Potatonator: small wave assasinator?

[Fazza]

Keith,

I have surfed a few spots around Mandurah i.e.. surf beach/avalon and i think either the 6'2 or 6'4 Potatonator or the 6'6 Advance would be the go...........probably lean towards the Potatonator?

[cuttlefish]

Hi Keith,
I reckon Iggy's pointing you in the right direction.
I've also gone down the mini-fish route a few years back. I first owned a 6'er but wanted an easier time catching waves and after talking to Greg Webber tried a 6'3" demo for a couple of weeks.
I found where the mini-fish excelled was in hollow waves. The double barrel concave loved a sucky wave and the speed was crazy. But it's downfall for me was in fatter waves where it would slow right down.
I've also owned the 6'6" Addvance and used it as a shortboard replacement rather than a groveller/longboard replacment.
The 6'6" planes nice and early (fish-like) and it's tail allows easy carving cutbacks when teamed with good fins. I could still do vertical snaps on better waves.
Haven't had the pleasure of surfing the 6'10" yet but would dearly love to. I'd say you'd be happy with either. At my/yor weight the 48 litre Addvance would float you just above belly button level. The sweet potato at 51 litres floats me at just bellow belly button (board level underwater). The 6'10" would be floating you at waistband of your boardies (unless your Harry high pants).
Depends upon how much duckdiving the wave you surf has you doing. You'll be able to easily duckdive the 6'6" but will have an easier time catching waves on the 6'10".
Your time to pop up will be good on both Addvances and later takeoffs aren't an issue because even though it's got a wide nose it's got late flip which prevents pearling.
It will be planing early and the 6'10" will be a better bet if you have to deal with any crowds.
I am with you on be a little non-plussed by the dominator and riding the 6'6" dom and the 6'6" Addvance back to back in 3-4' sucky beachbreaks which were often close to closing out had me happy I'd chosen a 6'6" Addvance as opposed to a dominator.
The only reason I've now got a 6' sweet potato was to get maximum glide over fat sections at my local beachbreak where it will break, then back off, then hit the shorey.
It was a choice inbetwwen the 6' sweet potato and the 6'10" Addvance and I chose to have a crack at the sweet potato out of curiosity.
If it doesn't impress me enough it will be sold for a 6'10" Addvance.
Hope this helps. Any questions...fire away!

[cuttlefish]

woops, double post.
I think the internet connection in Byron is on weed or something....it's sloooowwww man!

[STC67]

Hi Keith, I'm very similar to you, around the same weight, and with double shoulder reconstructions. I have a 702 ADDvance and it is my go to board coming back from longboards. I also have a Sweet Potato but havent yet had a go on a Pnator but has a similar tail to the SP. I think the P-nator which will be a lot faster and skatey but also harder to catch waves and more technical to surf. If you are about catching waves the ADDvance makes life ridiculously easy. I can cut back my 702 and a 610 would be better. If you don't have any trouble catching waves and feel pretty confident with a sub 606 board, the Pnator may be the way to go. It is probably a choice for you.

Cheers

[cuttlefish]

Hi Keith,
I'd be looking at a 6'4" at least if you do go for a p'nator. You will get better glide than on a 6'4" dom but it's not a glide monster. I find my 6'2" very easy to generate speed.
Both the experienced staff (both competent surfers...one very, very good) at our local surfshop are non-plussed by the dom. Both older guys like us. The better of the two has ridden it at a local point that can be super fast and was not impressed by its speed (Sorry dom lovers).
Just read your dominator thread and if you've got a 6'10" mollusc you'll probably be happy with the 6'6" Addvance unless you crave every wave then it's the 6'10"/

BTW I've demoed a 6'5" El feugo and though I tried hard to like it because I should as I like those kinds of lw rockered, wide nosed boards...I hated it. Found it difficult to catch waves and generate speed on the waves.
One thing you could try with the dominator before selling it.
Put a pair of MR tfx's and a trailer in it.
Personally I liked it much better than as a quad which I felt lacked drive.

[keith]

Thanks guys, its good to know im not going crazy thinking the dom was a bit slow, and i could tell it would be better as a quad so i ordered a set for $34 from the US, they arrived just before i put the dom in the shop, but in keen to try the quad setup in another board.
My 6'10 tuflite mollusc goes great and i surfed it in perfect waves at the Banyak islands recently, but it felt a bit long at times, especially on my backhand.
I got a call today from the local surf shop guy and he said they cant get El fuego's until July, thats good cos i had changed my mind to the P'nater after reading this last night.
Its so good to hear other guys who have ridden different boards, to compare with. Especially older groms who still rip. My 6'3" webber minifish is a fast, fun board to ride but at 6'3" tall i have trouble drawing a longer line on decent waves. It also has limitations hitting the lip because of the extreme thickness, but that just might be me. Its like trying to control a cork.
Stc, good to hear the shoulder op was a success, luckily mine are still ok, and i can still paddle alright, im leaning towards the 6'4" potato, although its a similar size to my minifish i reckon it will surf a lot differently, and will handle head to h/half size waves, then i'll go the 6'10" mollusc. I would also like to ride it as a quad which i reckon adds 6 inches to a board, control wise.
Most of the waves i ride around here are similar to Avalon point, fullish walls, but i do surf the beach breaks in winter when they are not a 5km long closeout. The reefbreaks in the SW are also a favourite in summer.
I think the best thing i can do next is pick up the potato and addvance in a shop and check them out up close, better still would be to try a demo but i havent seen any shops that do it in WA.
Keep posting reports of your sessions, always good to read.


. The 6'3" webber minifish is a fast, fun board to ride, despite the fact it looks crazy and way too fat. Because i am 6'3" tall it is hard to draw a longer line on a decent wave. I hadnt considered the addvance because it just looked too big, but i was mistaken for Vance Burrow surfing down at Boranup one day, so maybe i will have a closer look.

[keith]

I was just doing the dishes and standing there thinking of surfboards, and i just had to come back and ask some more questions. I thought i should also clear up what sort of board im after as i think i might have given the wrong impression with my last description. I am looking for a board that i have to put a bit of effort into riding, not just a cruise machine, i have 2 of them already. The 6'4" dominator was more effort than i wanted and although i had a good surf on it, in smallish good shape waves i was expecting more natural speed. I am also not sure i gave the right impression of my surfing, it sounds like im a decrepid old man on his last legs. I still think i can do fins out the back reos on the right wave so i want a board that will give me the speed to do that in less than perfect surf. I like hearing cuttlefish's description of surfing over the back of the wave and doing some surprising snaps on his pnator. I have surfed in the masters division in the aussie titles after finishing 3rd in the state, 16 years ago, so occasionally i can surprise myself in the surf. I have a mate who is 60 and he just bought a 5'8" neck beard. Talk about a frothing old grommet! I guess what im trying to say is i dont think im ready for an old mans board, no disrespect to those who have chosen a larger weapon, we are all different. I think the addvance nose might be a bit wide for vertical snap type turns, or too wide to come hard off the bottom and up to the lip. I appreciate the wide nose helps glide and paddle speed, and that was exactly what i felt was lacking in the dom. I am a front foot surfer which i think is an important in choosing a board. Width in the front should suit me. So my questions, would a 6'6" addvance surf better as a thruster or quad? Which one out of the addvance and the pnator be more adaptable with different fin combos, as in suit a wider variety of conditions. Would the pnator go better in waist high waves?. Thanks in addvance.....

[keith]

Just went surfing in awful waves after getting amped watching Slater do carving 360's in 6ft Margarets, i surfed like a decrepid old man. Im thinking that maybe i surf much better in my mind than real life. I think i have narrowed it down to a 6'6" pnator or 6'6" addvance, when will the pnator show up in the board comparison?

[Chris]

It will arrive in board compare in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks

[cuttlefish]

Been subjected to surfing knee to waist high, gutless (crowded) surf at "The pass" in Byron for the last couple of days.
Yesterday was onshore at Broken head and so I was left with no alternative to head to the Pass along with everyone else.
Surfing the 6' sweet potato as I purposely left my p'nator at home.
Struggled to catch waves, struggled to find "the glide" which this board is renowned for.
51 litres but while not being corky the board isn't allowing me to tap into the wave energy passing below me.
Yeah, yeah...I know everyone reading this with downsized spuds are sniggering at me and saying I told you so.
I'd say I could get a better result out of the 5'8" but where will that get me...paddling a wide, short board amongst the greedy pack of longboarders...hmmm, sweet FA waves wise I reckon.
Might have to drop into Firewire at Currumbin on the way home in a couple of days and grab a 6'10" Addvance demo to see if the extra length will give me the easy wave catching ability I was after in the 6' spud.
So this morning I took the p'nator back to the pass even though it was 4-5' at Broken and offshore I went back round to knee to waist high waves at the Pass to find out if the p'nator would do it's thing.
Oh, yeah! The p'nator at 44 litres paddled better and got me into the waves a lot easier. Flew down the line with the Robber fins letting me push the board into tail slides to throw fans of spray just to bleed off speed.
Gave me the thought...when it's small the blackstix EA thruster set are good for a bit more grip in cutbacks and that centre fin will hold the tail in more than the Robbers which will allow the tail to slide with the small trailer not having as much bite.
But the Robbers feel great in larger waves as they have excellent hold in bottom turns.
BTW Keith,
For me I found the 6'6" Addvance's nose is no impediment to doing vertical snaps and hard bottom turns in steeper waves. The curve in front is enough, combined with it's nose rocker and the back half off the board is it's best feature which allows the hard turns to be laid down.
The p'nator hasn't got too wide a nose but still gives good stability on pop up. The v in the nose I believe helps with steeper takeoffs.
It is what it is....a board designed for 2-5' waves.
If you can possibly demo both of the boards before buying the guess work will be gone.