MyPaipoBoards Forums

SG- Sure, the Radon family is very well known throughout Santa Barbara. The patriarch, Ron Sr. 'invented' the Radon Boat company, and that design hull has been a staple in SB and beyond. My boat, the one used to access the above waves..... is a Radon, built by one/some/part of the family when they had an operation in Port Townsend, WA. Don still builds boats in Goleta, Mike in New Zealand, and Ron Jr. up in Myrtle Creek, OR. Don still surfs, and can be seen out on his Channel Islands from time to time. That early photo of Don's buddies is vintage Goleta Mafia, a classic shot for sure...

remember the cold and the zip front suits? when crowded was 10 people? gotta get me a radon!

Yes, a Radon can be a help w/ surf procurement in 2015, and that's the fact, Jack...

Some photos are filtering in.............the board is done. They're rounding up some appropriate fins, and I'll schedule a trip to Santa Cruz next week to pick it up-

Looks good skiff. Planning a trip up in your area in February so hopefully I can get a couple on one of your boards. Are the channels new to the design? Didn't notice them on your other one.

PES- Yes, the channels are a new addition as well. I've got a buddy who was raving about his L-41 with 'em so we worked to incorporate them into this design. It should be quite a game changer for me, and a few steps 'forward' which is nice. Let me know when you're heading up this way and with a little advance notice, we can no doubt get something planned.

bitchin!

Skiff,

I look forward hearing how it rides, I've only ridden one channel bottom style board, which I borrowed (my one board quiver didn't make it onto a plane) and it went way different to what I normally rode (talking stand-up here). The board went great in hollow waves.

Don't let an airline baggage handler near it.

Bob
Thanks and to SG for the Radon board info.

Here's some shots of 'er; just finished putting the rubber pad on. Surf is currently 20'+, so once the ocean gets reasonable again, we'll give it a go.

Well, no photos to show of my finally finding a suitable venue to take the 'asymmetrical' Mega Platter out, but I did get 'er out yesterday, and I'm ready to gauge the board and it's somewhat kinky design as an unqualified success. We happened onto a high quality situation, and had offshore winds for the entire day. I was out maybe three and a half hours, and caught a ton of waves during that time....................as we were the only guys out for the entire day. Very cold and offshore, but then, that's what we've been waiting for all El Nino, right?

The wave is a right point break, which is what this thing is designed for. It felt faster in all situations, felt looser and I guess I'll call it 'more sprightly'....? Turned with less effort, especially on the top turn-down-the-wave thing (turning onto the shorter rail with the set forward single fin...), and it was quite noticeable. Just super stoked with it. If I had taken it out in just regular beachbreak sessions here locally, then I would have needed much more time to make a final determination. But in this setup, with so many high quality waves coming through, I got to rev up and figure this design out pretty quickly, and I'm very happy with what the board was telling me. I'll begin playing with the fins as the Winter moves on, and try a few fine tuning tricks re riding it that I'm now capable of. Just thought I'd weigh in with the final report.

You've obviously have put a lot of thought into this shape, and it seems to have paid dividends. I'm curious, what was your thinking on fin placement and fin size? Second question, how big is the length differential between right-hand and left-hand sides?

The shorter rail (cutback side) is 3" shorter than the bottom turn rail. Fin size? Just going with what I've been experimenting with on the 'regular templated' boards, which is the Rasta keel fin for the cutback rail, and a Futures quad (half of) for the bottom turn rail. This is just what I've 'started' with, and what has given me good results. Ask me in 6 months and I might have a whole new set of fins on here. Gotta start somewhere, and this is it; it's an ongoing process.

Here's a few quick photos from the day, beautiful weather and environment for the first test run-

dig the sky. dig the green!

Animals seem to prefer it as well.

looks good, glad the evolution is still progressing

I would love the try a L41 design in the 23L range.

Do you consider this board to surf like a performance short board, fish or longboard?

Krusher- I'm not sure it would fit into any of those three categories...............these things are pretty 'stand apart'...? But for sure, it feels like I'm making more progress in the performance areas so maybe it would be closest to a performance shortboard.................though at 73 liters of floatation, I'm not sure how 'short' board that is...?

Here's a quick story. A few days ago, we found ourselves at a remote point break, and all the stars had lined up. I had finished surfing for the day...........and we had two jetski's full of young guys tied off of the stern of our boat. These guys were all excellent surfers, world class paddleboard/SUP standup downwind racer kinds of guys, super athletic and very open minded. They had been ogling the asymm Platter all day, and I urged them to try it out.

One guy immediately jumped in, and within 10 seconds of paddling into the lineup, rolled into a whitewater ball coming down the point, which slingshot him into the shallow sandbar section, and bam, two tubes and a howling long ride. We could hear him yelling from the boat. Got a few more just like that, then snagged a solid 10' bomb, and STOOD UP...!? You could tell it was difficult for him to control, but control it he did and my buddy on the inside reported that as he was paddling back out, the kid went into a dry tube and stayed there, pumping away and screaming his head off, for another very long exciting ride.

He paddled back and could not stop talking about how much fun he'd had, and how the riding prone part had blown his mind. THATS what happens when you open your mind to things.

The photo included here? Mr. Big Tony, screaming along on his custom paipo. Thought I'd include it here for some reference.

Cool to see the kids diggin it prone!

I have lent my good stand up buddy my board in the summer on a lay surf day and he can pretty much stand-up surf my 25L, He is 6.1"!!!

By comparison Philipe toledo WSL holy toledo standard short board is 25l

Once he had stood up on it, did he go back to prone?

We were on a tight schedule as far as leaving, and so he only had time to catch two prone waves and then that last bomber 'stand up' wave; then he paddled back over and gave me the board. The excitement in his face was absolutely classic. Good to try new things!