TOW BOARD FEEDBACK

TOW BOARD FEEDBACK from OSCAR
I have just had a quick tally up of the number of Tow Boards Roger has made for the crew down here in Dunedin and I believe it's around 12. Taane and myself have 6 of those, made from a collaboration of thoughts and theories put together and melded within the boundaries for each of the different types of waves we ride.
The last board we ordered we based on some design ideas being used over sea's. Along with that Roger made another board he called experimental. It was totally based on his own design theories and he believed they would work for us. This came about after feedback on the way previous designs had worked for us and the approach we wanted to take when surfing the waves. It has been a symbiotic progression for us all, as we have grown in confidence so has Rogers confidence to utilize his theories in this new design.
The Board
When it arrived I have to say I was really exited and couldn’t wait to give it a go. In plan shape and rocker nothing to unusual, but the bottom and rails are definitely unique ( as far as the tow boards I had seen anyway ). Roger has used chinned rails on his long boards for many years and has them refined, but on a 5' 8" tow board wow, this is really going to be the acid test. I loved the look of the bottom so no probs there, not giving anything away, you could say exaggerated concave/concaves ? I rang Roger and got the low down on his chine’s and liked what he was saying but I guess the proof is in the performance. It was a long wait but we finally got a day big enough to try it and ..... I was impressed. The board was responsive, held a great line where ever it was directed, all the turns were positive (top and bottom) with no hint of sliding or drifting and yet it would still do nice tight turns in the pocket. Now to put this into perspective the waves this day were ranging from 8 to 15 foot, Hamish on his first day Towing at Papatowai rode the biggest wave of the day probably close to being a 20 footer on this board. I couldn’t find any negatives from this first session and unfortunately the only other chance we have had to ride it was at a slabbing barrel and we forgot to take it along. Never mind the time will come and I can't wait.
Thanks Roger, hope to get a few more days to put the experimental board through some more rigorous testing.
Sincerely
Oscar