Size: 6'0 x 21 1/2" x 2 3/4 Single concave all the way
I have ridden a few fish in my time, from self made versions to Kane garden Classic Fish. I had moved away from them in the past couple of years in favour of my own quad design, which owed little to the classic fish.I met Rich Pavel a couple of years back and I was really impressed by his boards in the Green Room Shop in San Diego. When Loose-fit got a couple of boards in, I knew I had to have one. They had a 5’10 Micro-wing and a 6’0 Classic fish. I wanted the 5’10, but it sold out fast, so I took the 6’0”.The board has a green resin tint to lime green bottom. Fins are Lokbox removable Pavel design keel haulers which are double foiled. There are good and bad points in this board. The good is it’s performance. The bad is in the finish. So I’ll go there first. It is a pretty board with green acid splash on the deck to lime tint on the bottom. It looks good, however on micro inspection the laps are not cut as perfectly as you would expect from a California glassing shop such as Moonlight or Channin. I have subsequently been told that it was glassed in the UK. I know Pavel machine shapes most of his boards and does only a small amount of shaping if any. This is par for the course with a big name shaper. I don’t know if he touched this board or it was produced under license, but the deck is quite soft for a classic board with a gloss and polish, which leads me to suspect that it was overshaped by a machine. There are loads of compressions on the deck after a couple of months with a huge one near the tail. The glass job also dings easily.
Now the good points. It’s such a blast to ride. I usually consider fish to be a down the line style ride taking the high line. Well this sucker turns and turns pretty well too. In fact I have been riding it from knee high to overhead and it catches waves easily, paddles great and can really turn. My back hand turns are better than my forehand and this board is well able to take a bucket load of power in a backhand turn without bucking you off. (There is also now a big compression under by backfoot heel). I think that this board will let you surf to what ever level you are capable of and will be well able to keep up the performance(if it lasts long enough). Potentially it’s a one board quiver. A big thumbs up, pity about the glass job.
Rating: 4/5 should be full marks but the glassing let it down
