Album Surfboards

j_mac

Legend (inyourownmind)
Aug 16, 2020
418
1,567
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I am strongly considering the 5' 9" Insanity on the Varial site. I am reshuffling the quiver. I have been staring at it since it went up. I am looking for a performance shortboard (thruster/quad) for the better days. I am mostly in the Album twin world since getting the Plasmic last year.

The waves were awesome this morning and I blew it. Clean head high waves, though a bit pitchy to get into them. I didn't think it was going to be that good. I had the wrong board. I hit the limit of surfing the 5' 4" Plasmic -haha. Got some fun ones, but also ate it on a number of them as well. I needed a bit more length, and less width. It is definitely the archer not the arrow, but it doesn't hurt adjusting the arrow.

Will the Insanity go well with the length being at your height? I would have to say @kool-aid 's Two Happy groveler seems similar to dimensions of the Insanity, which has also piqued my interest.

My hesitation with purchasing the Insanity, is that I didn't get along with the 5' 10", round tail Twinsman. There are elements of this that seem similar to Insanity - maybe I am overly comparing the two. @Aruka comments about it being stiff in the wrong waves, are kind of how I felt about the 5' 10" roundtail Twinsman. Maybe I gave up on it too soon.

I welcome thoughts on this, other than YOLO it -haha!
 
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Aruka

Tom Curren status
Feb 23, 2010
11,990
22,531
113
PNW
I am strongly considering the 5' 9" Insanity on the Varial site. I am reshuffling the quiver. I have been staring at it since it went up. I am looking for a performance shortboard (thruster/quad) for the better days. I am mostly in the Album twin world since getting the Plasmic last year.

The waves were awesome this morning and I blew it. Clean head high waves, though a bit pitchy to get into them. I didn't think it was going to be that good. I had the wrong board. I hit the limit of surfing the 5' 4" Plasmic -haha. Got some fun ones, but also ate it on a number of them as well. I needed a bit more length, and less width. It is definitely the archer not the arrow, but it doesn't hurt adjusting the arrow.

Will the Insanity go well with the length being at your height? I would have to say @kool-aid 's Two Happy groveler seems similar to dimensions of the Insanity, which has also piqued my interest.

My hesitation with purchasing the Insanity, is that I didn't get along with the 5' 10", round tail Twinsman. There are elements of this that seem similar to Insanity - maybe I am overly comparing the two. @Aruka comments about it being stiff in the wrong waves, are kind of how I felt about the 5' 10" roundtail Twinsman. Maybe I gave up on it too soon.

I welcome thoughts on this, other than YOLO it -haha!
I can't compare to the RT twinsman since I haven't had one but I think sizing the Insanity at or below your own height is fine. It's quite full up front and feels like it has similar entry curve to the twinsman even though they have a bit different foam flow. My twinsman was two inches shorter than my Insanity and super light DA construction so it was much looser and more lively feeling than the Insanity which I would consider a pretty stable and predictable board. I never found a quad set that I liked, they all felt a little too stiff but I like it as twin/trailer and more recently I've had some good sessions on it as a thruster. I could see a shorter one in lightweight construction such as varial being a bit more versatile at the low end but honestly, with how narrow the tail is it would probably never be my first choice for anything under chest high. It's a good-to-great barrel board in my experience. I can't recall how @kool-aid sized his but I think he has some experience with his in tubes as well.
 
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oeste858

Phil Edwards status
Sep 11, 2017
6,931
17,276
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San Diego, CA
dang. think I want to traction my lightbender.
Thought the same about twinsman RP today. Need to keep reminding myself to get my foot back on the tail and a pad might help give me a reference point.
Haven’t had any need for a pad on LB tho

@j_mac I think the TM has an usual foam distribution with the flat deck and the way the rails drop down from the deck. Others have also described it as front-footed. Think that contributes to some guys not clicking with it right away if those two things don’t feel natural for you. The roundpin version also limits the versatility IMO as well. I don’t reach for mine unless it’s a decent swell for SoCal. So I haven’t ridden it much in the 10 months, but it was a blast today in CH-HH lined up reef, for example.
Insanity looks different enough to me that I think you should give it a try if you like the other albums.
 
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frontsidegrab

Billy Hamilton status
Dec 4, 2014
1,427
1,515
113
Thought the same about twinsman RP today. Need to keep reminding myself to get my foot back on the tail and a pad might help give me a reference point.
Haven’t had any need for a pad on LB tho
My Twigsnberry RP is the only board I put a pad on. Glad I did. I'm so much more consistent with placement and it's become second nature now.
 
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kool-aid

Michael Peterson status
Aug 28, 2003
3,026
2,614
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San Francisco
I can't compare to the RT twinsman since I haven't had one but I think sizing the Insanity at or below your own height is fine. It's quite full up front and feels like it has similar entry curve to the twinsman even though they have a bit different foam flow. My twinsman was two inches shorter than my Insanity and super light DA construction so it was much looser and more lively feeling than the Insanity which I would consider a pretty stable and predictable board. I never found a quad set that I liked, they all felt a little too stiff but I like it as twin/trailer and more recently I've had some good sessions on it as a thruster. I could see a shorter one in lightweight construction such as varial being a bit more versatile at the low end but honestly, with how narrow the tail is it would probably never be my first choice for anything under chest high. It's a good-to-great barrel board in my experience. I can't recall how @kool-aid sized his but I think he has some experience with his in tubes as well.
I can't really image that a rt Twinsman and Insanity would be too similar though I can't say for sure.

The insanity is an awesome shortboard for average to good waves and if you're on the twin/quad team I couldn't endorse it enough.

I like the Two Happy Grovel but it's in a completely different category than these two other boards and I'd call it a very real step-down.
 
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