Seeka's new 10' pintail

Here is Seeka's beautiful new ten foot pintail, built from Roy Stuart's kitset and plans, with some tweaks to personalise the ride. Actually the plans gave two options: one the 9'3' Duke and the other a 10'9" Makaha pintail. Seeka used the Makaha planshape and bottom curve, and by taking a 3" slice out of the middle of the planshape brought the width of the board down to 24" and the length to 10" in the process creating a subtle '#3' point on the nose.

Seeka's report:

" Yesterday was the day. Finally i got to test the board at oreti beach.. i turned up around 9 am and not a soul to be seen. Seeing as i only have a 8ft leash, the decision was made to not use a leggie, but i was a bit apprehensive seeing as i would be out there on my own (it's a long paddle out into the southern ocean) on an unfamiliar board.

Then surf school turned up. I know the head guy and he immediately spotted the stick in my car and wanted to check it out, so i hauled her out and gasps abound from the kook crew.  They were buzzing on the board and questions were being asked quicker than i could answer.



The boss guy was impressed. he's also a pu longboard shaper and a well respected artist. he asked if he could have a go and i said 'of course, once i've had a few..it's the maiden voyage and the captain gets first cruise'. 

It has exceeded my expectations and i am fully stoked.

I borrowed a 10 ft leash off the school(which turned out to be a blessing) and headed out. first thing i noticed was it's buoyancy. then i hopped on and started to paddle. it paddled so easy! i was skimming along with little effort and punching through the white water was a breeze.



First wave came along and i lined myself up for it...a few quick effortless paddles and she took off down the face. shortboard habits let me down, i leaned into the bottom turn and the board kept going straight ahead.

the next wave i nose dived. paddled back out and was met by two very inquisitive hector dolphins who spent the next hour hanging around me taking slow dives under the board and fully checking it out.

next wave, ..a really clean right hander(natural for me) at about shoulder height...i lined myself up and paddled up to speed, the wave picked me up and as smooth as silk the board took off,  i jumped to my feet, gently leaned into a bottom turn, easy as..and headed down the line. it was a fast and smooth exit from the bottom turn. i had found the sweet spot and was away roller coasting down the line, turning was effortless, bottom turns were effortless as was cut backs,  generally the whole ride was just magic...i threw everything i knew about surfing out the window and just glided the next half a dozen waves at speed...laughing the whole time.  

One wave, a left, sectioned out in front of me, i held my balance and aimed for the clean wall and before i knew it i was on the open face again. this has never happened before on my 7'2", once a section closes it's impossible to gain enough speed to catch up with the wave at oreti..but not on the hollow 10 footer!

I caught another 6 or so waves, cruising at speed and beating close out sections on the lefts, which on any other board i have ridden is near impossible at this place..actually, i have never beaten a section there and have never seen anyone else beat sections. i had one of the most fun filled surfs ever... fully stoked.

I headed in , it was time for the boss guy to have a go and i was keen to get some feed back from a very competent longboard rider. this guy had no problem finding the sweet spot. he was all over the waves, cutbacks, trimming in style, switchfoot and beating sections once thought impossible.



He caught about 6 waves and came in beaming and buzzing, "beautiful!.....this is a board that you don't need to ride..it takes you for a ride!

."throw all your ideas about surfing out the window...no need to walk this board...just stand in one spot and slightly lean toe to heal on the back foot and the board does the rest"

Later on he came around to my home for a couple of hrs and marveled at it's beauty. he shapes pu longboards, lives at riverton and is also a respected artist in southland...quite the character. We yarned , and being the open minded man he is, he understood and appreciated it's design.



In the last 30 yrs i have ridden all sorts of boards from 5'4" channeled 80's thrusters to the occasional mal ride....this board by far is the most fun so far and easy...a different way to surf and an absolute pleasure.



Roy, i can't express how happy i am with this board.



Thank you so much for your insight and inspiration.



Peace to you.



Seeka

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