Hellrazor

[prjwebb]

You're similar size to me and ride very similar boards. Please try the HZ in some 2-3ft average waves and let me know it goes! Thanks.

[Chito]

I will fully elaborate whenever it stops pumping, After paddling and surfing all day I barley have it in me to carry my sorry ass to bed, and than I wake up and have to do it all over again, its really quite terrible. Whenever I take a day off I will write a full review.
PRJ are you speaking 2-3ft normal sizes? or 2-3ft where 3ft actually means 6? I can tell you after my session tonight that if you have the hellrazor in a waist to chest high wave that is bowling and has some punch to it than you can go bezerk, never felt a board feel so at home in such a variety of conditions. Will give more up later, must go stuff my face to regain energy to do it all again tomorrow.
cheers

[prjwebb]

I'm thinking stomach to shoulder high really, and not so much bowly. Maybe bowly stomach high, but any bigger with any punch and my CBD goes mental. I'm looking for something for days where it doesn't all line up and you need something to connect sections and deal with bumps and fat sections a bit easier but that is still going to surf like a shortboard. The quad option would be helpful too. My Sub Scorcher is up for sale, and the Spitfire might end up that way too.

I'm thinking Sweet Potato for thigh to stomach high, the CBD for anything chesthigh with good shape, or overhead regardless of shape, and then I need something to fill the gap between the two. As I said I want to stay as close to a shortboard as possible. The HellRazor looks the part, but I'm not sure if it's going to be too thin and rockered and struggle in the same ways as my CBD.

How's the volume for you also? Baring in mind I'm around 170lbs, plus wetsuit...

[Chito]

Volume floats me perfectly. Granted I am 160 and in boardies 365 days of the year so you will no doubt have some weight on me. Also I dont know what the waves you are surfing are like, and everyone judges waves differently so that comes into play as well.
From what you said your plan is to have the SP for ankle to stomach and the CBD for shoulder and above than I would say just keep the spit and there you go. If you want something more on the shortboard side of things than maybe go with a Hellfire. Its not that the HZ wouldn't work in those conditions, as long as there is some push and you hit the flat section with speed most of the time the HZ will go right over it, and this is as a thruster, Im sure with a quad it would go even better in fat waves. But for what you are looking for I feel like you would get more out of the HF than the HZ. If you would only be using the board up to shoulder high than the HZ would never get a chance to really shine since I feel like as much as the board is at home in chest to shoulder it really comes into its own when its head high +. The amount of speed you get off the drop alone on a head high wave on the HZ is mental, can project right off the bottom and into the lip.
So if you want something to just fill the gap than sell the Sub and keep the spit, if you are looking for something to fill the gap but retain shortboard aspects about it than go with the Hellfire. and If you want a board that will work for the somewhat average days and really blow you mind when its good than go for the HZ. sure it might cut into time spent on the CBD but hey mixing it up is good, riding different shapes makes you a more versatile surfer so why not.
I have had my HZ for about a month now and I have surfed it everyday, even at max high tide when the waves were hardly even breaking and I still had fun, sure the Spitfire might have gone better but brand new boards always get priority. I surfed a long right point yesterday that has been deemed as a "longboard wave" by the majority of the town and on the inside once the wave got a bit smaller I was still doing full on wrapping roundhouses in the pocket on waist to chest high "longboard waves".
So yea, food for thought. Hope this helps a bit.

[prjwebb]

I did think about the HF but it's basically the same dims as my SR and I don't really want to be on anything so short else I'd just ride the SR or SF. If I went up to the 510 HF it's going to be a lot of board for me and I wanted to stay in the 19.25" max range for width.
I think you're right about the HZ potentially being limited in the conditions I'm looking to use it in.
My CBD flies through flats if it has speed coming into them, but I'm looking for something that's relaxed enough in the rocker with enough volume to get up and go on a flatter section and then still surf like a shortboard when a good section lines up. The HZ is very close I reckon, but I'd probably be looking at a slight bit more thickness through the middle, a little wider in the tail block and a tiny reduction in the entry rocker to get it to what I'm after. As has been mentioned, the HZ can basically replace your shortboard, maybe replacing your groveller is a lot to ask.

If you get to try it as a quad in higher tide, chest high, afternoon Santa Teresa as the onshore dies down I reckon that's going to get as close to home as possible there.

[C0111N5]

We got a dodgy surf report so the predicted 3-4 foot ended up more like 1.5 to 2.5 foot so my demo day/s didn’t work out to plan. In saying that though I can say the HZ still goes pretty well in the smaller stuff, keep in mind this was a clean, little hollow beach break with medium punch.

The board felt great, loved the width for stability and speed, loved the sensitivity of the tail, take off’s were super smooth with heaps of rocker, which is what I am chasing from riding a 5’6” Spitfire BUT (sorry for the but) I think for me the board is probably a bit too refined for the regular conditions we get here on the Sunshine Coast, Qld). Plus when it is good, it can deteriorate half way through the session more often than not pretty quick. I don’t think it would be a daily driver for me but that’s what I am chasing at the moment. If I lived on the Gold Coast, Qld and surfed Duranbah or TOS often, this would be the board for me.

So for me I’m going to invest some more time in a 5’8” Hellfire, I just think I will get more bang for my buck. I like my Spitfire and works well in most conditions here but I just want that little bit more when the surf pumps and is 4-6 foot and hollow but still be able to fill the shoes of the Spitfire when it’s not so pumping (especially if it is half way through a session).

Also, size wise I felt like the 5’11” was a bit big for me (I'm 5'9", 165, warm water, 2mm wettie), not sure if it was the dims or the FST, which I haven’t used before, it is definitely heavier than the RapidFire construction. If I get a chance I think I will try a 5’9” HZ just to make sure, will make an update if I do.

Hey Chito, thanks for your great reviews so far, do you think I can grab your email to get your feedback on your 5’6” Spitfire vs 5’8” Hellfire? Or have you posted something like that somewhere else?

[C0111N5]

Sorry, prjwebb, the HZ handles the chop well, we had some strong wind roughing up the wave face and it didn't seem to phase the board, maybe the weight of the FST helps for that.

From what you are looking for I'd say the Hellfire might be what you are after to fill your quiver gap. I think I will sell my Spitfire and just go the Potato and Hellfire as my quiver, too many boards seem to mess with my head and feet : )

[Chito]

Never expected today to take the horrible turn that it did. First wave and I ended up with a snapped Hellrazor, literally happened like 20 minutes ago. Its high tide and 3 foot, really have no explanation for how or what happened, and no this is not going to turn into a campaign to ruin FW and their name. I still trust in their product and know that it surpasses the industry standard, however, this break I really have no explanation for. I repair surfboard every day so I know the in's and outs of the tech used in these boards, I know what methods to take to avoid serious damage to the surfboard. And when it comes to surfboard maintenance I am about as anal as it gets. Every month I strip the wax off my board, rub it down with a cloth and than go over it with some rubbing alcohol on a rag to get it spotless, when its in that stage I look it over thoroughly for any dings or compression marks where dings may form later to take care of them before they become a bigger issue. Today is the 27th of may, I got my board on the 25th of april, exactly a month and 2 days ago. Literally 2 days ago I took all the wax off and did the procedure mentioned above, there was not a single crack or ding on the board, just the usual pressure marks here and there from my feet and other things, nothing really worth worrying about. Since than I have surfed it at a long mushy right hand point for the last 2 days, it never got over head high and the wave is of 0 consequence ( think Lowers). I took it out today at 8 am, 1 hour after high tide in waves that were waist to shoulder, First wave I took off pumped down the line and it closed out, jumped off the back and when I went to collect my board what I got at the end of my leash was only half of it. Im not going to lie about how I feel, Im F**king pissed off to have worked all summer saving money and coordinating the purchase and shipping of the board to get it here to have it last me a month and 2 days. also the fact that I live in the middle of nowhere really does not help when it comes to customer service so I have no clue if I will be able to get anything done about it, for now Im back to just having my Spitfire which hopefully does not follow suit and well high season is over so no chance of buying another board until at least this time next year.
I would fix it if it were not for the fact that the break is directly in the middle of the board, not even where my front foot goes or anything and it would totally ruin the feel of it, also the break is really violent with a large section where the glass detached from the foam and there are multiple buckles around the actual break so it would be a lot of work and in the end would not be anything close to what the board was before.
I don't really know if there is anything that can be done in the situation that I am in due to my location but if there is I would be very grateful, with no buckles, cracks or soft spots on the board prior to the actual break I really have no explanation for it. I want to say it was faulty but that takes the whole thing into a grey area that I would rather avoid. I do not intend to point fingers and make accusations here so if that is how some may read this I urge you to view this in a different light, the shape itself was magic. All my friends as well as myself can attest to how much better the board was making me surf in just the short period of time I had it and hopefully someday sooner rather than later I can have another 5'11 FST HZ under my arm. I recommend the board to everyone and I hope my personal experience in this case does not makes others view of the product falter, I have been riding FW for the last 5 years and this is the first time I have ever broken one, sure it was the last thing I ever expected to happen to this particular board but shit happens. Just have to deal with it.

R.I.P Hellrazor

[prjwebb]

That's a crap situation Chito. I'd shoot Chris a mail if I were you. Fingers crossed you can get it looked at or something.

[Chito]

What usually happens after the board is looked at? I know sometimes a free repair will be done but I really could care less about getting it fixed since the location of the break is directly in the middle of the board and it would throw the whole thing off balance and ruin the flex. Might as well be surfing a piece of drywall.