Pyzel Ghost?

Nov 25, 2020
95
55
18
Finally got a chance to give the Ghost a good try, bit of an adjustment from the retro fish and singlefin I have been riding. Found it to be a steady all around good wave shortboard. Board 6'0", 5'9" 165, surf head high offshore.
Stock 6'0? Were you on beach break or other
 

ChaseTMP

Billy Hamilton status
Apr 6, 2014
1,712
3,118
113
S. Redondo
I picked up my Ghost last Friday and got tired of waiting for a legitimate swell, so took it out today to get a feel for it even though the waves didn't really warrant its use. The waves were shoulder to head high with some intermittent sets that were maybe a foot overhead. It was actually pretty good for my local beachbreak spot with quite a few barrels and relatively strong offshore/slightly sideshore blowing into the peaks.

The 6' board is considerably heavier than my 5'11 CI Fever in Spine-Tek, but I actually like the weight as it seemed to have better inertia when paddling into waves and getting down the scalloped faces and either into the barrel or into a bottom turn. I only caught 5 or six waves the hour I was out (quick run down for my lunch break), but I was impressed how responsive it was backside into a couple of vertical top turns. The only left I got clamped on me after not much travel time, so I didn't get a feel for how it feels in the barrel frontside or doing a roundhouse. I got a couple of backside barrels and it felt really stable, but also gave me a quite a bit of input as I made small adjustments to maximize the barrel time.

I did get the feeling of it riding longer than it's length when the right I was going in on had a little thigh high left reform pop up. It was a bit of a struggle to get speed and hit the little micro section coming at me, but obviously that's not what the board is intended for. Overall, I'm definitely stocked and looking forward to getting it some sizey stuff.Pyzel Ghost deck.jpg
Pyzel Ghost bottom.jpg
Pyzel Ghost label.jpg
 

LifeOnMars

Michael Peterson status
Jan 14, 2020
3,164
2,106
113
I picked up my Ghost last Friday and got tired of waiting for a legitimate swell, so took it out today to get a feel for it even though the waves didn't really warrant its use. The waves were shoulder to head high with some intermittent sets that were maybe a foot overhead. It was actually pretty good for my local beachbreak spot with quite a few barrels and relatively strong offshore/slightly sideshore blowing into the peaks.

The 6' board is considerably heavier than my 5'11 CI Fever in Spine-Tek, but I actually like the weight as it seemed to have better inertia when paddling into waves and getting down the scalloped faces and either into the barrel or into a bottom turn. I only caught 5 or six waves the hour I was out (quick run down for my lunch break), but I was impressed how responsive it was backside into a couple of vertical top turns. The only left I got clamped on me after not much travel time, so I didn't get a feel for how it feels in the barrel frontside or doing a roundhouse. I got a couple of backside barrels and it felt really stable, but also gave me a quite a bit of input as I made small adjustments to maximize the barrel time.

I did get the feeling of it riding longer than it's length when the right I was going in on had a little thigh high left reform pop up. It was a bit of a struggle to get speed and hit the little micro section coming at me, but obviously that's not what the board is intended for. Overall, I'm definitely stocked and looking forward to getting it some sizey stuff.View attachment 104397
improper tail pad placement 3/10
 

Maz

Michael Peterson status
May 18, 2004
3,041
4,551
113
Innzid
Very narrow tailblock: If pad goes all the way back, your toes will hang over the rail. I like it where it is.

Love my Ghost with big AMs.

Chase doing it right.
 
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ChaseTMP

Billy Hamilton status
Apr 6, 2014
1,712
3,118
113
S. Redondo
Very narrow tailblock: If pad goes all the way back, your toes will hang over the rail. I like it where it is.

Love my Ghost with big AMs.

Chase doing it right.
Yeah, I have size 12 1/2 feet and with the kick closer to the leash plug it didn't feel right.
 
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sdsrfr

Phil Edwards status
Jul 13, 2020
5,857
11,267
113
San Diego
Curious to hear about bottom end of the range from some socal folks.

How small (or shapeless) can it be and you still pull out the ghost?
 

oeste858

Phil Edwards status
Sep 11, 2017
6,931
17,276
113
San Diego, CA
Curious to hear about bottom end of the range from some socal folks.

How small (or shapeless) can it be and you still pull out the ghost?
I think it would be fine HH+ but it's more the shape: punchy, steep, ledgy, barrels. In my limited experience so far, it was kinda... "reluctant" through the slopey-ier, slower sections when I tried to link between the steeper ones. But I'm going to try to surf it as much as I can when we get the next swell to find out.
 
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sdsrfr

Phil Edwards status
Jul 13, 2020
5,857
11,267
113
San Diego
Yeah, I think shape has more to do with it. I rode mine in a pinch on the last day of the offshores end of last swell. Was maybe 2-3ft Duffy, but perfect barreling shape.

pulled into a few no problem and got some views.

mine is carrying extra volume so I imagine it helps out a bit for also getting in on the smaller stuff.
 
May 10, 2018
144
186
43
Curious to hear about bottom end of the range from some socal folks.

How small (or shapeless) can it be and you still pull out the ghost?
It needs curve and push. I don't bring mine out until it's way overhead and sucky.
 

sdsrfr

Phil Edwards status
Jul 13, 2020
5,857
11,267
113
San Diego
It’s been so long I’ve forgot what the Duffy scale actually means. LOL
So, this would be like waist-stomach high on a 6’ human man?
That’s pretty good on the low end size!
Yeah, waist to stomach.

I saw the grommets going at it and had to get a taste at low tide. Was quite impressed how small I was able to make it work but keep in mind it was pull in and pray, not a session to text your friends about, but it pulled in just fine.
 
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trifish

Gerry Lopez status
Sep 23, 2009
1,338
3,791
113
Shred City
Curious to hear about bottom end of the range from some socal folks.
I used to use mine all the time as a DD up in the bay area fall/winter. Had it dialed in pretty well since I only had the ghost and a Lost PJ. Chest high and up at the beachies or the spots with some good faces up there.

Now that i'm around the south more these days I use it only a handful of times during the year. Usually head high or up. Its biggest downside for me down here is that its not great traveling through any flats to relink to an inside section. Which a good amount of spots down here seem to do. So if your break spikes out back, falls on its face in the middle, and picks back up inside, than its a lot of work to connect the dots in the middle. My shadow which is closer to xl dims handles that better in the smaller stuff while being more twitchy in the bigger stuff (where the ghost shines).

I had picked up a Townsend as an alternative to the ghost for those spots I need to link stuff on bigger days with more fatter waves with a flatter middle. Haven't had it in anything big yet but on the 3-5ft days I could already tell it handles those type of areas much better. Glides through it more like my fish so I can hit the inside. I only have a couple sessions on it so far and both was positive.