But... Why The Egg?
We had a rather severe flat spell this summer. In the past few years, as I recall, there usually would be local NW wind swells or occasional south to fill in the Jetty in the summer. The Jetty was really awfully flat for several months stright, not to mention other spots. I really feel bad for the El Granada groms who would normally hang around there during the summer break.
There were many days that I felt I wish I had a long board stashed in my car, but as we all know keeping a long board in a car is usually difficult as it could occupy the whole passenger side. It is also risky being strapped outside all day, especially if you are like myself, I surf, go to work and need to park the car while I work. So I was thinking about getting a "bigger" short board for some time.
A several weeks ago, on a smaller day, we went out at our infamous "hollower spot" with me on the Stretch 6'5 and my buddy with his Haut 7'6 "Egg" board. He insisted that I borrow it. I reluctantly did and the moment I switched I started to catch a lot more waves. A few weeks later another buddy of mine brought a 7'6 Takayama Egg, and again I had a real blast riding that thing at the same spot. These two incidents re-kindled my interest in seriously acquiring a "fun" board for those small days I could use a long board, but not quite willing to take up the entire half of my car.
Between the two Eggs, I liked the Takayama Egg, because it came in SurfTech and so it was readily available from a stock and it is durable that it will withstand "the board stays in my car all year mode." The new Surftech models also feature closed cell EPS water proof core that's really an advancement over old foams, including their own. Now I can ding the board and continue to surf. This would be great for my next Mexico or CR trip when there usually will get a transit ding or two.
As I walked into HMB Board Shop, Dalyn already had a 7'2 model waiting for me. Because I personally like single fins on long boards, I have equipped it with a relatively big (I think it is 7 inch) center fin. It is a thruster configuration board with a long board center fin box.
How Does It Ride? For Me, That Is
Disclaimer: I am not an expert surfer. Surf board choices are not much different from food preferences you will feel it quite differently. Don't believe any words I say.
Next day we took the board to Pescadero when it was going at hip high. My buddy brought his 10'0 Robert August Wingnut model. But I think I was able to surf the same waves with much more agility. When I switched the board, I felt like I was driving the "father's Olds", everything went slower and smoother. It is not bad, there definitely is quite a bit of fun on that mode too.
Also on this past Monday on a rather messy day, I out-surfed two of my long board buddys from the same outside lineup, and guess what, both of them happened to be using my boards, one buddy on DT4 and another on Walden Magic!
The Egg board is definitely much easier to catch waves than any of my short boards, still, even on late starts, I think that it is attributed to a more "pinny" tail design; it can respond to more demanding take off situations. Because I am still a relatively weak surfer, I tend to do late starts and let the wave push me than going from the outside at full throttle.
As I mentioned, I do also own Takayama DT4 and it really feels like the mini-version of the same board. I always felt that DT4 is like a long board that can be ridden like a short board, and on this Egg, it seems to keep the feel of the long board, but without much sacrifice in agility. On small waves, I would say that you can get more speed out of it without pumping down the board, and even if you cross step or nose ride it, it won't look or feel out of place. The rails are thinner and you can make some very crisp turns, but when you are on the surface of the wave, it goes on a nice solid trim like any good long boards or a fish would. I can see that a surfer can subscribe to Takayama style's boards and grow their surfing skills around his design philosophy.
Another big plus for me is that I can duck dive this board, quite easily, I might add.
Egg Might Be Good For You and Your Health
If I am only allowed to have one board, this is the board I will have. I have been through several "fun" boards, but this is the best I have been on so far. I think I can highly recommend it to anyone who is either transitioning from long boards or want to keep something a bit shorter but without losing the long board feel, and take it on a long surf trip.
Like most high performance boards, I still would not recommend this as your first board. It is a short-board after all, and if you cannot ride a long board skilfully, I would still suggest you do that first.
3 comments:
Hey Manabu, thanks for this write up, and thanks for bringing it to our attention. It was really helpful. As a matter of fact, I think I might have to get one of these eggs now. :) Pete
The most forgiving board I've surfed (and owned). Fun to surf waist to overhead, overhead and half. The overall slim shape and the really thin reals combined with the pintail (and of course the expert eye of Takayama) is why this is such a versatile board. When I am at the canaries, I always rent the 7'2 board (at surftechcenter) and surf it all holiday :)
Hey Ranger, yeah, I totally agree and this is 2013 and it was written on 2007. I still have it, and when I got back home from Kauai just a few days ago I re-loaded it to my car. Still a "goto" board for me. I played with having two side fins, but that did not go over well for me. I now pulled and back to a "long center fin" mode only. In Kauai I rented a 5-6 fish but that's overrated as far as my skill-set is concerned.
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