Surfing only once a month now and looking for something fun and easy to ride...tried a few mandala quads for more volume and paddle power but just can't get into them. A little too glidy for my taste. Watched Salsa's reviews and Akila makes the board sound like exactly what I was looking for...thanks in advance!
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Any ride reports / feedback of Akila Aipa's Contemporary or Modern Fish?
- Thread starter RattimusBeach
- Start date
Contemporary fish = magic.
It’s the board I wish everyone on erBB would try. They would go nuts. It’s everything I could want in a small wave board (knee to shoulder-high): paddles/catches great, lightning fast, loose but not out of control, foiled rails hiding volume and make it easy to put on rail. As HP as you want and got that “hot knife through butter” feeling when carving open face. Wide, relatively parallel outline in the back half handles mush, slop, weak waves like a boss.
I’m 6’, 180 lbs, the one I have is a bit oversized at 5’10 stringered PU, and I can’t get off it in SoCal waves. Volume is so well hidden I haven’t felt any negatives other than maybe wanting a couple inches off the nose. The custom I ordered is 5’8 stringerless EPS. Still waiting. I suggest you get your order in sooner rather than later. Worth the wait.
Modern fish will be my next order, for slightly better waves.
EDIT: It really felt like a next step evolution from the small-average SoCal wave boards I've been riding the last few years (minisim, GMM2, tomo, keel fish, mandalas, hybrids, quad fish, gremlins, HP fish)... like they'd all been leading me to this.
Is that hyperbolic enough??
It’s the board I wish everyone on erBB would try. They would go nuts. It’s everything I could want in a small wave board (knee to shoulder-high): paddles/catches great, lightning fast, loose but not out of control, foiled rails hiding volume and make it easy to put on rail. As HP as you want and got that “hot knife through butter” feeling when carving open face. Wide, relatively parallel outline in the back half handles mush, slop, weak waves like a boss.
I’m 6’, 180 lbs, the one I have is a bit oversized at 5’10 stringered PU, and I can’t get off it in SoCal waves. Volume is so well hidden I haven’t felt any negatives other than maybe wanting a couple inches off the nose. The custom I ordered is 5’8 stringerless EPS. Still waiting. I suggest you get your order in sooner rather than later. Worth the wait.
Modern fish will be my next order, for slightly better waves.
EDIT: It really felt like a next step evolution from the small-average SoCal wave boards I've been riding the last few years (minisim, GMM2, tomo, keel fish, mandalas, hybrids, quad fish, gremlins, HP fish)... like they'd all been leading me to this.
Is that hyperbolic enough??
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What're the rest of the dims on that 5-10 @oeste858 ?
I would order one in a heartbeat if I thought it would be here before the end of summer 2021.
I would order one in a heartbeat if I thought it would be here before the end of summer 2021.
Same experience with my Contemporary fish as Oeste. Incredible board. I would say its the fastest board i've been on. It just wants to go. Pivots like a shortboard, but noticeably at a higher pivot point for me which feels really good when flying down the line like a rocket and jamming a turn. I like also that the nose is pointy and i can paddle more downward compared to the more typical wide nose grovelers as well which helps an elbow issue I have. Feels like it helps to cuts through some chop on the less clean days as well and also makes it easy to duckdive. The wide tail springs it into waves easily without much effort and paddles great overall. The design works really well. Mines 5'7' x 20.5" x 2 11/16 @ 33.3L . Was shocked when he suggested that thickness to me at first but you would never guess it because of the way he hides the foam and does the rails.
Hey cool it you two, I'm trying to be responsible over here.
On an unrelated note does anyone have a clue what the custom wait time is?
On an unrelated note does anyone have a clue what the custom wait time is?
Last time I talked with them a month ago things were getting better overall and they were slowly catching up but not sure the time for new orders. I had ordered mine back in July and didn't get it until Feb which was rough. I will say it was definitely worth the wait though in the end. I haven't been this stoked on a board in a very long time. Would love to try more from him.
Yeah, apparently that magic board sorcery takes time! it seemed like the perfect storm of them working out the kinks of expanding their operation (space & personnel) and a flood of new orders from the exposure of Slater on the AA twin last year.
Just looked and mine is actually 5'11x 20 1/2 x 2 3/4 (36L), it was apparently a stock board for Surf Station store (FL?!) but was new/unridden when I snagged it. new one should be 5'8 x 20 1/4 x 2 5/8 rounded off nose (like hydronaut) with about 33-34L. I know it's been sprayed (dark green to cover the orange high density stripe) but who knows how long it will be "in glassing"? I guess the sensible thing to do is wait to ride that one before ordering the modern fish, but I'm tempted to just put the order in now and tweak it when it comes up in to the queue in a couple months.
Just order and try to forget about it so it will be a pleasant surprise for you in the Fall!
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I missed one of these on craigslist and have been kicking myself. They look perfect for punchy east coast waves.
Dis duuu needs to team up with pyzel and bring production to oside.
So.... how long is the list of people ready to buy your current version when the custom arrives?
there's a few. LOL let me know if you wanna go surf sometime you're welcome to try it
as you can tell from above, when people ask me about it, I can't help but blather on about how incredible it is like one of those bros obsessed with paleo/crossfit/BJJ/TRT
His brother is out this way also. I was chatting with Javier at XTR one day since he is doing Duke's shapes in xtr now and was asking if he plans on bringing Akila's shapes over also. He had told me that he had tried to sync up with him while he was out that way but Akila was out of the country at the time. Sounded like he would like to, but the big issue being he isn't local enough at the moment and would take a larger effort to make it happen.
I've been getting antsy waiting on a couple boards I ordered back in the first week of December
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Wow thanks for the awesome feedback! Yea, I'm getting the sense that the board is a must try! I've also tried different Tomo's, Mandala's, had a few Von Sol's as well but still searching for that magic board...even better if it's a twin. What fin set-ups are you liking on that board? Also, do you know the general price he's charging for customs? I know a few years back he was only charging $500-$600 but I imagine it's gone up.
That's awesome to hear. I've been mainly on SD style fishes and prefer not thinking too much about feet placement...can't do that shortboard all the way backfooted style. How are the rails on the board? Are they more rounded or sharp downward to keep the foam in the middle?
They are turned down and pretty foiled out. Tail carries a good amount of thickness through it while the nose gets thinned out a good amount like you can see roughly from this pic. To me it feels like the foam is in all the right places. Has a very sleek feel to it instead of that more chunky less refined vibe some small wave boards have.
