Salsa Reviews the Sharp Eye Infernal 72

[Aruka]

2nd session on the i72. South wind spot. Smaller and mushier than the first session but still with some fun chest high bowls. Fairly strong side/offshore winds. Buoy was reading 3.3@11.4 just to give an idea about how much energy there was. Almost took a fishy board out but I figured I should see how this thing does in weaker waves. It wasn't absolute grovel conditions but I've surfed this wave enough and at this size it can be pretty tough for me on a shortboard. The wave does this thing where it sort of bends away and then runs and only the top half of the wave has any steepness but if you can stay high and keep speed the inside will stand up and allow for a turn or two.

The board felt really good pretty much right off the bat. It's a fairly rockered shortboard so it's not exactly gliding into waves with ease but I really haven't found it to be lacking in the wave catching department. Plenty of drive and yet somehow it snaps sharp in the pocket as easy as anything I've ever ridden. There was a really positive sensation where felt like I could push really hard through a turn and gain speed to carry into the next turn rather than bogging at the bottom and having to pump again. I got to play around with riding it a bit further forward and I found that it would drive pretty well off the front foot but there was a point at which it felt like the rocker would somewhat plow if I got too far over it. Definitely feels like a balanced to slightly rear foot biased board. It's more in line with the Driver 2.0 than the Pyzel Shadow, I think. I'm sure some of it is new board bias but I haven't been this stocked on a shortboard in a while.

I've fondled the hell out of this thing and it mostly seems fairly in line with other boards if this type but it does have a somewhat different rail transition from the hard edge in the tail to the softer rails of the midsection. I tried to get pics to illustrate what I'm talking about but I can't get it to show up in the way it looks and feels in person.

 

[jkb]

2nd session on the i72. South wind spot. Smaller and mushier than the first session but still with some fun chest high bowls. Fairly strong side/offshore winds. Buoy was reading 3.3@11.4 just to give an idea about how much energy there was. Almost took a fishy board out but I figured I should see how this thing does in weaker waves. It wasn't absolute grovel conditions but I've surfed this wave enough and at this size it can be pretty tough for me on a shortboard. The wave does this thing where it sort of bends away and then runs and only the top half of the wave has any steepness but if you can stay high and keep speed the inside will stand up and allow for a turn or two.

The board felt really good pretty much right off the bat. It's a fairly rockered shortboard so it's not exactly gliding into waves with ease but I really haven't found it to be lacking in the wave catching department. Plenty of drive and yet somehow it snaps sharp in the pocket as easy as anything I've ever ridden. There was a really positive sensation where felt like I could push really hard through a turn and gain speed to carry into the next turn rather than bogging at the bottom and having to pump again. I got to play around with riding it a bit further forward and I found that it would drive pretty well off the front foot but there was a point at which it felt like the rocker would somewhat plow if I got too far over it. Definitely feels like a balanced to slightly rear foot biased board. It's more in line with the Driver 2.0 than the Pyzel Shadow, I think. I'm sure some of it is new board bias but I haven't been this stocked on a shortboard in a while.

I've fondled the hell out of this thing and it mostly seems fairly in line with other boards if this type but it does have a somewhat different rail transition from the hard edge in the tail to the softer rails of the midsection. I tried to get pics to illustrate what I'm talking about but I can't get it to show up in the way it looks and feels in person.
View attachment 112079
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Leash string is on point!

 

[JDJ]

Looks good. Dark Arts was made for the PNW

 

[Bennyc]

just out of interest. Are you riding the i72 closer to the same dims as your driver 2.0. As they have different dims In the range. I have a driver 2.0 in 6’ and I would probably go 5’9 or 5’10 so a considerable but shorter. Be interested to se your thoughts on the two and what dims you ride in each. I have felt up a 5’9 and it had heads of thickness in the center. In that size feels very different to a driver and more like a hybrid. Interesting people seem to think it would be a good hpsb and less every day board. But 5’9 felt like it would rip in small waves

2nd session on the i72. South wind spot. Smaller and mushier than the first session but still with some fun chest high bowls. Fairly strong side/offshore winds. Buoy was reading 3.3@11.4 just to give an idea about how much energy there was. Almost took a fishy board out but I figured I should see how this thing does in weaker waves. It wasn't absolute grovel conditions but I've surfed this wave enough and at this size it can be pretty tough for me on a shortboard. The wave does this thing where it sort of bends away and then runs and only the top half of the wave has any steepness but if you can stay high and keep speed the inside will stand up and allow for a turn or two.

The board felt really good pretty much right off the bat. It's a fairly rockered shortboard so it's not exactly gliding into waves with ease but I really haven't found it to be lacking in the wave catching department. Plenty of drive and yet somehow it snaps sharp in the pocket as easy as anything I've ever ridden. There was a really positive sensation where felt like I could push really hard through a turn and gain speed to carry into the next turn rather than bogging at the bottom and having to pump again. I got to play around with riding it a bit further forward and I found that it would drive pretty well off the front foot but there was a point at which it felt like the rocker would somewhat plow if I got too far over it. Definitely feels like a balanced to slightly rear foot biased board. It's more in line with the Driver 2.0 than the Pyzel Shadow, I think. I'm sure some of it is new board bias but I haven't been this stocked on a shortboard in a while.

I've fondled the hell out of this thing and it mostly seems fairly in line with other boards if this type but it does have a somewhat different rail transition from the hard edge in the tail to the softer rails of the midsection. I tried to get pics to illustrate what I'm talking about but I can't get it to show up in the way it looks and feels in person.
View attachment 112079
View attachment 112080

 

[Aruka]

just out of interest. Are you riding the i72 closer to the same dims as your driver 2.0. As they have different dims In the range. I have a driver 2.0 in 6’ and I would probably go 5’9 or 5’10 so a considerable but shorter. Be interested to se your thoughts on the two and what dims you ride in each. I have felt up a 5’9 and it had heads of thickness in the center. In that size feels very different to a driver and more like a hybrid. Interesting people seem to think it would be a good hpsb and less every day board. But 5’9 felt like it would rip in small waves

Hey bennyc, I swear I responded to this days ago but I must not have pressed reply. Sorry!

Driver 2.0 is 6'4" x 19.25 x 2.56 32.4L custom dims
I72 is 6'3" x 19.6 x 2.6 33L stock dims

For me @ 6'3" tall I rarely go under 6'3" anymore for HP thruster type boards but I could see the 6'2" 32.4L I72 being really fun for me as well. If I lived somewhere warmer and with better waves I'd probably have gone for that size. That said, the 6'3" feels pretty damn good in small waves. The front feels very catch free and there is good drive off the back foot so it's able to be surfed with good flow in the pocket as long as I'm on my game. I don't tend to ride HPSB in waves under waist/chest high and my local is notoriously tough to ride on a rockered out thruster but I've been testing the lower limits of the I72 in a few different waves lately and I've yet to have a complete shocker on it.

Compared to the Driver the I72 feels more whippy in the pocket and draws tighter arcs. Definitely a bit more glide in small waves which is odd because it appears to have more rocker but I think it has a deeper concave that flattens it through the midsection. It's quicker to the lip than the Driver, I think. Driver feels like it holds a carve longer and it's no slouch in the pocket either.

If you are the type that wants to ride a thruster in even small waves I think you could do worse than the i72. It probably doesn't have quite the low end of something like a Grinder X or SubDriver but it's not far off and it definitely goes better once the waves turn on a bit.

 

[Chee-to]

For me @ 6'3" tall I rarely go under 6'3" anymore for HP thruster type boards but I could see the 6'2" 32.4L I72 being really fun for me as well.

I think I learned this lesson the hard way with my 6'1" Pyzalien 2.0 purchase. Goes great frontside, took it down to surf some lefts and found myself wishing I had another couple inches of rail line to work with off the bottom. I'm going to order a 6'3" as my DD and see if that's the sweet spot.

 

[ehiunno]

Related to Bennyc's question the I72 is definitely generously volumed at stock dims. I tend to like my sbs 27-28 L (my Shadow is 27.5) so for the I72 it was between the 26.7L 5'9 and the 28.2L 5'10. The 5'9 felt a little anemic in my hands so I went with the 5'10. If I were ordering custom I might have gone slightly narrower and thinner than stock.

It was firing at my local Friday (probably Ben's too lol) so I had another chance to ride this board. I had a great session overall but it became very clear that L fins just don't work for me, at least in good waves. The board was ultra fast and stiff and I while I did do some decent turns I fell a bunch of times where I was sort of expecting the board to do something else. My guess is Marcio has a bunch of team riders my size on L fins but I just don't have the leg strength of a professional surfer. Oh well, lesson learned as I have been curious about L fins.

But then...


Fck me. Getting out of the water at low tide after a 4 hour session of head+ barrels, I was super tired and being lazy and got caught by a blast of whitewater and found this when I came up. Could have been easily avoided and I felt like such a kook. Earlier in the session I had cracked the rail at the front there when I fell in a tight barrel but I kept surfing on it because it didn't seem so bad. The break is right where the rail ding happened so I'm guessing it hit the sand head first and the crack in the rail had reduced the structural integrity to the point where a break was a lot easier.

Not the end of the world but damn I have been unlucky with dings lately, haven't had two this bad in ages. I've done a decent amount of fiberglass work in my day so I'm going to attempt a repair on this and the Shadow and see how it goes... I'll post my process when I get to it.

 

[Aruka]

damn harsh one.

four hours of head high barrels- at least you didn't bust it surfing mush burgers

 

[ehiunno]

For sure one of the better days at my local in recent memory. Elsa giveth and Elsa taketh, I can't complain

 

[Bennyc]

Yeah thanks guys. Still feel I would go a shorter wider board than my hpsb which is 6’ and get either a 5’9 or 10. The 5’9 I held was 27.9 from memory and had a very healthy amount of thickness in the middle just after the rail. I have not seen a “slim” version of one yet.


interesting call about the fins as I always like a large fin and some stiffness on board so I’m getting more tempted to pull the trigger on one of these. Found a monsta box easy rider the other day but I have yet to come
To a verdict on it
Noel salas did a nice review of the board again at Kelly’s wave pool.

Waves definitely pumping around here for last 2 weeks.

 

[Maz]

For sure one of the better days at my local in recent memory. Elsa giveth and Elsa taketh, I can't complain

Yep, chin up, buddy. And it's an easy fix.

Still hurts, though.

 

[griffinsurfboard]

No High Wing Lump != Fail !!!

 

[ehiunno]

The 5’9 I held was 27.9 from memory and had a very healthy amount of thickness in the middle just after the rail.

Not saying your wrong, but according to the Sharpeye site there isn't a stock board with that litreage so that would have had to have been custom dims or a typo. But definitely quite a low rail with healthy thickness in the middle!

Did you find this in NY somewhere? I was in Breakwater the other day and was surprised to see some Sharpeyes in there but it was just the Modern 2.5. Curious if there are other dealers around I don't know about.

interesting call about the fins as I always like a large fin and some stiffness on board so I’m getting more tempted to pull the trigger on one of these.

If you're on a 6'0 Driver 2 you're probably a bit bigger than me so that makes sense. I'm only 5'9.5 160# which is sort of in between M and L fins. I've always run M fins but a lot of pros my size seem to ride Ls.

 

[Bennyc]

See if I can post this pic up but the aus sharpeye site has these dims.

Not saying your wrong, but according to the Sharpeye site there isn't a stock board with that litreage so that would have had to have been custom dims or a typo. But definitely quite a low rail with healthy thickness in the middle!

Did you find this in NY somewhere? I was in Breakwater the other day and was surprised to see some Sharpeyes in there but it was just the Modern 2.5. Curious if there are other dealers around I don't know about.



If you're on a 6'0 Driver 2 you're probably a bit bigger than me so that makes sense. I'm only 5'9.5 160# which is sort of in between M and L fins. I've always run M fins but a lot of pros my size seem to ride Ls.

 

[ehiunno]

Weird! Same dims as the US site but different volumes listed, huh

 

[Aruka]

Couple months later update: still loving this one. When the waves are kind of variable, waist high+ with alternating steep/flat sections this board just slays for me. I've found it to be very good at capturing whatever energy is in the wave and carrying speed from section to section. I've surfed it all over in varying conditions. Every time I surf it I find myself making sections that I don't expect to and getting turns that feel near the upper end of my skill level. Recently surfed a right hand beachy that would sometimes wall up and run and other times really shoulder off and bowl with a tight pocket that would chug along inwards. It felt like I could make the most out of either situation with the board feeling equally at home racing a running wall, staying ahead of the sections enough to fit in a turn or two or dropping straight into a shouldering one and bottom turning up into the hook right away to surf the small, steep pocket and not outrun it.

Have yet to change from the DHD L fins. These are my favorite thruster fins for the past couple years and I have yet to feel any need to fiddle around with them, which is rare for me. I've had a few friends compliment my surfing on this board. I'm more concerned with how a board feels to me but having some external validation when I feel like I'm surfing well isn't the worst thing.

The if72 does start to top out a little sooner than some similar boards. In solid overhead, juicy waves it starts to feel just a little too fast. Twitchy, even. It has yet to slide out on me or feel completely overwhelmed but I have felt the need to surf it slightly more conservatively when the power level is high. This could be partially due to the DA construction. I reckon a PU build would be slightly more settled. That said, it's not a board meant for the most pumping of days and it's low end is quite impressive so I am not mad at all about the range.

My only "complaint" about this board is that it paddles like a shortboard with rocker, which is to say, not super great. It catches waves just fine though which is far more important to me.

Overall, it's one of the best thrusters I've ridden.

 

[stringcheese]

Definitely makes me want to try one.

Noel Salas rips, reminds me of a bald Kelly Slater in small waves. Is he one of us, here? I like his YouTube channel. Whodafuq is broccoli?

 

[tedshred]

Couple months later update: still loving this one. When the waves are kind of variable, waist high+ with alternating steep/flat sections this board just slays for me. I've found it to be very good at capturing whatever energy is in the wave and carrying speed from section to section. I've surfed it all over in varying conditions. Every time I surf it I find myself making sections that I don't expect to and getting turns that feel near the upper end of my skill level. Recently surfed a right hand beachy that would sometimes wall up and run and other times really shoulder off and bowl with a tight pocket that would chug along inwards. It felt like I could make the most out of either situation with the board feeling equally at home racing a running wall, staying ahead of the sections enough to fit in a turn or two or dropping straight into a shouldering one and bottom turning up into the hook right away to surf the small, steep pocket and not outrun it.

Have yet to change from the DHD L fins. These are my favorite thruster fins for the past couple years and I have yet to feel any need to fiddle around with them, which is rare for me. I've had a few friends compliment my surfing on this board. I'm more concerned with how a board feels to me but having some external validation when I feel like I'm surfing well isn't the worst thing.

The if72 does start to top out a little sooner than some similar boards. In solid overhead, juicy waves it starts to feel just a little too fast. Twitchy, even. It has yet to slide out on me or feel completely overwhelmed but I have felt the need to surf it slightly more conservatively when the power level is high. This could be partially due to the DA construction. I reckon a PU build would be slightly more settled. That said, it's not a board meant for the most pumping of days and it's low end is quite impressive so I am not mad at all about the range.

My only "complaint" about this board is that it paddles like a shortboard with rocker, which is to say, not super great. It catches waves just fine though which is far more important to me.

Overall, it's one of the best thrusters I've ridden.

Spot on in the size range description. It's weird because the outline and length to volume would make you think is more HPSB but its so twitchy and loose it kinda prefers a wave where you generate the speed vs the wave giving it to you. Feels so sparky in waist to chest high stuff though. Snapped the nose off mine just like [B]ehiunno[/B] did above. Gonna fix it but will probably order a replacement anyways cause I know this one will be in the rotation for a while.

 

[ehiunno]

Omg lol

I've owed yall an update on this board but I've been too busy to keep up with this place

To make a long story short I fixed the nose, got some new fins, had one great session on it... and then broke a fin box the next day LMAO. I had to completely pull out the box and re-glass it

Its like the universe is trying to tell me something

 

[Aruka]

dude that's brutal. i put a small dink in the rail of mine near the nose but I was able to fix it pretty easily. otherwise it's been solid for probably like 20-30 sessions