Rider: 87kg
Level Advanced, but also crap some times
Style: Strapless, finless, padless, waxless, rockerless light wind flat water cruising
Weather: 10 to 15 knots
Build Quality: 10/10
Satisfaction: 8/10
Disclosure: I pay full price for my gear at Bunnings ( $20.99 )
My Comments: I wanted to test something that came about when a mate was looking up on forums what makes a good light wind twin tip, he said low rocker, non curved edges, no concave, fins create drag ( So a flat rectangle... ) He did about 3 prototype boards and made a awesome light wind twin tip. He is in the background of the below video.
So I went to Bunnings and grabbed myself a brand new twin tip from the Marine Plywood section called the: "AA Grade 1220 x 610 x 9mm Hardwood Marine Plywood" for $20.99 and took it down to the beach as is without any changes or wax.
The first thing you notice about the "Marine" is that it has no fins, The second thing is no concave hull, The third thing will probably be the flex, not hard, not soft. The forth thing is that its a plank of Marine plywood from a hardware shop... Compared to your regular modern TT its got decent flex, but nothing else at all. Weird right? Yep certainly is on the face of it but - hell - it works great in flat shallow water with light winds.
The no concave and no channels creates a huge flow of water to the centre of the hull where it passes over nothing for the highest water flow area across the board. This jetstream of water to the centre and right out the other side also provides lift and speed which is why it feels like a carpet ride ONLY in the flattest of conditions ( it sucks if there are any waves or chop ). I found the board a bit funky to begin with. Tended to swoop & sway instead of following my line through the flat water, later when I found the edge it was a smooth ride and went upwind great.
A bit disconcerting at first but I soon found the answer to this was to apply more backfoot pressure. By using the front foot to balance the planing angle more and dig in sends the board in a very straight line with ease. Using this same foot balance tactic to turn off the line makes for very random and in-direct steering & still difficult to control after a few clumsy trials. More pressure down & out on the back > less pressure up front bringing your foot into the turn and you might make it if your lucky.
This board really impressed. Its a super smooth ride on a very stable flat surface but hugely un-responsive unridable board in any chop or deep water. The faster it goes the scarier things get and the more chance to throw you off with any input from your feet. Up wind angle was amazing and very easy to maintain with much less work required than Id need to put in on any other twinny Ive ever ridden.
Its more a matter of pointing and digging in. And again the faster you send it the greater the angle it will allow you to point. Havent tried boosting it yet because it would relay suck in 5cm deep water with no fins or straps . My guess is the pop will be more like poop. But its huge enough & a plank of wood enough to go in a line and little else.
Overall Id never select it as my board of choice in anything other than light winds and flat shallow water or if my other boards all got stolen or I was stuck on a remote island with a bunnings near by and wanted a light wind board to ride in dead flat water ... Choppy deep open ocean conditions is almost unridable, but in flat water the board is alot of fun on the right feet if you know what your doing.
Overall it was amazing to see how well a $20.99 plank of wood performed out of a hardware shop without anything done to it.
Go pro vid:
I know that spot too! Margarine Flats near Fisherman's Beach! At high tide its only ever about 10-30cm deep and over a really flat rock shelf so fins are a health hazard there:) Looks like the market price for admission to Margarine Flats is now around $20.99 inc GST.
