Vanguard
Intro
To me if you are riding the same board everyday things start to get boring. I can't go a whole week surfing the same board let a lone a whole day sometimes. Thats why the vanguard jumped out at me as soon as it hit the market. I had seen Adam Robertson riding a few over the 6 months leading up to the time they were released. In my eyes the board under his feet looked insane. There was something about it that made it so stylish. Not to mention it actually went really well and as good as any other performance board. Initially I thought because of the size you had to go a few litres more than you normally would because the lack of paddle power in such a small board. I rode the 5'8 at first and it was way to big for me. It felt like I was surfing a 6'4 and I wasn't convinced on the shape or design, honestly I was disappointed. The 5'6 really changed my mind on things
The 5'6 paddled a lot better than first expected so I would recommend to anyone to get around the same volume in the vanguard as there normal short board and do not be scared of what the size is! I rode the board for a while as my standard short board and surfed it in close to every condition you can think of. Surprisingly it responded to everything I put it in from bells bowl to hollow bird rock. It did go its best in 2 to 3 foot waves with a nice shape. Waves like winki and rincon I found it performed best. One thing to be very wary of with this board is that it is surfed off the back foot. Its almost like surfing a snowboard in the way. I found that you have to be on rail at all times. This lets the board do the work with the flute channels between the fins giving you all the speed and drive because that is where all the water is directed through the single concave. However do not be worried that you won't be able to break your line. Because of the very curvy out line and the lack of size of the board it isn't hard to throw the board around like it is on other deep single con caved boards. The planing hull in the nose of the board helps with the paddle power. A very high performance board with a small sweet spot. You need to be able to shuffle and move your feet to find the perfect position on the board making it quite difficult to get used to.
Whose it for
I class this board as a high performance board and it isn't for everyone, you need to be able to have the ability to move around on the board and find the sweet spot. Its really a board that needs to be shuffled on. Perfect for someone who is sick of there standard short board and wants to ride something very different. I also see this board as a great travel board as it will almost go in everything you throw it in. A very high performance board though and I would only recommend it to good surfers.
Ideal fin set up: As big as you can push, because the area between each fin is so large you need a large rake on your fin to cover the area so there is no room for the board to skip out or be too loose. AM1 in the medium or AM2 or Jody in the Large are great fins.
Rating: 7
Ideal wave size: 2 to 3 foot
Conditions: Well shaped offshore waves
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