I'm curious about the CI Water Hog. Buddy of mine owns a home / lives in Diamond Head. He surfs south shore breaks but also small north shore & other HAW breaks. He's livin' the life, lol, got it made. Back to the CI Water Hog: He purchased the 7'10 x 21 3/4 x 2 7/8 & raves about it. Although he also liked the 7'2 x 21 x 2 5/8 for more turning speed, et. al. CI makes this stick in combos from 7'0 up to 8'11. Anyone here have experience with this breed of stick? Thoughts, recs, condemnations...? For mostly east coast use, early spring through late autumn: Assateague, VB, OBX, Maryland stuff, I'm a travln fool for water. User stats: 50 y.o. w mid-level ability, 6'2" 210 lbs, high level fitness. "39 forever" Support each other out there, guys. And stay healthy.
btw....a review btw, this is a review from 'Outside' mag on the CI Water Hog...for what it's worth... Mark Wiens: On this wave glutton, I had to stop myself from gobbling up more than my fair share of rides. Designed by legendary shaper Al Merrick, this seven-foot-six-incher is basically a scaled-down longboard. The payoff: It's versatile enough to handle ankle biters as well as pitching six-foot faces. The 21-inch width makes the board comfortably stable and floaty for beginners, while its responsiveness will keep experienced surfers stoked. And another one from Surfboard Shack: Al Merrick Water Hog Filed in: Surftech Reviews | On: July 26th, 2009 | Comments: Bookmark this at Del.icio.us | E-mail this story al-merrick-water-hog 7′2 Surftech Al Merrick Water Hog: 7′2 x 21″ x 2.63″ I usually don’t ride fun boards being that I rather surf a shortboard or longboard but I had heard great things about the Channel Islands Water Hog that I decided to give it a go during a recent south swell. I took the Water Hog to one of the better waves in town, Number 3’s. The wave at 3’s (or Trees as the locals would say) is like a machine spitting outperfect long peeling rights and decent but shorter lefts. It’s a great wave to ride a small board on but because the regulars all ride longboards, you’re forced to ride a longboard or barely catch any waves. The problem with riding a longboard at 3’s is that when its pumping it’s a really fast wave and quite tough to get turns in on that wave as you’re always trying to outrun the wave which is why I thought it would be a perfect chance to try the fun board out. The Water Hog features a pretty narrow outline for a funboard and pulled in tail featuring a squash tail. It utilizes Merrick’s own FCS templates in a tri fin setup. It’s pretty thin through out the length of the board and felt like a pretty high performance board…unlike most eggy shaped funboards out there. I scored a bunch of good rights on the Water Hog and was amazed at its speed and maneuverability. It rode down the line like a shortboard, gripping the big walls of each right at 3’s allowing me to take a high line on the steep face and drive down for incredible speed. The turning ability of this board was extremely good allowing for lip smacks and nice full round house cutbacks into foam bounces. I managed a few lefts at 3’s and the Water Hog surprised me at how well it rode backhand. I was able to drop into the flats making hard backhand bottoms turns followed by nice carves at the top of the face. This board seemed to ride like a shortboard allowing for the best of both worlds; great paddling and remarkable turning for a board of its size. This board works extremely well on long peeling waves both big and small. I did take it out to another spot which is a quick right and it didn’t perform as well. The board generates heaps of speed as long as you have enough time to generate speed…it didn’t respond as quickly on a shorter waves probably because of its length (7′2). I would recommend the Water Hog for better surfers looking to get more performance out of a bigger board…I think inexperienced surfers will do better with a larger funboard that offers more forgiveness and paddling ability.
just my 2 cents... but you gotta ask yourself... are you purchasing a long board or a shortboard??? anything with 7' in there, is stuck somewhere between... Just commit, long or short... don't settle for the middle... P.S. Just read that review above... and #3's is probably one of my favorite waves, and my go to spot on the south shore... Don't know about the longboard comment, most of the people on logs ride Pops.. Anyways though, if your ever on the south shore, go surf number 3's, it fun, under rated, and always much less crowded that pops
I got a friend who lives in Ewa Beach and surfs Diamond Head on a 7'4 funboard. I'm responsible for introducing him to surfing and now he lives in Hawaii and I don't. I'm definitely jealous. ... Anyhow, with a Water Hog, I'd probably go as long as you can and make it more of a longboard, since an upper 7s size won't manuever much as it is (unless you can rip on a longboard) and the nose on that thing is huge. It's never a bad idea to have a longboard on the East Coast I tend to ride my 9'2 and my 6'4 round nose fish way more than my 6'6 thurster.
I just got a 8'6 hog this winter for those smaller days.I love this board.Its quite responsive for its size.It does catch waves real easy and its just a real smooth board.Really happy with it.Go for it.
I'm about your age and in decent shape. A few years ago i shaped a 7'0" x 21" x 2 3/4" that was a complete copy of a channel islands water hog. (Borrowed one, copied the template, rocker, fin location etc, made it.) LOVED it. BUT only in the right conditions. Long mellow walls in the 3-5 foot size. It paddled in early and fast (just like the mini longboard it was!) and glided nicely down the line. Downsides - It was no fun in small waves. Way too much board to throw around in little waves. It was a handful in hollow waves over chest high...with the low rocker and huge longboard nose it was tough to stick a drop.
Waterhog I had a waterhog (8'4" -21.75- 2 5/8) and thought it was a pretty versatile board- yeah if it was really small it wasn't optimal but for waist to Q/H it worked well I found it great for paddling and catching waves, pretty easy to turn for a boar that size. I had Tim Nolte add a set of plugs so I could ride it as a quad (used McKee's formula to locate back plugs) and it worked even better. I would take it as 1 of 2 boards on travel to CR - Rode some pretty big days in OBX with it. When it started to get beat up I had Scott Busbey make a close copy but 8'2" instead . I am 51 now, about 200lbs and surf OBX I would say go for it. JTS
man i don't know much about the hog, but i love diamond head! it's seriously my favorite place in the world. i know the surf there is nothing to brag about by hawaii standards. my fiance, and i went in march, and she loved it. she had never been there before, but i had been there once. we are going back after thanksgiving. i love it there, and would love to move there one day! i'm very envious of that friend of yours.
good stuff Just wanted to say thx to the guys who took the time to provide feedback. "Thank you." That's what it's all about, to me anyways, sharing the stoke & the vibe, talkin' bout boards & gear & whatever & life. Look out for each other in the water. No one else is taking care of surfers, so let's care for our own...! Stay healthy fellas.... MG
