Psillakis surfboard is a great solution to athletes and beginner surfers from one of the best modern manufacturers, Mike Psillakis.
This manufacturer, who most often completes the gray beaches, designs the Quad Fish surfboards only by hand.
I will immediately list the advantages of Psillakis surfboard to you:
- is a versatile and flexible fish with superior performance. Due to its hybrid shape, this equipment is able to adapt to almost any conditions and maintain its fluidity in any tide;
- the equipment is distinguished by its responsiveness, so rowing is good on it for fast acceleration;
- has a well-established balancing system.
Cons of this equipment:
- I can’t remember specific flaws. Each Psillakis surfboard has limitations, but they are not important enough to mention here.
The best wave type
For such a thing is medium to high tides. They can start above your chest and end above your head.
In any case, quad surfboard is able to adapt to a variety of conditions, so you don’t need to dwell on this point.
Tide quality is the main reason to choose a surfboard of one kind or another. Perhaps you ride in places where the wave is mostly sharp, fast and trumpeting.
For such tides, a thin and maneuverable surfboard is ideal. Because the wave is sharp, the size of the fish surfboard becomes irrelevant.
Indeed, in order to ramp up on such a wave, you do not need a lot of strength. But on the waves with pipes, the presence of a rocker is really important – flat surfboards on such waves burrow into the water with their nose.
You may see surfers on longer surfboards who will catch the trumpeting waves but ride on the shoulder of the wave without using the sharp, rounded section near the peak, where all the power of the wave comes from.
This section allows you to pick up speed in order to go to the vertical part, after doing this or that trick.
Psillakis Surfboards Quad Fishs are ideal to tube. Yes, you can go there on a longboard, and on a fish, and even on a single fin, but quad fish surfboards were created precisely to this.
If your goal is to close yourself off from the outside world with a wall of falling water, then the Psillakis short fish surfboard is for you! (However, you have to work hard to learn how to drive into the pipes).
You can ride a quad fish surfboard in different ways. You can shoot into the air of the air, you can ride powerfully, with power, burrowing the rail deep into the water, or you can create walls from splashes.
Some quad Psillakis shortboarders leave smooth trails on the tide by drawing eights, while others do aggressive tricks, destroying vertical sections with snaps.
One of the main reasons why so many people ride Psillakis shortboards is the ability to use all sections of the wave.
Each surfboard works best on a specific section, and the Psillakis surfboards are fast enough to hit the shoulder of the tide, come back closer to the closing section, and pick up speed to another maneuver.
If you want to discover new surfing paths, the Psillakis Quad Fish surfboard is great.
Some of us need a challenge. We love to set goals to ourselves and fulfill them, moving to the next level of skill.
Competing with worthy rivals, we can surpass ourselves by accomplishing what seemed impossible to us, and gaining the satisfaction that is available only when we achieve our goal.
Psillakis Quad Fish short board is a part of surfing that gives us the opportunity to compete. Rowing on the line-up, you see other surfers throwing spray around them and making floaters. And then you switch roles. In this way, you inspire each other to progress.
Quad fish short surfboards are built for tricks, and therefore minimum size and weight are inherent characteristics of such surfboards. They use less foam, less fiberglass and less resin.
Small volume is a good surfboard advantage. For example, when surfing on it, you can easily make a duck dive under the tide, emerging from the other side and not getting into the batch.
In addition, if the tide is about to collapse, then you can simply grab the rail quad surfboard and punch its wall, going under the water, avoiding breaking through the foam, raking it back to the lineup. This is of course practically impossible on longer and thicker surfboards.
On land, Psillakis Quad Fish surfboards are very convenient to storage and transportation.
It is not so difficult to find a corner to put 5-6 short surfboards in it, but if the surfs are larger, then sometimes you have to invent something.
When flying, the size of the Psillakis surfboard will only be a plus.
Another advantage of the Psillakis Quad Fish surfboard is that they are cheaper. Less material means less cost to the shaper. So, e.g., a good quad surfboard will cost you $ 600, and a longboard will cost you around $ 900.
Specifications
This is a hybrid form short Psillakis board to those who like very high performance. Has a clean shape on the bow and tail.
Features a single or double concave contour with a cutout from the tail section.
Psillakis surfboard has a very cool and progressive design to athletes who are not afraid of new products in our sport and are ready to break not too strong tides.
The Quad Fish surfboard has gone through a rich and bright evolutionary path of development.
In just a hundred years, fish board has transformed from an unassuming wooden structure into a filigree work of art, created using computer technology and polymer materials.
If now it seems difficult for you to get on a surfboard and soar through the tides, then just imagine how incredibly difficult it was to saddle a 150-kg surfboard and then control it on the water!
However, if you are just starting your acquaintance with the world of surfing, it is better to postpone communication with the fish surfboard for now.
The Quad Fish Psillakis shortboard is a classic trick surfboard, the pinnacle of surfboard evolution and the dream of any avid athlete.
Distinctive features of fish surfboards: minimum length, pointed nose and maximum “airiness” of the structure. The motto of the universal Psillakis quad surfboard can be formulated as follows: cheaper, lighter, more compact!
The history of quad fish surfboards begins in the late 1960s, when surfboarding turns from a water fun to wealthy people into a spectacular and even aggressive sport.
The quad surfboard replaces the older brother, the longboard, and is designed to fill skating with maximum dynamics and shocking. In the surfer environment, a fish surfboard is even called a show-off surfboard.
Actually, it was then, half a century ago, that surf-cups began to be actively carried out in the world, i.e. regular competitions, and the most “showy” surfers in the world are now shown on television and stamped on glossy covers.
The fundamental difference between a Psillakis quad shortboard and all other boards is its length.
It starts at the 5-foot mark and must not exceed 7 feet. Width is not critical and is standard 15 – 25 inches.
Usually the fish surfboard reaches its maximum width in its central part. To the tail, it smoothly rounds, and to the nose, on the contrary, converges at an acute angle. Often such a surfboard may have a swallow tail.
The thickness of the Psillakis quad shortboards is the smallest among all the other surfboards. Rocker is particularly fluid.
The tail of the fish quad shortboard is almost always supplemented with fins (fin) in the amount of 1 or 3, and sometimes even 7.
The main advantage of the Psillakis quad surfboard is its fantastic maneuverability.
It is on it that they most often call into pipes, fencing themselves off from the rest of the world with a curtain of water, create spectacular splashes or write geometric shapes on the tides, dive through the tide (this is called “duckdive”) and perform other miracles.
The maneuverability and speed of the Psillakis Surfboards Quad Fish allows you to ride on the shoulder of the wave, inside the pipe, in the tail – anywhere.
At this time, slow longboards or exotic fanboards force the surfer to take one characteristic section of the wave and hold it throughout the ride.
The main disadvantage of the Psillakis Surfboard Quad Fish is that it is extremely difficult to rake the wave on a short board with a flat rocker. And if on a longboard it is not difficult to go to the line-up (unless the tide is foaming), then onlookers can watch your floundering on the shortboard for hours.
You will have to skip hundreds and thousands of waves before the appropriate experience comes, and with it the confidence.
The same applies to all small waves – it is worth a lot of physical effort to rake them with a Psillakis Surfboards Quad Fish, but the pleasure is questionable. And the Psillakis quad surftboard session is the shortest in time.
Since a Psillakis fish surfboard is lighter and thinner than its siblings, this should be reflected in its durability. Rather, fragility.
One wrong move, and your pet is left with a pile of shapeless debris.
This does not necessarily happen during the conquest of the tide. With the same transportation, a fragile Psillakis Surfboard Quad Fish is much more vulnerable than a massive longboard, but it compares favorably with it in smaller dimensions.
By the way, eminent surfers break a good two to three dozen surfboards a year. With an average price of $ 500 per board, riding a fish surfboard is an expensive pleasure.
While longboards or fanboards come in several varieties (for beginners, for self-confident and for pros), with Psillakis Surfboards Quad Fish everything is easier – they are all initially designed with an eye on professionals.
As a result, you need to bet on such a board after a year of intensive skiing, not earlier.
An interesting variety of Psillakis Surfboards Quad Fish are tow-in surfboards (literally “trailer boards”). They are incredibly small (4 – 5 feet) and as an innovation, there are two loop leg bindings.
It is impossible to rake a wave with such a board, so a boat or a scooter is used as a tug to enter the line-up. And then as on a standard shortboard, only more opportunities for tricks.
A shortboard is not the best choice for small waves. These tides do not push, you need to row hard on them and very carefully choose the starting position, and if you suddenly managed to get on the board on such a wave, then you will immediately have to pump hard, swing, trying to gain or at least maintain speed.
Of course, surfers on short boards will ride on small days, but more often for them a session on a shortboard, when not pumping, ends in frustration rather than positive emotions.
For small waves, you need something longer, wider and thicker. So, in order not to get upset, choose another board, since the choice of boards for such waves is quite wide.
There will come a time in the life of any surfer when age begins to affect and the question of changing the board will arise.
As you get older, your metabolism slows down, recovery from a gurney lasts longer than in younger years, your flexibility decreases, and your vulnerability to injury increases. None of this will help you surf on a short board better.
Shortboards are maneuverable, but they require mobility from the surfer as well. While riding, you constantly bend, squat, bend, and also are exposed to explosive loads.
The older you get, the more difficult it becomes to endure. When you turn 30 or a little over (the figure is individual for everyone), it makes sense to add a couple of inches to the length of the board every five years.
Of course, this does not mean that you will no longer be able to ride on maneuverable boards, but a hybrid is much better suited in such a situation.
If you keep yourself in good shape, keep your muscles flexible with yoga or other techniques, and also don’t gain weight, then surfing on a shortboard is good.
Time on the tide. We all want to extend it.
After you load into the car / bike, get to the spot, get into the wetsuit, you will take a long time to rake on the line-up, breaking through the surf, wait for the desired set, fight for the peak and finally catch the wave – ohh, this wave should be good!
To surf you have to donate your time. A two-hour surf session can take up to four hours, including transfers to and from the spot.
In two hours, a beginner / average surfer will catch 6-10 waves, 5-10 seconds on a wave – and you surf for only about a minute out of four hours. In the meantime, you could sleep or do something more useful.
You have to ask yourself, is it worth it?
It is easier to catch tides on long boards, travels on waves take longer, you can even share a wave and ride it with two / three people.
On a long board, you will spend the same amount of time on a surf session, but it will take you 5-10 times longer to ride the waves!
Shortboarders are fighting for the waves. They compete in rowing when the wave approaches, in order to take an advantageous position, they drop other surfers.
Sometimes there are controversial situations that can end badly in the water or on the shore.
The history of surfing is replete with manifestations of localism (when locals do not allow visitors to ride on their spots), aggressive situations and fights.
The source of the problem lies in the following: riding a shortboard gives a greater adrenaline rush to the blood and therefore those who ride shortboards are a little more intense audience than other surfers.
But all the aggression comes from the limited space on the lineup. Of course, the ocean is big, there should be room for everyone, but that doesn’t quite work for a shortboard.
Short-board spots have multiple peaks. The start area is limited and it is only natural for friction to begin to build up, especially in situations where the lineup is crowded.
If surfing is first and foremost for you to relax, a time to escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, then perhaps you should look for less crowded spots with a more friendly atmosphere.
On such spots, the waves are usually smaller and shallower, but the start area is much wider and you can relax and have fun.
As mentioned above, shortboards are lightweight and less material is used to create them – less foam, less fiberglass, less resin, and with this, the likelihood of getting a dent or breaking the board increases.
A board with more resin will be more resistant to environmental influences, impact and breakage, but it will also be heavier.
In surf shops, you can touch different boards and feel the difference between them and the way they are made. For example, some planks can bend under the toes, which means less resin was used in the production.
If you don’t use airs, don’t do vertical snaps, and don’t skate at all in such conditions where you need a really thin board, then it makes sense to buy a stronger board.
Shortboarders can change boards 2-3 times a year, while professional surfers have up to 10 broken boards a month.
There is something to think about, right?
A shortboard is not suitable for everyone. Someone does not like this aggressive style, someone likes a more relaxed skating, and someone just physically cannot skate normally on a short board.
If you fit one of these criteria – feel free to choose another board and get fun no matter what.
If you only skate a couple of weeks, then forget about thinking about short boards for at least the next six months of daily skating.
You shouldn’t rush and switch to a short board – you will ride MUCH less on it, or even just sit on the line-up, unsuccessfully trying to get on the wave.
As a summary of all of the above: a shortboard is an adrenaline rush board for dizzying tricks and the most fantastic waves.
This is the best way to prove to yourself and others that you are the best on this spot today!
Therefore, it is not surprising that the shortboard is the most sold type of surfboard. As well as the most short-lived.
