surfy feel on a twin tip

[halfpipe62]

Seriously I think your doing yourself a disservice by not going to a directional surfboard. I speak from experience. I cheated and ride my old wipika 163 twin in the surf. Great fun and easy to change directions but it is tough to really ride the wave. I burry the nose a lot.

I am moving to a Naish Fish this year. Also invested in a dynabar so i can ride toe side.

If you live on Maui I would watch for the Naish folks or Waiman Hawaii at Kanaha, they will let you demo one. Or just rent a directional.

Wish i had one when I was there last year. They looked like so much fun. I was riding my twin tip momentum. Just does not work real well in the waves. Too freakin fast.

Good luck. It is all about fun anyway. If your having fun it doesn't matter what your riding.

[rightguard]

I would love to ride a directional and I actually have one. I have a Naish Gun, not sure which size... it's at home right now. I just can't seem to get use to it. The straps hurt my feet the pads hurt my feet and I feel like a complete kook. I can ride it toe side and do a nice slashing turn but there is no way I can jibe or ride goofy very well.

Is there some trick to getting use to the straps? Are there better straps out there? How is the Naish Gun for a first directional?

[Kupono]

My 140 had a couple of delam issues:

Waves pushed it into a coral cave where it went through the wash and rinse cycle for about 6-hours before it got spit out. It was really chewed up and delaminated over some 50% of the edge. I took it to a ding-repair place and they laughed at me. I thought what the hell, and bought some epoxy and micro-spheres. After rinsing with fresh, and letting it dry out, I mixed up a nice paste and stuffed all the voids using cloths-pins to clamp the edges. A little sanding and it was good to go, though not too pretty anymore.

A few months after that, I lost it again--way outside this time. A beachcomber called me 3-weeks later (had my name and number on it). He found it floating in a tide pool about 10-miles downwind. It was a little chewed up on the edges again, but this time, with minor delam. Another epoxy job fixed it right up. It's a little heavier now, but still going strong.

Don't worry about buying the older Mako's. They're fixable.

[TomW]

I have a OR Mako classic 150 x 34. its been at least 6 years since i bought it, perhaps 7. I´ve surfed it on Naxos, Greece 3 years ( 60 sessions) in a row, Cape Town in 3m waves + Langebaan, Sweden all over ( where i live), W coast Denmark in 2m shore break, Portugal and NE Brazil.. many different conditions. Ive changed the pads and straps- they simply wore out, and the fin threads stripped out and i got North fins.

It is still going strong. No way it is gonna delaminate. I would kill to keep it.

It is WAY better than a classic boxy TT in waves and chop.
i have poo-pood the wave board guys here in Sweden- what waves?! Freaking hell- there´s no waves here......
but nothins gonna beat a wave board on real waves like in CT.
I was recently in CT and was stoked to see the Old Boys out ripping the waves on surfboards-
i came home and ordered a SS Celeritas, today, and gonna learn how to ride and gibe and go back to CT next year. Its never too late- (I´m 51)

[Frankieboy]

yes, surfboard is the ticket in the waves but if you want to ride waves but want a TT for any reason, then grab a Mako (150) it really carves well.

[RDM]

We sell many of the X-Wave from our store in Cape Town, half way between a twin tip and a directional - developed and improved over the past 5 years.
Many riders stay with this and do not move to a directional as they do not wish to learn to jibe - can be set up for port or starboard riding.
Has tri-fin set up one end and tt fins at the other.

http://www.capedr.co.za/products.htm
scroll down to X-Wave.

WOW!!!!!! they look nice.............

[Starsky]

Had a custom mutant made not all that different from the post above and while it was the most I've ever spent on a board, it was also the most disappointing. Looks like it should be the biz, but it just didn't do anything really well. A total compromise and really it wasn't worth it. So much happier strapless on a real surfboard. Start with something big enough to actually surf and your golden on the learning curve to jibes and footwork. Start too small and that can be challenging. A few guys around here on makos and they have a ton of fun, but none of them ride waves like the guys on surfboards. They ride just fine in waves, but cant ride the wave like a board with more volume. Like any TT they have to be kite driven. There is something awesome in the moments where the kite is just along for the ride.

[adamj2281]

Yeah, as a follow-up on the delam issue, I had a '09 Mako 140 delaminate after about 8 months of a lot of use, it was my all-around board. OR replaced it with a '10 Mako 140, no questions asked, and allowed me to keep the original board.

OR's customer service is the best I've experienced with any kite company so far.