Surrator...found in bargain bin

End of summer board sale time again. Got this Laird Surrator in the PVC carbon version from Exit Surf in Christchurch for $1500 including shipping. Very keen on trying it out....but first mission will be a flat water paddle to explore the stability

Je vous remercie

Did a tiny flat water paddle in glassy conditions on river this morning. All good....seemed to paddle fast. Is 4 litres less volume than my sunova speed 9'2

Tried it out today at Makorori centre break......strong offshore and fast breaking hollow waves. No stability problems. The best board .I have tried.....fast and fun.....super easy to turn. Was almost high tide so didn't have to scowl at any rocks

Hi any more feedback on the surrator at all? A carbon 8'10 has come up locally and thinking of adding it to the quiver for hollower and bigger days when need a bit more float and rail line.

Looks like you may have to put the Sunova into the bargain bin - trying to sell my Jimmy Lewis Quad and maybe this beatiful board will go to the bargain bin as well!

Great buy--still loving my 8'10! If your Hokua is an x32 very different board... will be interesting to hear your ride report.

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tomooh said..
Yes it's an x 32 and I love it seems so easy to surf and very loose as long as you keep working the board from the tail it's fast but not a board for just standing and trimming on. Thinking that the laird will be good in bigger meaner waves perhaps but just seemed too cheap to not buy it and I like to not always ride the same thing. Sounds positive reviews so far 805 how is yours compared to your hokua and which do you prefer. I m 60 and 85kg and the hokua feels like magic to me.

I don't own a Hokua but have a couple of friends that do and toyed with the idea of picking one up when the LEs were overproduced but didn't want something that wide and with so much volume as I like to float closer to the surface of the water. I too am 85 kg as well and my quiver is comprised of a Laird Surfer 9'0x29.5x113L, a Hypernut 7'4x30x105L and the Surrator 8'10x29x118L.

The Surrator is the most reactive board that I have ever surfed. It surfs smaller than its size and can handle waves from waist high to double overhead really well. The narrower width should outperform the Hokua in my opinion but I would love to hear your first hand experience. The downside is that it is not an ego-stroking board--its pulled in nose and tail coupled with its aggressive rocker makes it less stable for its size (and its users can't say: "I surf a 7' board"). It took me a little while to get used to the stability of the 8'10 but once I did, I have been rewarded--perhaps you will dial it in quicker. I have the 2015/2016 and Laird improved the deckpad dramatically in 2017 with the diamond deck pad. I changed my deckpad to an OAM that I love.

Not sure of the year of my 810 but its 30.? Wide which should help as I don't want to struggle I find the 32 hokua really easy and just goes so well but I tried other size x 32s and didn't like them much

Yes I think 30.3 is what is on it and 118 litre maybe it is one of the early ones or just wrong numbers not carbon either but feels quite light hopefully I will be able to paddle it comfortably But at the price i couldn't resist having a crack. A few years ago I had a similar looking jamie Mitchell board that felt awesome in bigger waves

No gelcoat chipping.....even where have put paddle whack dent

and of course is really a Terry Chung board

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GizzieNZ said..
Definitely a "hollow fast breaking wave board you can depend on"......took my sunova speed out and found I had lost faith in its abilities as far as "big drops" go

Isn't it crazy how that happens!?!? I have made drops on my Surrator that I am sure that I would have wiped out on other boards!

It will be my first surf since March after recovering from an accident so I will probably start with my bigger boards but will be keen to see how stable it is in the next few months.

Did find a soft spot......helmet impact or something. Boldly drilled 3 holes through deck pad and used tiny funnel to put resin in. Already had resin.......or would have taken to expert. Also will be covered by deck pad

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tomooh said..
Yes I think 30.3 is what is on it and 118 litre maybe it is one of the early ones or just wrong numbers not carbon either but feels quite light hopefully I will be able to paddle it comfortably But at the price i couldn't resist having a crack. A few years ago I had a similar looking jamie Mitchell board that felt awesome in bigger waves

Seems the numbers on the board are wrong after all, just measured it and can't find much more than 29 inch across the bottom which is what it's supposed to be not the 30.3 it's got written on it, 29 would be the minimum I would buy now, was a struggle on the first board I had a 26 or so wide x about 9ft 6 from Hawaii