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Old    surfdad            11-24-2008, 7:42 PM Reply   
The folks at IS are listing a new "Moss" and a "Swallow". Looks like the Swallow is the blue with a different tail and the Moss, from what I can tell by the website has similar planshape to the 4skim but a different fin location and the nose and tail are reshaped.

The board page
Old     (donnieb)      Join Date: Nov 2006       11-25-2008, 11:53 PM Reply   
A buddy and I had a chance to go riding with Mark Sher from Inland Surfer earlier in the year and try out a prototype of the Sweet Spot. It was really fun! Very fast and maneuverable! That's the one I want! Here are some photos we took of Mark carving on that board.

I can't wait to try out the final product.

Thanks.
Don

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Old    surfdad            11-26-2008, 4:55 AM Reply   
I've got that finalized board here in my hot little hands and we'll be giving it a spin this weekend - nah nah nah nah nah! :-) It looks like a fun little board.
Old     (notsobueno)      Join Date: Dec 2004       11-26-2008, 6:22 AM Reply   
Can you post some pics of the board, dad?
Old    surfdad            11-26-2008, 7:01 AM Reply   
Hey dtw, I'll post up pics of the board this evening. Also the good folks at IS sent me one set of each of their fins, there are some interesting features that aren't evident from their website/decsription. That might take me a few days, but I'll post those also.
Old     (notsobueno)      Join Date: Dec 2004       11-26-2008, 10:12 AM Reply   
Thanks dad. Can't wait to see the board 'in person'.


Old    surfdad            11-26-2008, 8:46 PM Reply   
As promised - the Sweet Spot up close and personal :-)

The deck with the traction consistent with all the IS boards.

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Old    surfdad            11-26-2008, 8:48 PM Reply   
The bottom, quad and the wood visible.

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Old    surfdad            11-26-2008, 8:50 PM Reply   
It's a little tough to tell but there is a little bit of hip just around the trailing edge of the fins.

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Old    surfdad            11-26-2008, 8:54 PM Reply   
The standard IS nose flip as seen on the blue, red, green.

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Old    surfdad            11-26-2008, 8:57 PM Reply   
The Sweet Spot has a slight tucked rail.

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Old     (hatepain)      Join Date: Aug 2006       11-27-2008, 7:50 AM Reply   
I'd be interested to see how a bigger guy can ride on this with a good size wave.
Old    surfdad            11-27-2008, 8:02 AM Reply   
DENNIS! :-) Yeah, that's always part of out testing of boards, Dennis has some pretty amazing skills he's able to trim just about any board. We'll see how he does on this one. :-)
Old     (dennish)      Join Date: May 2005       11-27-2008, 8:12 AM Reply   
How big is the Sweet Spot?
Old    surfdad            11-27-2008, 8:29 AM Reply   
4'9" I just measured it.

A legitimate shaper just reminded me that I was leaving off some of the important details. Thank you sir!

The Sweet Spot has a single concave fading to flat out the back. The single concave will aid somewhat with speed, as it provides more wetted surface area, and also lift. High performance shortboards typically have a single fading to a double, but a single is also pretty common.

The single concave. This is from the tail looking forward - you also get a great idea of the gloss on that board - the lower image is the reflection of the stick across the top. :-) The concave is about 1/4" inch deep.

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Old    surfdad            11-27-2008, 8:33 AM Reply   
I don't own a rocker stick, so this is just rough, but the board has pretty low rocker. The TR is about 3/8" and the NR before the flip is about 1/2 to 3/4".

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Old     (notsobueno)      Join Date: Dec 2004       11-27-2008, 7:22 PM Reply   
Thickness compared to a ForeSkim?
Old    surfdad            11-27-2008, 7:35 PM Reply   
Thicker. The Sweet Spot measures 1 3/8" (+ the traction for rack concerns).
Old     (notsobueno)      Join Date: Dec 2004       11-27-2008, 9:04 PM Reply   
When are you riding it?

When will you be reviewing the Moss?


Old    surfdad            11-28-2008, 6:08 AM Reply   
We are heading out on the boat on Sunday. I'll post pictures and ride report afterwards.

That Moss looks cool, doesn't it? Did you see Sean Cummings at the Castaic event? He had hacked down a Black Pearl (I think with a hacksaw! :-) ) and I believe that is the basis for the Moss.

I am SO low on the totem pole, that I'm not even on it. :-) I'll bug the folks at IS, but I wouldn't expect to see one in my hot little hands until late spring, if at all.
Old     (notsobueno)      Join Date: Dec 2004       11-28-2008, 6:51 AM Reply   
Aren't parts of a totem pole underground?

I do remember the sawed off Black Pearl.

When can I come stay at your house for a few weeks? To ride and build a board?
Old    surfdad            11-30-2008, 6:54 PM Reply   
dtw you're funny.

We got a chance to ride the sweet spot today, everyone from Dennis - 270'ish down to Judy - 100'ish rode it without issue. James aired it a few times, too.



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Old     (jdjjamesz)      Join Date: Mar 2008       11-30-2008, 7:22 PM Reply   
wave looks pretty nice what boat is that
Old    surfdad            11-30-2008, 7:39 PM Reply   
Hey James, thanks - it's just our '02 Tige 23 V - Dennis brought some extra lead with him today...I want to say 575 pounds that we tucked under the sacks.
Old     (dennish)      Join Date: May 2005       11-30-2008, 8:02 PM Reply   
switchblade not required
Old     (jdjjamesz)      Join Date: Mar 2008       11-30-2008, 8:16 PM Reply   
hows the lead is it hard to move around to get in the boat ,and is it bad for you,I was thinking of lead a while ago but you know how I like to weigh my boat ,so I got worry that I would get my self in a situation,where if the boat got in trouble I would nt be able to get the lead out,
Old     (jdjjamesz)      Join Date: Mar 2008       11-30-2008, 8:19 PM Reply   
your wife looks like she could get barreled back there.
Old     (notsobueno)      Join Date: Dec 2004       11-30-2008, 10:04 PM Reply   
Dennis is my hero.
Old    surfdad            12-01-2008, 5:30 AM Reply   
Hey James - I have always said that Judy makes the perfect wakesurf wake model - she makes the wakes look huge. She stands 4'11" :-)

The lead isn't as easy as a switch blade, that's for sure, but probably takes as long as emptying one huge sac and filling the other huge sac.

It really makes a huge differene in the wake charateristics, I'm guessing that being able to concentrate the weight lower in the boat has an impact.

I don't think we'll use as much lead in the future, but it was fun to play with yesterday.
Old    surfdad            12-01-2008, 7:47 AM Reply   
Back to the ride.

In the IS tradition, the Sweet Spot is fast down-the-line. Low entry rocker keeps the board super fast. Personally, I'd give up some of the speed for more rocker, but for those wanting a short, fast board, this will be their ticket.

The wide mid-to-tail gives the board a lot of surface area to slide on. As Dennis commented, you probably won't feel like you can "over" fin the board. There are a ton of fin options, we stuck with the largest trailers and the smallest insets, which seemed to be a good balance.

Dennis spun a few three's but drifted out the back. The board likes to be ridden flat and when Dennis did 3's with the board flat into the wake, the generous fin area didn't seem to impede his spinning.

Judy was able to ride the board, but at 100 pounds it was just too much board for her. She wasn't able to sink the rails at all, but if you look at the pictures above, she could easily ride the board in the flats AND in the wash. :-)

Dennis did several deep water starts with his 270'ish pound frame. It seemed that the board, while adequately thick enough to give good rail shape, wasn't overly bouyant.

I know from my own experience, the wide nose on the old style Yellow and even the newer Green made it hard for me to turn hard, as the nose would catch. IMO, IS has done a great job of eliminating that issue with the new nose shape on this board.

Definately one of IS's best performers to-date, IMO. I think that 100 pounders like Judy will find it to be too much board unless they just want to cruise. I also think that 270 pounders like Dennis will find it to be too little board to ride hard. The 180-220 pound folks looking for a higher performing stock shape will enjoy the ride. Worth looking at.
Old     (colombiansurfer)      Join Date: Sep 2008       12-03-2008, 6:44 PM Reply   
Surfdad, I usually talk to you on the Centurion Crew site, but her goes... The sweet spot looks great and I have been riding the broadcast for a while and looking something more advance. ie, spins, jumps, etc... 195 lbs. will this board do the trick? Plus, how much this running this year?
Old    surfdad            12-04-2008, 7:38 AM Reply   
Hey Colombian, good to see you on WW.

The Sweet Spot is a much better board than the broadcast, IMO. The rocker on the SS is almost identical to that of most popular skimmers. As such, it likes to be ridden flat and will do surface rotations, as long as you keep the board flat.

The extra fins with the quad overlap significantly and don't see to effect a riders ability to break the tail loose. The one issue you might have with learning a surface 3 on this board is that it's extremely fast down-the-line. Many folks, myself included, enter the 3 leaning back to slow the board down and tend to fall out the back OR sort of off the rear corner as you finish the rotation.

The board has plenty of waist, so it will rotate flat up on the lip.

As far as airs, I think that you can do a chop hop from the lip - basically a little ollie off the lip back down the face, but a true aerial where you power up and then bring the tail up to meet the nose height will be a problem. The board doesn't have the rocker to allow the bottom turn also the board we had, weighs in at 8.5 pounds, which is a tad heavy for boosting.

I think it's a good solid board and definately a step up from the broadcast.

The IS website shows the MSRP as $575, that page is here

Although I noticed this morning that the Cobra factory workers were threatening a strike and the plant is shut down :-) I'm sure it won't last long, but I had no idea that the Cobra factory was a union shop! :-) The Thai baht's current exchange is something like 36 to 1 USD, so all of the concessions the union is looking for amount to something like $5 USD a day.

What is that old saying? If you don't read the newspapers, you are UNinformed, and if you do read the newspapers you are MISinformed. :-) I would expect the labor issue to filter into Cobra prices at some point next year.

The story for what it's worth.
Old    4sher            12-04-2008, 1:41 PM Reply   
Just for reference, here's a pic of a non "chop hop" ollie and one of a lip slide... FYI, the board pictured is an early prototype with basically no nose rocker.Upload
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Old     (colombiansurfer)      Join Date: Sep 2008       12-04-2008, 5:40 PM Reply   
Thanks for the info Surfdad! Since my wakeboarding days are numbered now, because of knee problems, I am looking at entering a few contest this season for the mature men.... AKA older gentleman. hahahaha
Old    surfdad            12-04-2008, 6:15 PM Reply   
You bet! I didn't realize you had knee issues, sports related injury?

The Old farts division! :-) Looking forward to seeing you rip it up. :-)
Old     (colombiansurfer)      Join Date: Sep 2008       12-04-2008, 6:52 PM Reply   
Sports injury, US Army injury, wakeboarding injury, motorcycle injury, etc... I am rough on the body as the docs tell me. What can I say? I will be in the old farts division for sure ripping the young guns a new one! LOL!!! BTW, heading to the factory tomorrow for a tour with Les.
Old    surfdad            12-04-2008, 7:27 PM Reply   
Cool! Are you thinking about a shiny new '09 Enzo or Avy? The fineline factories do good hull layups. You'll have to tell us if you see anything new and interesting.
Old     (bac)      Join Date: Feb 2008       12-05-2008, 8:38 AM Reply   
Thanks for the reviews and input Jeff, Dennis and Mark. One of the guys in our crew is an IS rep and I've been hearing about this board and had even got the chance to see early pics but could not reveal anything for obvious reasons. My good friend ordered one as soon as he saw it read the specs on it. I think he'll like it to add to his quiver. I have been told that release has been pushed back to 09 and I assuming thats now due to the plant strike Jeff mentioned above. Hope they get it straightened out soon. We can still surf down here and I'd like to try that board out now myself!
Old    surfdad            12-05-2008, 9:32 AM Reply   
Yeah - it's a fun board, your buddy will enjoy it.

The IS folks are savvy business people, I don't suspect that they'll be overly impacted by the Cobra labor dispute.

My understanding is that a vast majority of wakeboards are manufactured at that facility. I believe that those manufacturers wakesurf products are manufactured at this facility. It will be interesting to see how the big manufacturers are impacted.

My understanding from transworld is that Cobra sent a letter to all it's customers telling them that current orders would be impacted and that they should identify priority orders. My gut tells me that the big 3 folks won't include the wakesurf products on the priority list.

http://business.transworld.net/2008/12/03/cobra-international-co-ltd-announces-factory-lockout-effective-december-4/
Old     (colombiansurfer)      Join Date: Sep 2008       12-06-2008, 10:29 AM Reply   
SurfDad, check out CenturionCrew.com and look for my factory tour under Off Topics. I was there Friday and loved it! I already have an 08 Avy C4. Over the winter I am taking out the hard tanks and putting in the Enzo sacs. That alone will be 1500 lbs, and with the sac up front I think I will have an killer surf wake! not looking into the Enzo for a couple of years. I hear that they are looking at revamping the Enzo with a lot of new enhancements for surfing and wake boarding. The Avy in 2010 will have a new look also.
Old    surfdad            12-06-2008, 10:43 AM Reply   
Nice tour pictures. My favorite is the chopper gun!

Here is a link to Colombian's post at CC.com

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Old     (konaking)      Join Date: Mar 2008       12-07-2008, 7:28 AM Reply   
Fantastic SD. Love the review. You have me once again wishing I was you neighbor. hehehehe.

For me its back to stix the snow is here and the boat is tucked away in the garage, heated of course. Maybe waiting for the Indian summer and a quick trip to the yet un-frozen lake
Old     (colombiansurfer)      Join Date: Sep 2008       12-07-2008, 1:49 PM Reply   
I asked Les about the chopper gun and asked if the fiberglass was hand laid and he said yes, some of it is. then they go back over with the gun. He came from the MC factory and said that all the builders use them.

I was very impressed with the factory and tour. I will go back again!
Old    surfdad            12-07-2008, 6:06 PM Reply   
I apologize Colombian, my post wasn't intended as a negative commentary on Centurion. That mold looks like the floor pan or something. Probably not a structural component. I loved the picture because my very first exposure to composites was shooting a chopper gun. I almost shot CSM over a tool box :-)
Old     (ralph)      Join Date: Apr 2002       12-07-2008, 8:09 PM Reply   
Can you post up the photo of the boat destine for NZ? Its my friends boat!
Old     (colombiansurfer)      Join Date: Sep 2008       12-08-2008, 4:43 PM Reply   
Sure Darren, but it is wrapped. I did see the color and it is red/black and white. Sweet looking boat and trailer! Love the rims!!!
Sorry man, the pics are too large for here. I emailed them to you.

(Message edited by colombiansurfer on December 08, 2008)
Old     (inland_surfer)      Join Date: Aug 2002       12-10-2008, 8:17 AM Reply   
Note: Cobra is back up and running.
Old     (bac)      Join Date: Feb 2008       12-10-2008, 11:53 AM Reply   
Wonderful news JF! Glad to hear
Old     (konaking)      Join Date: Mar 2008       12-10-2008, 3:33 PM Reply   
Anyone know where you can get some good traction like they use on these IS boards?
Old     (lance_alot)      Join Date: Jul 2007       12-10-2008, 4:13 PM Reply   
Kona, We (Inland Surfer) have boxes of the stuff. Slightly different tread pattern though, diamonds instead of squares.
Old     (konaking)      Join Date: Mar 2008       12-11-2008, 4:46 AM Reply   
Hi Lance

How do I get my hands on it ?

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