Guys would have them just for show. Like, put them on top of the roof of their car and say ‘Its ok I got a quad, I’m cool!’ (laughs).
With the quads I felt like I was always messing around with fins. The thruster ticks all the boxes for me. I feel like I’m on a single fin again – and with the two side fins I feel the board grips the water a little more on the top turns.
When I got back on them I was like ‘Oh man, there it is!’ Everything clicked! I’m happy with what I’m riding right now. Until next year I guess, when someone comes up with something else (laughs).
Who knows, the best thing is to have an open mind? When we go sailing, we’re not out there training for contests. We’re out there trying to develop the most radical, fun, riding equipment we can.
That’s really what I work for. My personal boards translate to the production boards. Keith and I are out there testing shapes all day every day. It’s a never-ending cycle. You can’t even put a price tag on our boards now.
There’s so much time and energy put into every detail. The production Pyramid is a hot ticket right now. I rode the board in some contests and some recent filming sessions and some of the stuff I did on that board was almost better than my customs.
I think the production boards are getting dangerously close these days to the customs. I’m constantly riding customs, that’s the way we work. The production board is a mould, you pay the mould for a year and that’s it.
In the meantime we can pop boards out in two weeks or quicker if we want to. There comes a time when I tell Keith that I just want to ride something and not think about gear.
Sailing something different though can be cool, just for a change. It doesn’t always have to be better. After so many years windsurfing for sure you can get bored, so it’s nice to mix it up, it keeps things exciting.
I’m still tempted to just go out and ride a singlefin once in a while. I could probably go out and ride one in the Aloha and do ok on it.
Matt and Kevin Pritchard both ride them, its funny. I mean your top turns aren’t going to be as ‘hooky’, but you are going to keep moving around and have a lot of projection on aerials.