Dominator compared to Nugget

[Jords]

Hi Guys,
Some good chat going on here. I'm looking at a buying dominator at the moment. Tossing up between a 6'4 and a 6'6 (6'6 is 2nd hand and pretty cheap). I currently surf a 6'6 McCoy Tufflite and agree with most criticisms listed above around the performance of the tufflite, still love the board in the right waves though.
I'm 30 years old, 6'3, 88kgs and would say a good intermediate level of surfing. I'm surfing a fair bit more (and better now) than when I bought the McCoy, so think I could come in size a little bit.

I like the price of the second hand 6'6 but feel the 6'4 might be a better size for me, anyone got any thoughts around that? Also any feedback on how the doms hold up in bigger sucky surf compared to the McCoys?

Cheers

[buzzy]

A 6'6" Dom is pretty big. It might even be bigger than the 6'6" McCoy. It's certainly wider. I'd steer you to either the 6'2" or 6'4" Dom, probably the latter based on your background. I also surfed a few nuggest over the years and I'm 2 or 3 kgs heavier than you. I surf the 6'4" Dom and love it. I could easily drop down to the 6'2" but I don't perceive any deficiencies in the 6'4" in the surf I use it in. I suspect I'm using the Dom in surf many people see as the natural element of the SP or Potantonator. Plus bigger surf too of course.

How does the Dom compare to the Nugget in sucky surk? I'd need to surf them back to back to be sure but I reckon the Nugget would be a tad looser in the pocket and take steep drops a tad better. For me I really like the Nugget backhand, but not so much forehand. Not sure why - maybe I'm a more backfooted surfer backhand than forehand? But the nugget's extra looseness is offset by a number of things in the Dom's favour. First and foremost the Nugget struggles outside the pocket, relative to the Dom. The nugget fits in the steep part of a wave wonderfully, but put it on the shoulder and it slows markedly. It's really difficult to drive a Nugget through a full roundhouse cutty - but the Dom will do that with relative ease. I find the Dom much better forehand. Really, the Dom is a close relative of the nugget without it's weight (not so much for you with the Surftech), without its rolly pollyness, and with extra drive.

[Jords]

Cheers buzzy,
I reckon a 6'4 is the go. Completely agree with you on the nugget feeling better backhand than forehand. The nuggets' preference for backfoot surfing took me a lot of getting used to.

[Chris]

Stoked on the support jords,
Thanks for the great feedback Buzzy!

[terry]

This may be a hanging offence in these parts, but has anyone got an opinion on Sunova boards?

[prjwebb]

Never seen one in the flesh but no doubt they are great boards. I doubt there's any negativity between Firewire and Bert.

[terry]

That is good to hear.

[buzzy]

I took my 6'6" McCoy nugget single fin for a spin today in 1 foot surf. It was that, the Dom or a longboard, and the longboard was out because I hate stuffing around with roof racks and straps in the pre-dawn dark.

The Nugget definitely got into waves earlier than the Dom would, but not a world of difference. It wasn't any looser and definitely lacked drive in comparison to the Dom. It's a beautiful looking board though. A little extra push had the board come alive a tad. I'd definitely pick a Dom over a nugget, but I love having the nugget in the quiver.

[terry]

Many of my mates who are very good longboarders have one for when the surf gets a bit too big and sucky for a mal. They love them.

[Nev]

Guys...Great read... One thing I gotta say is that "effective rail" that connects with the wave face/curve is what differentiates the performance characteristics of a Dominator and a Nugget. If you compare the outlines of both, the Nugget is more os a teardrop - tail centric outline than the more even and forward distribution of curve of the Dominator. This means that when riding the Dominator and you are casually weighting and unweighting rail to rail to generate speed the board connects creating lots of forward momentum. When you want to put it on rail to get length and drive the slightly fuller nose connects to the curve of the wave face earlier giving length and subsequently drive off the bottom which results in speed and successfully made manoeuvres. The narrow nose wide tail of the nugget can allow for a more vertical tail pivot approach but not as much forward drive. If you then add concave, (as opposed to roll) and a quad or thruster setup as opposed to a signer fin, the Dominator or Spitfire excel because you get crisp directional manuverability. The even thickness distribution through to the tail and the full volume rail are characteristics most similar to the Nugget.
Nev