Siamese Palm Viper
Intro
You know when you go to a shop to feel that one board over and over again and you can't really decide if you like it or not but every time you pick it up there is just something about it? Just something that makes you curious as to how it may go. If you have ever like myself eventually bit the bullet and bought that board, you too will know the feeling of relief that you get once you paddle into that first wave, when it bites and drives. It goes and does exactly what you wanted it to do. You will know how I felt when i grabbed this board off the rack from the guys at Superbrand and it actually went amazing after I had felt it for all those months wondering what if? This board is from the minds of Dion Agius and the shapers collective formally known as Superbrand. It answered all my questions and did what I wanted it to do as a small wave groveller but it also did much more than I expected it would in waves of slight consequence.
How it goes
From what I have read Dion had a quiver of boards some more suited for airs and some more suited for turns. He wanted a board that did the lot. He found a good combination in SPV. It has the ability to throw down some serious rail work but you also get the feeling that if you really pushed it. the small piece of glass and foam under your feet would sore above most sections with ease (unless your like me and struggle to even get air on a trampoline). This board looks from the outset to be a standard short board but there a few aspects that make it more of a step down performance board than a high performance board. It has a flattened rocker to enhance your paddle power to get into the smaller gutless waves. It also has a forward wide point which makes the board get up and go through the flat spots without having to bounce, the combination of the flat rocker and forward wide point lend to Dion's air side of the board design. The flat rocker and forward outline gives the board the ability to generate its own down the line speed which lends to being able to throw caution to the wind over the hairiest of sections. This may sound like just a air guys board at the moment and I know you rail workers out there are thinking why am I even reading about this. Which leads me to the tail end of the board. The SPV from the forward outline back pulls into a well refined rounded square tail, this tight tail gives the board drive without giving away on the release that you need for the more radical maunouvres. The 'V' out the tail is also what tends toward the guys who have more of a rail game. The 'V' makes a board tip rail to rail with ease and with a lot of foam in the forward half having the 'V' out the tail helps to be able to break the line due to having a fair bit of swing weight up front. The combination of the tight round square with the 'V' out the tail makes this board a good all rounder that gets going on the front foot with a friendly forward half of the board with a very refined tail end. I look at the board as Dion's take on the Hayden shapes 'Hypto Krypto' however it has a more top to bottom feel due the the rounded square which gives you a pivot point to bank off to go straight up into the lip. I have had my most success on this board in waves from 2 to 4 foot and a light onshore so you have a bit of a lip to bash and launch off.
Whose it for
This is a high performance small wave short board for some and a good all rounder for others. If you are competing on a regular basis and are finding you have to battle to perform in the smaller waves on your standard short board this is a board to consider it has as laminated much throughout this article a best of both worlds feel to it. It will give you the ability to go to the air with also being very reliable on rail. With the current change in criteria and the constant barrier breaks in competitive surfing it is most definitely something have in the quiver. On the other hand however this board because of how refined the tail is also, would work for most averages joe's as an all rounder with the ability to get into waves early you don't need a whole heap of rocker because you slide straight into the pocket of the wave instead of using the rocker in the board to take the drop. I would classify this board a long with many others that I have talked about as a board that you can just 'throw in the car' and know you are going to get waves.
Ideal fin set up
FCS2 Accelerators
Rating
8.5
Ideal wave size
2 to 4 foot
Conditions
Light onshore
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