Stoked!

[luismx]

Hey firewire!

i just wanted to drop by and say thank you for making such a beautiful board. i just got my 6.4 FST dominator and i have to say it looks amazing. havnt been able to give it a try yet and i dont expect any waves soon,but i will be giving it a try behind the wakeboat tomorrow swaping out my sf4s and homemade knubsters to find a good combination for me. thanks alot:)

p.s. was quite suprised as to how light and strong this board, and how thick it is... didnt expect that,but hey... it'll float my fat a**! ;p

[iggy]

Believe me that`s part of the magic that allows this board to excell on a wide array of conditions

[luismx]

well shes earned her first battle scars today wakeboarding. got a few toesized pressure marks going... suprised it went so quickly but yea...its not a wakeboard:P

i have to say im loving it. took a few gos to get used to it as it is a bit lighter than i normal SB. the float feels great and im ready for the next swell to kick it....

p.s. whats the difference between quad and thruster? i didnt feel too much of a difference behind the boat except that the thruster was a bit more turny...like classic roundhouse spray some water in the air type of carvy... the quad seemed to have a shitload of hold but only in a straight line.... any tips??

luismx

[prjwebb]

Quad setups can vary hugely depending on fins. You can make them stupidly tracky and fast in a straight line or really loose and even slidey. When/If you find that magic 'best of both worlds' set then you'll probably wonder why you ever rode thrusters. I've had really good sessions with a quad set and really terribile ones because I've been trying different fins. I reckon they are a lot harder to dial in than a thruster set, but you can get more acceleration, better top end speed and really good hold through fast turns if you get everything right.
If the waves already offer lots of down the line speed then a thruster is good for controlling that speed, if you want to create your own speed then quads are going to rule. That's my take at least.

[cuttlefish]

Well said.

[luismx]

how do i know if the quad is "working" for me? im not the best surfer. good paddler, get up quick and get going down the line. few little up-down squiggles on the face and if it starts to peel off ahead of me,i do a small floater/reentry type of snap. i surf too little to be talking about drive and so on. have only surfed thrusters till now... is there something to expect or anticipate on a quad?

luismx

[prjwebb]

I'd stick with full quad sets in that case and you won't get confused with all the swapping around. SF4s are a good start.

[buzzy]

I'm enjoying quads in my Dom in ultra small waves; I think the quads are probably a touch quicker and even looser. But I definitely can't push as hard in turns. I also find that the optimum place for my foot on a thruster is too far forward on a quad. The quad seems to draw attention to the thickness of the board, whereas with a thruster I really don't notice.

[luismx]

well according to stormsurf,i shall be getting some swell tomorrow and tuesday....some wind waves built up across the atlantic....ill give the sf4s a try and if it gets bigger/cleaner ill try out the thruster to get an idea of how they work on the dom:)

[luismx]

so i finally got to give it a go! the first few waves felt a bit....weird...... the board floated almost too much for me to drop into some waves... after about 3-4 failed attempts i got up and moving across the line. one of the first things i felt was the board being very skatey under my back foot. it drifted out a bit on the bottom turn but i quickly got it back up and running. it also took me quite a bit to get used to the back footed bias of this board. i was surfing it fairly neutral at the beginning and only later remembered that the board was made for backfoot surfers...

the quad didnt feel that 'fast', like everyone has been talking about, but i guess that also has to do with the fact that the waves wernt that powerful afterall. it had great hold and allowed me to do some quick slashes along the face and on the lip. i wont be trying the thruster anytime soon as it felt great as a quad.

i still have to dial in my foot position and my pop ups (havnt surfed in 2 years), but all in all im very pleased with how the board handled todays conditions...

any tips on stance postions? should i surf the Dom from the start on my back foot or wait till im up and moving, then slide myself back a bit? where does my backfoot need to be positioned on a quad? directly over the fins or in the middle or...? ive added a few pics so that you can see how the conditions were.

thanks luismx

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