This little gem I have just brought back from the dead in that it was hugely successful through the first decade and a half when the world went shorter but it eventually got left behind amongst the big brand stampede trying to be everything to everybody. It seems now that designs like this are almost the norm for those that have wave size limits whereas it is almost now basically their “Go To”. Call it a fish or hybrid or indeed almost high-performance coz it has a pretty revved up bottom shape and rocker design. The big change c/f with the earlier model-I now have the confidence to make this a designated quad design which it should have been back then but market forces wanted a bet each way and we wholesalers had to follow suit.
PLANSHAPE
Now being a designated quad, I have ever so slightly widened the nose and tail by a bee’s dick knowing this is never going to be a tri fin and as you know quads grip to the face like shit to a blanket. The feature of the plan shape with this model is that it has a widish nose running into quite a parallel middle then sets about on an intense continual curve into a pulled in swallow. The intense plan shape curve in the back half loosens it from rail to rail and the tight little swallow allows the rider to make all commands positioned further up the board with ease.
BOTTOM SHAPE
Perhaps back when I originally designed this model the bottom shape was perceived a little radical for its complexity, but now is almost the norm in some designs. Having said that the single concave through the front half is deepish but standard and almost flows out the nose where it is subjugated by a small vee on the tip. At the other end the concave is punctuated by a severe deep double with in it which creates more lift and squirt through turns. In order to keep this board in control from further up this deep double concave then finds itself sitting in a deepish vee the last twelve inches out through the tail. Still squirting but more under control with the vee minimizing the pressure and lift so tilting to rail does not require the surfer to place his back foot on the very pod to hold it down. Initially allowing the surfer to feel in control from further up the board keeping his foot on the accelerator.
ROCKER and PROFILE
Having a wider nose the nose lift can be minimized for speed and paddle in whereas the Zapper still has some handy tail lift c/f with other fishy designs so it is a lively little devil. The lift from the deep double concave that runs consistently through the valley and the hills is the turbo charger so added tail lift is there to retain the east west. The profile is not unusual in that it is like most performance boards that are careful not to be designed front heavy like some fishy designs are today. The Zappa has already a wider nose so I have kept it finer in thickness forward of centre but again not by too much. It is all a balancing act with width and thickness because they are both competing components for the same endeavour.
DIMS
5.6 X 19 ½ X 2 5/16 = 26.77 LTS
5.8 X 19 ¾ X 2 5/16 X = 28.08 LTS
5.10 X 20 X 2 3/8 = 30.12 LTS
6.0 X 20 ¼ X 2 7/16 = 32.02 LTS
6.2 X 20 ½ X 2 ½ = 34.18 LTS
6.4 X 20 ¾ X 2 9/16 = 36.32 LTS