Tim Stamps - Shaper of the Year

Feb 13, 2022
125
355
63
San Diego
Ride report for quantum quad and sparkbox (sparkplug/gigglebox):

quantum: I think this board has good potential, but I havent found the right fin set up yet. Ive tried the F8s with some old rusty quad rears and found it to lack drive. I think I may try either a larger quad rear (F8 quad rear) or a larger front fin. I might try the AMTs or the SOC twins as a twad setup. The board feels like it will work in a wide variety of conditions once I get the fins right. It has a good amount of entry rocker compared to what I expected, which makes me think itll go well in lined up, steeper, larger surf.

varial sparkbox: This board is awesome. Thanks @JDJ . It might be a new favorite, only 2 sessions on it so far. Ive been using the power twins. At first I felt a little under-finned, but once I got comfortable with engaging the rail and pushing harder on my bottom turns and cutbacks, the board lit up. It really smoothed out my surfing too. I got a few sets off a NCSD jetty where I had half a dozen good turns per wave with no hickups or double pumps. Carves, snaps, and little pivot 360s on the inside were made easy with this board. I just ordered some CF panda keels on sale to try out in this thing on smaller days. I think the power twins will feel a little small if I have to generate my own speed. The panda keels look similar to the BMTs but with a wider base. The poly over varial also felt great. It seems more pressure ding resistant than the varial vacumm bagged infused glass.

Stoked!
 

CutnSnip

Phil Edwards status
Sep 11, 2018
5,736
6,044
113
Probably dropping in on you, California
Been riding a mix of other boards a lot lately (Fuse, Twinsman, Driver 2.0) but got back on my trusty GX again today. Gd that is a GOOD so cal shortboard.

Doesn't seem to get as much love as the Flare these days, but it should.
my GX has been getting way more action than the flare the last couple weeks and its been a blast
 

ChaseTMP

Billy Hamilton status
Apr 6, 2014
1,703
3,109
113
S. Redondo
Ride report for quantum quad and sparkbox (sparkplug/gigglebox):

quantum: I think this board has good potential, but I havent found the right fin set up yet. Ive tried the F8s with some old rusty quad rears and found it to lack drive. I think I may try either a larger quad rear (F8 quad rear) or a larger front fin. I might try the AMTs or the SOC twins as a twad setup. The board feels like it will work in a wide variety of conditions once I get the fins right. It has a good amount of entry rocker compared to what I expected, which makes me think itll go well in lined up, steeper, larger surf.

varial sparkbox: This board is awesome. Thanks @JDJ . It might be a new favorite, only 2 sessions on it so far. Ive been using the power twins. At first I felt a little under-finned, but once I got comfortable with engaging the rail and pushing harder on my bottom turns and cutbacks, the board lit up. It really smoothed out my surfing too. I got a few sets off a NCSD jetty where I had half a dozen good turns per wave with no hickups or double pumps. Carves, snaps, and little pivot 360s on the inside were made easy with this board. I just ordered some CF panda keels on sale to try out in this thing on smaller days. I think the power twins will feel a little small if I have to generate my own speed. The panda keels look similar to the BMTs but with a wider base. The poly over varial also felt great. It seems more pressure ding resistant than the varial vacumm bagged infused glass.

Stoked!
That's a great buy on the Panda keels at 50% off. I'll probably pick up a set to mess around with, but I think the BMT's may get similar drive and allow you to get a more vertical/release than the Pandas. They're (BMT's) double the price, but my 5'7 Varial Stamps Kai-zen was pretty good with Power Twins (21.44" area), but had a lot more drive (with the ability to get them into/above the lip) with the BMT's at 23.24" area. FWIW, I'm 6' 170ish. The Pandas are 23.92" area, but I worry they wouldn't be as responsive top-to-bottom. I surf South LA County beachbreak stuff 95% of the time so I prefer fins that respond really quickly.

P.S. How fvckin good have the waves been the last week +. This last Saturday and Sunday were the two days I didn't surf out of the last nine. Yesterday midday was an overhead barrel-fest. Late this afternoon was only about shoulder high+, but just the most fun little A-frames, where you could actually think about how much you wanted to try backdoor the peak to maximize tube time.
 
Feb 13, 2022
125
355
63
San Diego
That's a great buy on the Panda keels at 50% off. I'll probably pick up a set to mess around with, but I think the BMT's may get similar drive and allow you to get a more vertical/release than the Pandas. They're (BMT's) double the price, but my 5'7 Varial Stamps Kai-zen was pretty good with Power Twins (21.44" area), but had a lot more drive (with the ability to get them into/above the lip) with the BMT's at 23.24" area. FWIW, I'm 6' 170ish. The Pandas are 23.92" area, but I worry they wouldn't be as responsive top-to-bottom. I surf South LA County beachbreak stuff 95% of the time so I prefer fins that respond really quickly.

P.S. How fvckin good have the waves been the last week +. This last Saturday and Sunday were the two days I didn't surf out of the last nine. Yesterday midday was an overhead barrel-fest. Late this afternoon was only about shoulder high+, but just the most fun little A-frames, where you could actually think about how much you wanted to try backdoor the peak to maximize tube time.
The 50% off won me over. I probably would have gone with the BMTs otherwise. I have them in futures but the sparkbox is FCS. I also really like the AMKs so maybe these pandas will be a hybrid of both. I did an overlay of the two templates and the pandas have a quite a bit more base than the BMTs. FWIW, I am 6'1 190ish and surf a lot of softer reef break in NCSD.

I have a rusty twin fin that the original owner ordered as a twin + trailer, and I think the fin boxes were moved up to accommodate it. Im thinking these pandas with the longer base might allow me to surf it as a pure twin.

Ive taken a break since the heavy rain moved in, but last week was the best run of waves in recent memory. Quantity and quality of waves were super high.
 
Aug 18, 2022
29
56
13
Ride report for quantum quad and sparkbox (sparkplug/gigglebox):

quantum: I think this board has good potential, but I havent found the right fin set up yet.

I'd recommend the Mann Kine Quads by NVS. Tried the futures version in honeycomb but preferred the extra drive and stiffness from the glass version in my banjo quad.