ea techflex and blackstix.....too small... under-power it...cant really push hard enough....my youngest son (jockey size) uses the ea techflex with a deviant in my HF...i dont like fourfins but the sa4's give me a hoot on my forehand....unbelievable speed and projection and still hack tight....

Nice quiver coming together Will!

ha...BTW guys, i'm definitely NOT one of those freak chargers..!!... that's why i regularly throw my boards down the mine as i scream for my mummy in the fetal position whilst waiting for the impact..!!!..

I reckon the Razor's tail looks ugly.

Will
I have ridden most of the board you mentioned. I owned a 6'2 Flexfire and a 5'8 hellfire at one point.
Right now I Have a 5'11 Hellrazor to complement my 5'6 spit and the combo works great. The spit has me covered for anything up to head high that is lacking some punch and even overhead if its still on the soft side of things. But once the waves get juicy the Hellrazor goes mental. It can grovel fairly well the wave just needs to have some punch, it will handle chop and things like that pretty nicely.
If you are worried that the Hellrazor won't be enough board for you in french beachies I will tell you to stop worrying. I surf mine every day down here in Costa Rica and have gotten it into some thick situations, it held just fine though.
If you are looking at surfing waves from waist to solid overhead than the HR will have you covered. If you are some freak charger that is lacking the idea of self preservation and are dead set on following core with the whole slab diving experiments than I would say maybe a step up.
I'm saying HR over the alternator or MB. Never ridden either of them but I love my HR so much I just want everyone else to have one too!
Also the HR has convertible 5 fin setup which for barrels helps a lot, throw a 4 fin in there and prepare to get blown out of some closeouts.
I bet the MB would go good too, not like Michel has ever ridden a barrel or anything.

re durability...i only ride RF's...have done since they came out..(except my MB)...until very recently i surfed pretty much daily on slabs/reef ledges...with a bad back i routinely ditch the boards on take off...this was more often than not under VERY thick lips on almost dry ledges...(thats many times per day, year in year out)...ONLY 1 FW EVER SNAPPED and that was a VERY heavy situation...i came out badly too....prior to FW i only surfed these spots hard when i had an old board to sacrifice...(they always broke quickly)...they also have very forgiving construction...i regularly see rock scrapes/weed stains from these impacts but no shatters...try any of the above with a traditional board...oh, and they are more lively than them too..!!...and the only wear and tear marks you get are nicely defined footwells......

this message brought to you by the firewire department of sycophancy.......


caveat.....any board CAN break.........

I like the late take off dissapearing act... where'd he pop back up?

I've got a spare set of charcoal DLs that's all. I usually use the a medium size fin also but find the DLs work very well for me. Taj uses DLs also and he's lighter than me, AI used them too I believe, and Kolohe has been using them so I don't think you need to be a unit for these. If you'd rather try DMs I can try and add a set to the order if it's not too late. If you order a set from Herb he can request any colour you like. I think there's a small $3 up charge if they have to make a single set in a different colour rather than a whole batch.

They feel more secure because instead of being screwed in with sideways pressure like FCS, the screws go into a ridge in the fin and actually works as downward pressure and pulls them hard into the bottom of the board. You don't want to get too carried away screwing them in because you can put a lot of pressure on your fin plugs and I don't doubt they'd eventually pop out if you cranked them up with a rachet as hard as you can.

I think you'd like the Armour flex, particularly in a medium wave board like the Spitfire. I have a set of C4 Ceramics on the way to try in my Taj for good waves. They actually make C3, C4 and C5 Ceramics which increase in stiffness. Apparently some top pro's using the C5s at huge Teauhpoo last year actually found them too stiff even in those conditions, but other guys love them. Tyler and Mickey Wright have been loving the C3 Ceramics so I figured I'd try the C4 for now. I do love the Armour flex though, no complaints with them at all, more curious to try the stiffer ones than anything.

Ha!
Here's the Owen/Melling incident btw.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt-TA3Nc9M8

Will, looks like ceramic sets are running around $100USD per set and armour around $70-80USD. Postage would be around $15 between us.

Like I said, it's possibly too late to jump on this order as it was placed 2-3 weeks ago and may have even shipped by now, but if you're keen I'll happily sell you an immaculate set of charcoal armour DLs when my ceramics arrive, and if you love them as much as I do maybe jump in on the order next time?

Are you looking at quads or thruster?
Quad, I think a great starting point is the SF4 set. From there you can identify what you like about that set and what you'd want to change. Otherwise it's just stabbing in the dark.
Thruster wise, I think the same could be said for the PC5s. A good all round and neutral template. From there if you want more release or more hold or drive etc it's easier to make recommendations.
What fins do you current have at your disposal?

good stuff buzzy. i like numbers.

Hey Will for the looks of it it seems like "you have been around the block", so my suggestion would be the 5'8"
As far as the ease of paddling goes, is a mix of both, AND the plane surface AND entry rocker
Ifo you didn't find the flex fire hard to paddle then the Spit will paddle itself

The 10 will have a small advantage in tiny conditions, especially if you like the board to do the work. If you can generate speed well by moving the board around then the 5'8" will have an advantage because the smaller board will be slightly easier to make small adjustments with.
Once you start taking the thing out on headhigh plus days having the smaller size becomes pretty important too I think.
I started in a 5'10" and moved down to a 5'8" because of this. Then considered setting down again to a 5'6"...

Where are you based? Cornwall, Down The Line in Hayle is a good bet. There's boardshop.co.uk and secretspot.co.uk on the south coast I believe.