C4 Spudnik v Jimmy Lewis Worldwide

I thought I'd offer a review of two comparable boards that I've been riding recently. The C4 Spudnik 8'4" x 28.85" 125 Litres and the Jimmy Lewis Worldwide 8'5" x 30.25" 127Litres. They are both brands from Hawaii.

The service from both the Australian importers was great. Ken from Wavetoys http://www.c4waterman.com.au/contact/ was really helpful, especially when the Spudnik board turned up, thanks to the bloody Startrack delivery, with a forklift hole in the box that also damaged the board. Ken reimbursed the repair cost straight away, for something that really was beyond his control.

Rob from jimmylewisboards.com.au went out of his way to answer my annoying questions. And thanks to the fact that he was nearby, he enabled me to quickly demo the carbon version, which I subsequently bought.

The quality of build appears to be much better with the Jimmy Lewis. It's only a couple of little things which don't really affect the performance, though. The Spudnik handle isn't very deep and it's hard to pick up the board on the beach when it's lying flat. By contrast the Jimmy Lewis handle is much deeper and very easy to pick up one handed. The paintwork around the handle of the Spudnik looks messy and unfinished whereas the Worldwide finish is pretty flawless and makes you feel good about the board. As I say it doesn't affect the performance of the respective boards.

Even though there is only 2 Litres, 1
inch length and 1 & 5/8" width difference between the boards it ends up making quite a bit of difference when it comes to stability. I've taken the Jimmy Lewis Worldwide out in lots of different conditions and had no problem balancing. But when I've encountered choppy, bumpy, waves I've found it much harder to balance on the C4 Spudnik. In winter the extra weight of my wetsuit didn't help either and made it a bit discouraging with the Spudnik and my skill level (or lack thereof).

But I really liked the Spudnik when I got a few head-high waves. I had this board first and I got a real thrill when I connected a bottom turn and a top turn and looked up the line for what was next. (The first time I had done this since I rode a short board thirty years previously!)

The Worldwide is now my go to board though if I want to go out with full confidence in any surf. I haven't had it any big surf yet: maybe shoulder height at best, but some days have been pretty hollow and it gets great speed through sections and and hasn't let me down on any steep takeoffs yet. It is almost as easy to turn as the Spudnik. I have them both set up as quad-fins as the Spudnik didn't come with a centre fin and I lost my centre fin on the Worldwide on a shallow point break on day two!

I did find the Spudnik stuttered a bit when I tried to jam a hard bottom turn so I'm going to try the larger find at the rear to see if I can rectify this.

All in all, I feel stoked at the thought of pushing myself to improve my skills with the Spudnik and yet I also love the comforting thought of feeling confident with the Worldwide.

Hey Suporator, always great to hear when someone is enjoying their new boards. Have a great trip up the coast.