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| 391289 | 22193 | Ericson Ecstacy | 26 | nineohtoo | Dec 24, 2025 | 2025-12-24T05:26:06-0500 | @SoftScrambledSkeggs How do those True Ames fins compare to the Hanalei fins? Is it just the photos, or are those bases narrower? Do they have the twist, and concave on the inside foil? Here's some photos of one I received this summer: Image processing. Refresh page to view Image processing. Refresh page to view Image processing. Refresh page to view Image processing. Refresh page to view Image processing. Refresh page to view I had quite a long back and forth with Ellis before I actually ordered a board since I reached out to him with a lot of questions after watching Edge of a Dream. Dude is the most patient shaper I've ever emailed, with very thoughtful and detailed responses. But I wasn't ready to buy one of his edge boards, and instead got a 5'8" MP from Andreini. While I had some great moments on that board, it proved mostly frustrating for how I was used to a board behaving when paddling or generating speed. Despite that, I was convinced that edge boards did a lot that I liked, but maybe I needed to try one from another shaper. When Ellis announced he was coming to California, I reached out again. This time describing and sharing photos of my current quiver, as well as my experience with a similar tri plane hull from Stepanek. I even sent him photos and videos of me in local waves, which I never considered doing before. We both decided I might get more out of a Lite Kite than an Edge board, and I ended up with this hot wired 5'6" x 20" x 2 5/8". This was supposed to use a stringered Marko blank, but there was a glassing issue with my first one, so Ellis was generous enough to remake it, and shipped it over at no extra cost. As for the board itself, I think Mikey describes it pretty accurately in this year's EAST. It's fast, the acceleration is very reminiscent of what I get from an edge board. Although some times, too fast? I'm not sure if it's the speed, but sometimes it doesn't want to break free and onto the other rail. Both on my frontside and my backside. I'm an average surfer, so I figured a lot of this was me, and my being used to boards with some double or spiral vee under my back foot. However, when I saw the first episode with Mikey riding it, I noticed the board would occasionally hesitate when he would try to bring it back to pocket, like a multi step turn. You can check some time stamps to see what I mean, but there are several occasions throughout the series where you can see this, even when he's riding it in Santa Cruz and Kewalos? Image processing. Refresh page to view Image processing. Refresh page to view Image processing. Refresh page to view You wouldn't say he's surfing bad in these clips, because they're still great sequences with lots of speed into the top turn, great spray, but you can see that moment of delay when he switches onto his heel side rail. I think it's fair to say he figured it out by the finale, because you don't notice this as much anymore when he surfs Rockys. Anyways, my Lite Kite has made some very late and steep drops, and has held well despite the wide tail and overall width (my stubbies for similar waves are usually about a half inch narrower). I've felt crazy acceleration under my back foot when waves are glassy. I've even tried to tuck into some tubes with it. While it doesn't have the consistency of some of my favorite boards, I think it has a lot of promise. I want to figure the design out. Maybe see if I can get a set of those True Ames fins. And if I can't figure it out as is, I'm going to ask Ellis about the swallow tail variations that look like they have some double through the back to see if that suits me better. |