Quad questions on my DOM

[luismx]

hey guys! well, im finally back home for 3 weeks and got to surf yesterday and the day before. felt great to be out there at my home break, but i was surfed out after no more than 2 hours each day as i havnt surfed in approx 8 months :(

anyways, i had some really weird things happen to me while i was surfing. the board felt great as usual, but something was fishy...the board seemed to ''twitch" and snap in different directions. one example was on my takeoff... the waves were about headhigh+ and everytime i stood up, the board would snap down the line faster than i thought it would. maybe my popup was rusty and i was standing bad, but it would snap so fast that i would almost be sent flying off the board as it slowed down...and after the snap(if i was still standing :P) i would have lost so much speed that the wave would be breaking right ontop of me. another instance was further down the line, when i went for a top snap and the board reacted lightning fast but stopped halfway through the turn and i found myself falling backwards as the board didnt get back under my feet. im an avid wakeboarder and i have a great feeling on the water, but for some reason the board didnt seem to do that that i was expecting it too...either being to quick or too slow, stopping midway or going too far....

i know my post may be a bit well....confusing, but what i want to know is, is this a "quad" thing or was i just rusty or....i dont know... ive only surfed my dom maybe 20times since i got it, and have always ridding it as a quad, but this time it really scared me.... whats the general feeling you guys get on a quad vs thruster?

thanks

[kdropin]

tail to fat for the conditions u were in??? idk

[Slowman]

tail to fat for the conditions u were in??? idk

Yeah the dom can definitely "buck" you off in steeper suckier waves. The tail and rail just jump out of the wave if you push it too hard. I ride mine as a quad and on steep or sucky waves it could misbehave a bit. That's why I bought a spitfire - it won't do that though taking off requires some care in steep or sucky waves.

[luismx]

is there a way to better the twitchiness of the dom in bigger swell? i tried it with a fifth finner(my homemade knubster- same dimensions etc)(trying to use the 5th fin in bigger surf and he pure quad in smaller than headhigh) and the board felt a bit rounder and softer, but still sharp and unforgiving on the bigger sets... should i put in a thruster next time? i only have a 5fin sf4 set so...yea.....or do you advise i just man up and use my quad and maybe adjust stance or so? does anything make the quad a bit more....friendly?

[prjwebb]

It's more down to volume at high speed I reckon
A large thruster set would help manage the speed in more powerful waves.

[Slowman]

I've surfed my dom in bigger waves, say 1.5 x overhead to almost double overhead, and it has been fine but on a powerful hollow waves at head high, it has been spinning out. Fins won't really help that much, I rode mine as a quad with a stabiliser. It is really just the thickness and shape of the tail - great for gutless waves but a hand full on barreling waves. You have to take care to set the rails and not push the turns too hard when it is like that.

[luismx]

that completely busts my interpretation of logic... i would have thought to tender and relax on smaller waves, and push it in bigger more powerful waves :P well, you learn something everyday

[Slowman]

Well you can throw more weight into a turn without necessarily pushing the turn, it's simply a matter of balancing the board's speed and the wave's power with your weight. Pushing the turn is when you sink the rail and carve or pivot tightly near the limits of the board's ability to hold it's edge. Anyway the dom just isn't the board to try and do radical snaps and manoeuvres in hollow waves with power, it will let go.

[buzzy]

I reckon fins can make a huge difference. I have a strong thruster preference but I have used a quad in the Dom from time to time. At the relevant time I was using PC 7 thruster, and PC 7 fronts with QPX rears. I noticed a HUGE difference in hold moving from thruster to quad. I don't ever recall spinning out a bottom turn in thruster mode (up to 1.5x overhead) but my first few forehand bottom turns I blew the fins right out of the water. It was so unexpected and weird.

I now use K3 thrusters mostly and even then I notice those fins can lose traction more quickly than the PC7 thruster, albeit not as frequently and not on bottom turns. It's only when you get to head high plus this becomes even faintly an issue but in a powerful head high plus wave PC7 thrusters are a choice I feel much more comfortable on. Mind you, I'd typically prefer a more refined board generally in those conditions.

As for the issues given it was your first surf in a while I'd say its more likely an issue of rustiness/timing issues than equipment.

[Slowman]

Yes never ridden the dom as a thruster...one day perhaps. When I say fins won't make much difference, I mean once you have found the right fins for you and the board. Wrong fins will screw the board and in that sense it can make a big difference, but I have found once I've found the best fins for a board changing to say a bigger set for bigger waves might help you squeeze and extra 5% to the max wave size it can handle, it won't be that dramatic.

The thruster v quad config though is something I've never thought about that much but it makes sense the extra speed of a quad blows the tail out of the water on bigger waves because it gets a bit too fast and you don't need that speed anyway so a thruster with the extra drag helps keep the tail in the water. I always intended to use the dom/spit for small waves anyway anything above waist and I'm riding something different so never really wanted to use it as a thruster.