Hey FW Crew - diggin' the new blog site here - formerly JackSikma but couldn't seem to renew at this site with that name. Hoping you might be able to help me with a travel board dilemma. I currently surf my go-to 6'6" Quadraflex that I absolutely love in good punchier San Diego surf. It's an older model (#16500ish), so a bit thinner than the newer Quadra-5 templates. I'm guessing it is right around 36L or so in volume. I'm a bigger surfer at 6'3" and run about 210lbs (+/-depending on how many IPAs I'm getting into), surfing 10 years, maybe intermediate skill (+ on a good day).

So... after saving up for a couple years I have the ultimate surf trip coming up in February - round-the-world, dream trip type of thing. So I'm looking for a single-board quiver that will perform well in the softer points of Ecuador to more hollow waves in Indo. I realize that no one board can do it all, but trying to come close at least.

Because I'm going to be in so many types of waves, I have been thinking that a 5-fin setup would be ideal for the trip to give me the quad/thruster choice along the road. Seems like it would be really nice to have the option to switch up to the more solid feeling of a thruster when the waves get heavier. But while I know and trust my 606 quadraflex, and the 606 Q5 is probably quite similar, it seems like it would be a shame to drop $$ on a 606 Q5 just for the 5th fin option (and a little more float I'm guessing). The brand new 608 Q5 seems like too much float for me at 42.3L.

With this in mind I've just recently been getting all fired up on the 604 Hellfire (36.7L). Based on the Nev vids and detailed posts from the guys in Costa Rica, this sounds like a really solid choice for good waves and might be what I'm looking for. Just held one today at SurfRide and it felt good under the arm. Feedback from one of my surfing buddies after some great head-high Cliffs sessions last weekend was that I look more comfortable on my 6'2" KG twin and that the board "isn't fighting me". Makes me think I might want to go towards a performance hybrid that gives me a touch more float and glide through the flat spots.

OK, rambling and clearly been thinking about this too much! So if you were to pick a single 5-fin all-arounder from either a 606 Quadra-5 or the 604 Hellfire what would you go for? Maybe even the 606 Hellfire? Since I'm in San Diego, is it possible to hook up a demo for a day??

Thanks for the great surfboards and all of the spot-on advice here!