchase. They re a ton of fun and more versatile than given credit for. I tend to finish most of my surfs on mine, i keep it in the car and pull it for the last 45 mins regardless just for the contrast and the fun of it oh and the SPEED which is why My hair is permanently on end;)

Had a great Easter weekend of waves in SE Qld. I Had two days of spudtastic headhigh high tide beachies, cross to offshore. I ve had my spud for a year and am having my best surfs on it the last two months. I reckon if you re having trouble, only ride it in waves that they are meant for first of all and watch the chuy reyna clip on youtube....he surfs it perfectly. Once you get the hang of your spud, venture into more adventurous territory and draw the crazy lines. Today i Got some overhead sets which were beautiful long fast waves.....one in particular was so fast i burst out laughing. My other tip is to work the spine of the board, keep going rail to rail.......you just keep going faster and faster:)

Hi black dog,

I am 74kg & 41 years young. I ride a 5'6 spud and could easily ride a 5'4. The reason why i dont is that i like the extra foam for smaller waves otherwise IMHO opinion riding a lower volume board in slop would defeat the point. From memory a 5'6 spud is 38 litres which is plenty of volume for me (a local shaper told me that his 5'6 mini simmons are usually 36 litres). I use controllers and agree with Pagey re the different fins.....havent tried the rastas though.

Forgot to mention, you ll probably end up buying both boards anyway they re both a ton of fun

Hi rainy coast slop,

Check out cuttlefishes thread in the potatonator section "small wave assasinator". He s a big unit from your area who wrestled with same dilema, very informative......rumour has it he's not a bad bloke either:)

The other option is to demo from your local shop or from firewire hq in currumbin.

Nice photo iggy, the spud is beautiful in its own special way;)

I am demoing a 5'10 Pnator this weekend. For context, I am 41, 5'10, 75kg with 25+ years surfing. I've been riding a 5'6 Sweet P for the last 12 months (most people would say this is overvolumed for me but in small gutless waves, I have found that a bit of extra foam is the bomb.....the 5'5 Baked P looks interesting tho!)

I took the 5'10 out in head high plus Gold Coast open beachies and chest high Greenmount yesterday.

The paddle: There is an unbelievable amount of float packed into this little number which shouldn't be a surprise given it's genetics. I effortlessly caught anything that I paddled for, dropped in without any issues even on the steeper beachies. My observations are that it doesn't have the immediate get up and go of the Sweet P but for the Pnator for me, the steeper the wave the better. Therefore, I can see a definite differencial between the two boards and agree with Cuttles, with these two boards in your car you'll have 90-95% of your east coast of Oz surfs covered. I can easily see me surfing lazy high tide waves on my Spud then a quick switch a roo as the tide drops or vice versa. Paddling a 5'6 at a crowded Qld pointbreak can be challenging but not on the 5'10 Pnator therefore, it is a suitable point break board.......fortunately this is an important consideration for us folks:)

The ride: Fast and smooth. I got some nice turns in on the point, couple of floaters and as vertical a reo as I can do......it's certainly loose enough without sacrificing drive. having said all that, I am definitely going to give the 5'8 a go which I hope will give me even more pleasant surprises. The demo has Vector 2 quads but I love my Controllers in the Spud so will try them in the Pnator this arvo.....I have found the Controllers to be perfect in the Spud so would order a futures compatible Pnator. Then I can try Cuttles Robbers (!!!) and maybe even push the boat out and get a set of Rasta quad fins.

I'll let anyone who cares know as the experiments continue:)

Hey Cuttles, You should definitely trade in the spud................for the next size up so that you can do a bit of tandem surfing with the young fella:)

Cuttles cut the sweet p some slack! You can use the pnator as your small pointwave board and all rounder, use the sweet p for what you bought it for......high tide fat waves, back breaks that are difficult to connect to the inside and just quietly they re great fun in onshore mush of all sizes. Give the little chubby fella a fair go:)

Good news Cuttles, it appears that you can get a nubster for the Futures set up http://www.mdsurfstore.com/product/f...lass-hand-made

It wouldn't cost too much in postage.

Good to hear Cuttles, the waves should be OK for the next few days now that Southerly has pushed through. Which fins have you been using?
I went to Firewire today and had a fondle of a PNator.............I am hanging out for the Baked Potato tho (I know that would leave the Sweet P redundant, doubling up etc). But the 5'5 at 36 litres excites me. I can't help wondering how the refined Baked P would go vs the PNator in head high clean beachies, (OK the PNator better on the points cause of the length).....hey, just putting it out there, that little sucker looks like it could draw some crazy lines.

Oh, The reason why I didnt demo a PNator is that they only had a 5'4.......dont worry I left my number:)

A knubster may be the answer for you Cuttles, you probably wouldnt require the larger Controller fins then and you would save a bit of coin. I ll still give you a spin on mine at some tho despite everything lol! On a side note, Lets see what baldy rides at snapper this weekend......anyways I look forward to further froth re your fins etc
Is the potatonator a potential one board quiver or a good DD? Will there a broad bean and Wasp on evil bay shortly...

Its true a spud can take a bit of figuiring out and requires the right conditions. Sweepy points and low tide sucky beachies are a no no but in fat high tide peelers or onshore mush they just light up. Very quick and loose.....i ve had my ups and downs on them but once i worked it out they re great fun. In the right conditions a spud or potatonator will leave a hps for dead, whilst others are bogging and getting frustrated i am linking turns all the way to the beach. the baked potato looks great, kind of similiar to spooky tooth or crumpet dont ya reckon cuttles?

Forgot to add i like the nose, fairly flat with a nice amount of lift.......you need to rake up those leafs in your driveway. Whats this blobby spud business, ample proportions yes, but blobby!
When we catch up for a surf I ll lend you the Controllers out of my.......blobby board. I reckon that they are biz for a wider tail, certainly more drive and errr control than the stretch fins that i had.....but i guess your board is not so blobby:)

Nice looking board Cuttles....looks like the Dumpling/Wasp will be on evil bay soon. I look forward to a ride report when you ve set it up as a quad

PS Stop the spud bashing it has its place in high tide mush! I am getting quite attached to mine which is almost a year old and holding up well, lets see how long it is before the potaonator ends up in the insinkerator;)