Inland Surfer 4-skim

Jeff Page of Inland graciously sent us a new Limited Edition 4-skim to review and test. It may be awhile before we get some water time with it, but I wanted to post a few pictures and make some comments. In this first picture, you'll see the basic outline when compared to several similar boards. The 4'6" Calibrated white pintail is very close to the Phase 5 prop is size and shape.

Here is another shot with just the two most closely related outlines. The old school ouline of the first generation Calibrated white pintal/Phase 5 prop and the more modern Walzer. I've given glowing reviews of the Walzer and if you look closely at the outlines, while the Walzer is a bit shorter, the outline shape is very very similar. Note the fullness in the tail, from the hip down to the tip, that both the 4-skim and Walzer (both more modern designs) share.

By it's lonesome. The 4-skim deck and bottom.

Not a great picture, but I wanted to show the detail of the wood band that shows through on the deck of the board. It really stands out visually in person. You can make out the woodgrain in this photo.

jeff,

what is the weight of the inland surfer ? can traction bars be added to it ?

Hey Mike,

The Inland with full traction and fins weighs in at 6.5 pounds, compared with the Walzer, which is the lightest board that I've seen, at 5.5 with fins and traction. As you can see in the deck picture of the 4-skim, the deck is covered in a white EVA foam. The full traction on the 4-skim is unique in skimboard offerings. The EVA ends close to the rails such that your toes can hook over the edge to allow easier shuv's. I was pleased to see they didn't attempt to recess the EVA as with the Blue, Red and Yellow.

The downside of this full traction is that it doesn't come with a kick pad, or the raised arch bar that comes with Calibrated '07 models (when available for retail?!) or that the Walzer's ship with.

I'm not fond of the arch bars, but James swears by them and likes the way his foot locks in. I've never added arch bars to an existing EVA foam base. I'm not sure if the adhesive would stick to EVA.

I've noticed with the Inland's the first generation boards have certain improvements made to them with the second iteration - as an example, the Orange's had kick pads built in at both ends. My guess is that the folks at Inland will listen to their customers and we'll see modifications or improvements to the 4-skim later.

Hey Jeff, just wondering what model of calibrated board that is, I know the other one is the Telum, haven't seen the blue/white one before. Also what's the plain black deck in the first photo?
P.S where's phase 5 these days? Seems like they're website gets updated every 6months to a year....saw some "Jim morrison" limited edition board from expo photos but that's about it?

Hey Jason,

The White Calibrated is the OLD model, before they started making the Lovett Pro. It's very similar in size and shape to the Phase 5 Prop. Calibrated's new offering's like the Telum are better boards - like anything, they have evolved too. That plain black board is a prototype. The manufacturer wishes not to be identified at this time.

I don't know about Phase 5, Zap's bread and butter is skimboards, slap a fin on one and it's a wakesurfer. Not sure there's much incentive for them to do more, maybe as we start seeing more skimstyle offerings they'll get more involved.

One of the issues that I have is storage. My shop building has 10 foot rollup doors, it's just enough to sneak the boat in with the tower up. The surfstyle racks that mount on the top of the tower won't fit. I'm always interested in boards that will fit in a standard rack. I have the Wake Designs racks with the 1" opening between the rubber bumpers. The 4-skim fit easily, with no play.

One of my favotite rides is the 1" Walzer. With traction the board is closer to 1 1/4" thick. This is as far as I can get the board into my rack.

I think the Wakedesigns rack is probably one of the tighter fits, but the 4-skim fits nicely without slop. The Calibrated, Phase 5 also fit nicely like the 4-skim. The Trick Boardz, in wood, fit easily, but there is considerable slop and rattling in this rack.

I think that is storage is a concern for you and you have a narrow rack like mine, the 4-skim should be a strong consideration.

jeff, that is how my blue lake inland surfer fit on my rack on the supra. needless to say, i had to buy another rack and as you know went with the monster surf rack that has held up so far....

Hey Insuranceman,

That Monster surf rack is holding up for you? It wasn't available back when I was looking for surf specific racks.

Your tower is like mine on my tige, there are no decenent vertical or horizontal surfaces, so I had find a rack with a single attachment point and that allowed some way to adjust the orientation.

Jeff,

It is still holding up great.

Doug

Dbot5 have the best board racks. They can hold any board.

We finally got the opportunity to take the 4skim out today. The water was a bit chilly, so no one really pushed their riding today. I was first up, and found the 4skim to ride as fast as any skimstyle board on the market. Jeff Page of Inland Surfer shipped us two RFC 1.75 fins so we attached both. I was concerned that the leading fin would hang in the wake, or prevent hard bottom turns, but I never experienced any hang.

We were behind Dennis' Sanger 215, not the wake we were used to. James was able to air the 4skim out, although I didn't catch it on film. Not as high as any of the twin fin models he rides.

The fins on either end of the board, made riding the 4skim in revert pretty easy. James was able throw shuv's in and out with ease. This is the shuv-it in.

This is James riding the 4skim revert just after the first shuv.

And the shuv back out.

I think the fin placement forward of the tail/nose loosened the tail up a bit, but not excessively. Also, the fin at the nose didn't negatively impact the shuv sequence or hang during any surface tricks, it did make riding the 4skim significantly easier and more stable when the board was revert.

If you are in the market for a skimstyle board, the 4skim offers many unquie features. It's also offered from a company that specializes in the manufacture of wakesurfers.

Hey Jeff, just wondering if you guys have ridden any of the phase 5's? I noticed you haven't done a review on one yet (or at least not that I've seen) I'm still looking at a Calibrated or Inland 4-skim, but after seeing Drew on a Phase 5 I'm considering those as a new board now as well. Looking at the ICON, not sure if Drew's new pro-model is that shape as well or something completely different. If anyone has any opinions or rides the Phase 5 ICON I would appreciate any comments.

Thanks!
Jason

Hey Jason,

I only do reviews of boards that manufacturers provide me for testing purposes. The purpose of the product review is to give an independent persepective. Obviously Drew is going to say his board is the BEST EVER - as he's on contract. Nothing against Drew, we all understand how sponsorship agreements work.

All of the reviews that you've read, have been on boards that the manufacturer has loaned me for testing with the express purpose of a writeup on Wake World. They see the review for the first time ON Wake World. I receive no compensation or other promotional consideration.

Prior to Drew taking over in the marketing area for Phase 5, I was unable to get a response from the folks at Phase 5. I haven't made a further attempt to contact them subsequent to Surf Expo in '05.

Thanks Jeff, I figured you guys were just giving your "opinions" on the products. that's cool, it's good to hear about product that not everyone is able to ride before they buy. Just thought you guys might have gotten your hands on one at one time or another....no worries. BTW any more word on Calibrated?? I see there sight is "semi" up and running, although it's in another language. Other than that there's no real info on them and what's happening for '07 anymore, other than what you provided us about the incident at xmas and their temporary shut down.....