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Nick Carrol Reviews Fat Bat
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 ( for clear, thrusters with wet rub finish under 6'10" ) |
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I am designing and shaping a surfboard to be passed from surfer to surfer along the coast of Australia (there has been interest from surfers to take it overseas but we might stay in Australia for now anyway..). The concept isnt totally original but I feel we can do it different and even better in some ways. I have accumulated details of about 30 - 40 surfers who want to be test pilots from all around Australia . It will be quite a challenge to create a board to suit everybody as I have weights that vary from 65 - nearly 100 kg's but that will be part of the fun. It should be a great experience for all involved and a great chance for surfers to try out a board that they would not normally consider riding. Each test pilot will have the board for a few days or a week maximum and its up to him or her to arrange delivery to the next surfer without damage, there will be a board cover supplied too.If any damage occurs then the test pilot who had it at the time is responsible for getting it repaired asap and then passing it on to its next surfer... Test pilots will be arranged by myself and on RealSurf ( surfing forum-site )...The board should begin its journey approximately mid June 2008 ( after I get a few surfs on it first , ha ha ) Some will like and some will dislike the board and thats to be expected. It should be very interesting to follow its journey and listen to all the comments and stories along the journey.There will be a travel diary that surfers can leave info and comments in and it should be very interesting reading when this journey finishes, and when that will be, not sure but maybe 12 months from now ????? Photos and regular updates will be posted here so please keep checking and enjoy the experience with us, you might even see it around the waves near you, if you do feel free to have a few waves on it, its all part of the project, cheers, Mark Pridmore |
| Since last update we have had Dan ( Quangers ) from the South Coast take the AquaBat for a while and he said it went amazing although it had a little too much foam in it for his size. Quangers said he had alot of fun and was stoked to be involved in the project. Dan's wife even had a paddle on the board ( see pics ). Dan arranged for the board to get a lift to Melbourne with a visiting mate ( Owen, thanks for your help ) and to pass the board on to Hatchman. The AquaBat arrived in the middle of the heat wave and Hatch picked up the bat in the city in sweltering 40 + degree heat. Soon after that Hatch had the AquaBat in the water and although he usually rides much longer equipment ( 6'10 and 7'0 ) he really enjoyed the 6'3" Fat-Bat and sounds like it surprised him a little so its great to hear that people are riding a board they thought would never suit them and also realizing that when it comes to sufboards, there are so many possibilties and options out there. Hatch had his wife take some footage ( thank you very much Mrs. Hatch ) , I havent seen it yet but it will be going on the litlle dvd I am putting together at the end of the journey. Hatch said he was enjoying the AquaBat until it turned on him and the tail struck him on the head and gave him a nice little cut ( see pics below ). The AquaBat is heading to Baha Tacos at 2409 Nepean Rd. Rye next where it will be hanging on the bar wall on display for a while, it will also be surfed by a few of the local surfers and muso's that hang there so if you are anywhere near Rye, call in and check it out and have some mexican and a cold beer while you listen to some good live music....sounds pretty good hey ??? About a month ago , the bat was in a photo shoot with an attractive young model called Fran Highfield. Fran is entering the Tracks Girl Of the Year competition and here are some of the shots taken by Matt Smith of Crystal Blue Photography... ( thanks Fran and Matt ) Check out some of those nice curves...and Frans not bad either... |
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| Firstly let me say Happy New Year to you all who have been involved or just following the AquaBat on its journey , hope this year brings us all lots of swell and plenty of quality waves. The board has been still hanging around the Gong area and has been in the hands of a bloody good photog who has offered his services called Matt Smith of www.crystalbluephotography.com , he has arranged a few really good surfers he knows to put the AquaBat thru its paces and he has captured it on film for us to enjoy. So thanks alot Matt and also need to thank Adam from www.surfingatlas.com who has hooked me up with Matt and made this happen. The guys ripping on the bat are Brett Walker and Dan Sargent ( shorter hair ), cheers guys... Anyway, the board is being passed onto Dan ( Quangers from RealSurf ) who is somewhere near Canberra or Nowra ( I think ), so it will be good to hear what he thinks of the AquaBat. Then it is heading further south to Vicco to a few guys who have been very patiently waiting their turn. Here a bunch of shots by Matt Smith, hope you enjoy them, cheers, Mark ps- oh yeah and the project got a bit of a write up in a Sydney Paper too, I have included the article to have a look at... |
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| Since last update, the AquaBat has been getting alot of water time. Firstly Jet had it for a while and although he didnt score very good waves he seemed to enjoy riding the smaller board. He usually rides longer shortboards and has difficulties duck-diving them so it was interesting to hear that he said the AquaBat was much better for duck-diving without any loss of floatation and paddle power. He even threw on his helmet camera but I am yet to recieve his pics ( I will post them when I get them ), Lessormore took a bit of footage and Salty got down to Cronulla and took a few shots too, thanks guys. Oldman was down there but not sure if he rode the bat or stuck with his own Fat-Bat...Faniel from the Gong area has been keen to get his hands on the board for some time now and when he did he wasted no time in getting the board wet. He surfed it quite alot and really tested it out in some decent waves. He arranged a photographer to take shots and he did a pretty good job too. Faniel said the board needed a bit more hold and control on the 5-6ft hollow lefts so he put the tail fin in and said it really helped in the punchy conditions. He seemed to surf the bat really well and wants it back after Beerfan has had it for a while so thats gotta be a ood thing. Beerfan has had a couple of sessions and he says he likes the way it can eally whip around in turns as well as the good paddling and wave catching ability. Its great to get this feedback from guys who love surfing and know surfboards, Beerfan makes some boards too so he knows his stuff. He also swapped and played with some of his own fins so he is learning and trying stuff also, which is cool I think. The AquaBat has some keen surfers waiting down Vicco way but nobody between the Gong and Vicco, to get it down south, so if you are keen to test out the board or can help get it heading the right way, please contact me asap...Here are some good pics, I hope you enjoy them as much as I did...cheers, Mark |
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| Chrisp has passed the board on after some fun sessions and says he enjoyed riding a different design. He passed the board on to TMC who had a few surfs on the AquaBat with his mates ( ppattoo and co.). He then arranged to have a surf with Butts taking some water shots and from what I have heard and seen, he got quite smashed... It looked like fairly punchy, bit overhead and hollow Dee Why Point ( Butts' favourite spot for shooting )..Butts tells me he has never laughed so hard while trying to take some shots, TMC apparently got belted time after time until he finally scored a few. TMC says he was just surfing really crap and it was just unfortunate that the camera captured it all...BettyBoop took the bat for a few days and she surfed it as well as her hubby and neighbour too...which is cool coz thats what its all about, getting lots of people having a go of a different design and recording our thoughts and experiences...good stuff, hope MORE people do the same Betty...unfortunately Betty had to hand the bat over to 'Oldman' earlier than she hoped due to a perferated ear drum...think it happened due to the extreme speeds she reached on the AquaBat, speeds she had never reached before on any other board ( ha ha ...), Nah, not really but we hope she gets better soon. A fella who knows a little about my bat tail quads has the board next and probably has it as we speak so should be interesting to hear his thoughts on this bat compared to his own...The MORE the merrier shirts are available and are actually selling very fast and looks like I will have to do some MORE very soon, please contact me if you are keen for one...$25 plus $5 postage.....see the pics of the shirts below, as well as TMC at Dee Why * please feel free to contact me if you are keen to ride the board especially if you are live from the Gong south to Vicco and around the bottom to S.A...we need some MORE test pilots down that way soon...the AquaBat is leaving Sydney and heading to the Gong soon with Faniel but not til Oldman , Jetlee and a few others put her thru her paces.....ENJOY... |
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| Ok, since Jimi passed the board on there hasnt been many waves of any sort at all so the AquaBats been relaxing and just waiting for the next sign of waves. Butts has had it for a while and was hoping to get some shots with ex-pro ,Toby Martin riding it, but with no swell whatsoever , that hasnt eventuated as yet, still hopeful for when Toby gets back from Hawaii. Butts took the 'Bat' to the RealSurf bbq and from what I have seen and heard it was a pretty loose affair, wish I could've made it ( with my mankini...), anyway I heard that Don ( the main man of RealSurf ) had a crack on the AquaBat, which is awesome because all this started as an idea I posted on the RealSurf forums....Butts has taken some MORE cool shots of the board at the bbq , here they are. Chrisp has the board now and there is some swell as we speak so I am sure we will have some good shots and stories to check out soon.....MORE the merrier t-shirts are going to be available real soon and will only be limited numbers so if you are keen, better get in early...First preference is going to guys who have ridden the board and been a part of this fun little project...cheers, Mark |
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Jimi has had the AquaBat for a while and his exact words were " I had so much fun. I had a bit of trouble getting it up on rail due to its size but
I found the speed down the line was awesome. I surfed fat and glassy 1-2ft Hawkes Nest , mostly on my forehand and it's made me even more excited
about the 5'8" Mark is shaping me. A mate got two waves and he rates it too. He was riding a traditional fish which he thought was fast on crappy
waves until he got on the AquaBat, not a bad thing to say about it, especially when the conditions suited it" " I like the feeling of the quad, couldnt
quite put my finger on the difference, it was loose but drivey and it felt very easy to adjust to surfing it. Have never had so much funjust pumping
down the line on a one foot wave before"., said Jimi... I am stoked to hear that Jimi and his mate enjoyed the board so much and hope that many more will have lots of fun on it yet. Its back with its Northern Beaches carer, Butts and he is arranging ex-pro Toby Martin and some other rippers to put it thru its paces soon for a photo shoot, cant wait for that, the results will be amazing I am sure, hope they score some 4ft barrells for the pics...Bombora and Chrisp are next in line but things may change, they usually do...MORE updates soon, if you are interested in riding the board or keen on your very own custom designed Fat-Bat, drop me an e-mail and we will make it happen, cheers, MP |
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| The AquaBat has been on its first overseas trip to ' somewhere in the Pacific ' , I have been requested to keep the exact location a secret because as you know quality uncrowded waves are very rare these days, but you may be able to figure it out ??? Doug and his mates had a boat charter through the Islands searching for some great reef waves and from the pics, they definitely found some. Doug tells me that the waves were pretty good but the strong winds were a problem. He surfed the Bat several times and said the first session was just getting used to the feel of the board and it was his first time riding a quad. He said it was great fun and hung in well in the hollow and powerful reef waves. When the wind was too strong the boys did some kite surfing and they used the AquaBat which was cool, great to see it the board getting a fair bit of use. Also have to give extra points for the Batman costume, good work.... Jimi has now got the board and has headed to Hawks Nest and Seal Rocks for a few days surfing, keen to see how he goes on the Bat as I am currently making him a 5'8" Fat-Bat..MORE updates soon..... |
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| The AquaBat has been getting lots of water time since hitting the Northern Beaches. Its had several good sessions at Dee Why, Queenscliffe and Mona Vale. Everyone has been really cool and helpful making this happen and would like to say a special thanks to Butts from RealSurf, he has taken some great pics ( as shown below ) and also helped with handing the board around between surfers. He is a talented photographer so if you want some pics, maybe contact Butts or me and I can put you in touch with him... Below are some pics of Ian at Mona Vale, Iggy at Queenscliffe and Butts at Dee Why . The feedback from the board has been great and all seem to be enjoying the way it performs but most of all its getting people together to share our love of waves and the surfboards that allow us to ride them. ENJOY...,Mark |
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| Well, we found the board. It was at a Fastway courier depot in Tuggerah. Unfortunately they treated it like crap and busted the zip on the boardbag and also dinged the tail. ( dont use Fastway couriers if you value your stuff )...Anyway Ben finally got his hands on it after all the drama's and he also fixed the ding in the tail. He got a few sessions on it but the waves were pretty solid and almost too big , he said he would have liked to have had it in a bit smaller and fun waves. It inspired him to clean up his fishy hybrid board and start surfing it again. His missus did the delivery from Newy to the Northern Beaches ( thanks ) where Ian from Surf Decals took it and got straight into doing some of his cool posca pen art. He is pretty good as the pics clearly show. Ian surfed it this morning and said it was a good paddler and went quite well, but he said what nearly all test pilots have said so far is that its a fun and fast board. Well the AquaBat has a few scars and also some new artwork and will be passed around the Northern Beaches over the next few months. Its heading over to check out some Pacific Island reef waves in early September, then it'll be back for some MORE fun around Sydney....I think a few photographers will be getting some good shots of the board in action real soon......MORE updates soon... |
A couple more photos of the Aquabat artwork (thanks to Butts)... 
Click on the image below for a newspaper article about the Aquabat... 
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| Since the last update the AquaBat has been back up to the Sunshine Coast with me where I had a few fun sessions on it and then back home with me to Yamba for a couple very enjoyable surfs at Pippies and Angourie Pt. Then I couriered it down to Craig at Port Macquarie where he had arranged for Mick Campbell to ride the AquaBat, but unfortunately nature didnt play the game, it was raining and blowing to gale for the few days that Mick was home between comps, and guess what happened the day he flew out to the Rip Curl Somewhere comp in Indo yep, it cleared up and the waves were pumping..Oh well, next time maybe. Anyway Craig and his son had a few fun surfs on the board and he even got his wife to take some footage but he tells me his wife didnt do much of a job and missed most of their waves...thanks for trying..The board was then sent on to Ben at Newcastle but hasnt turned up yet, so at the moment we arent sure where it is and are hoping it shows up sometime soon. Ben has tried very hard to arrange his mates and people from his boardriders club to test out the board but it didnt pan out due o the board being M.I.A, but thanks for trying, cheers. heres a few pics of the board at Pippies and one of young Bradley O'malley from Port Macquarie, apparently he surfs pretty well too. Stay tuned to see if we find the board and what its been up to....It will be in he Northern Beaches as soon as we can find it and get it there...MP |
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| Hey there guys, the Aquabat's been with Scot around Coolangatta and was surfed at the 'Superbank' a few times. Scot said he really enjoyed the board and although there was too much volume for him, he still had hears of fun wavs on it. He said that a slightly scaled down version would be great fun. Scot then passed it on to John ( JF from RealSurf ), who surfed it quite a few times, he had sessions at Cabarita, Kingscliffe, Hastings and Brunswick Heads, all fun beachbreak waves. John says he really liked how great the board paddled and he was getting waves so much easier than usual, he also says he was able to take off deeper than before due to the speed and drive of the board, he was the most stoked of all test pilots so far, Awesome stuff JF...He even got one of his sons mate to take some water shots at Brunswick the other day, here are a few shots of him in action on the board and I think there may be a bit of video footage of him coming my way soon ...Jorgo is meant to be next in line , then its heading south to Byron, Yamba, Pt.Macquarie, then the Central Coast, Newcastle and then Sydney..I know there's heaps of keen test pilots in Sydney so trying to get it down there guys, check out JF's pics....cheers, Mark |
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| The AquaBat has been dry for a little while due to lack of swell up on the Sunny Coast but I got my hands on it yesterday ( 2nd July ), and got a few tiny ones at Duranbah which ended up being alot MORE fun than I had expected. The area and volume of the board allowed me to get enough speed to actually really enjoy the small gutless lefts. There was only about 6 guys surfing D'bah so you know its bloody small and pretty bad. This morning my 9year old son, Cain and I surfed perfect but only 1 ft Greenmount, nobody else in the water and a great chance for my son to have a go on the AquaBat. He got onto the waves so easily and was flying through the little sections. After seeing him get so many and having fun, I thought I would get a few too. Again the boards area and volume made surfing tiny waves possible. Here a some pictures that Cain took, I told you it was tiny....I am handing the board onto Scott this arvo at Coolangatta.....another update soon, hopefully with reports of the board being tested in some quality waves....cheers, MP |
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| Ok, the AquaBat went down to Trev at Caloundra and he scored some nice clean waves at Moffats. Trev usually rides a 9'4" so it was a big change but after getting used to the change in size, he said he got quite a few nice waves. He said he thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to ride a different design like this. I dont know if he's getting off the longboard anytime soon but still good to ride different boards sometimes.The journey continues..... |
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| The Noosa boys were lucky enough to score some very tasty waves around Sunshine Beach the other day and put the AquaBat thru its paces. The boys said it was lots of fun in the punchy, clean beachbreak conditions. They also said that the 5 fcs plugs are really good and give you lots of options..looking forward to hearing where it goes next..Some great pics here...Enjoy... |
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| Well it has begun...The 'Aqua-Bat' was surfed succesfully by Fong and then Tiger at Maroochydore on Monday. It was pretty poor waves but both guys got a few waves and both enjoyed the board. There was about 6 or 7 of us there and it was great to finally meet some of the guys face to face. We hung around and talked surfing and boards for a couple of hours . It was a low key but a successful launch to the project. The board will be with Fong for the next week before being passed on to Trev at Caloundra I think and it will be on the Sunny Coast til the 11th of July so if you are keen to have a go please get in touch with me ...cheers, MP |
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| Here she is, she is 6'3" x 20 5/8" x 2 11/16", diamond bat tail, single to deep double concaves thru the fins, fairly low rocker but with extra lift in the tail, medium to low rails that get hard and edgey by the tail, quad fin with 5 FCS plugs to have many different fin options. I am sure its not going to suit everybody but hopefully we all can enjoy it and the whole experience with like minded people...She is off to my glassing factory tommorrow and she should be ready to begin her journey in about a week or 2 ( if I can wait and let her cure )....MORE updates soon, MP |
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MORE Surfboards are a sponsor of the Malfunction this year which is the events 25th year. MORE Surfboards are stoked to be involved in such a great festival celebrating every facet of the surfing lifestyle. We are going to have a 'Fangtail' replica for everybody to check out on the 'retro day' where competitors surf boards made prior to 81', should be very cool and hope you can get along... |
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UPDATE: May 2008 The 'fangtail' was won by Jackson Close who is currently coming 5th in the Professional Longboard Circuit. Jackson also was a finalist in the Burleigh Head Single Fin Competition as well as the retro division of the Malfunction, so the board will be put to good use. |
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The Fish Fry is a gathering of shapers, board builders and surfers to celebrate the fish design in its many forms. It was held at Currumbin Alley on the 2nd of March and was a very enjoyable event. There was shapers from all over the globe including U.S.A, Japan, New Zealand and all over Australia . The variety of shapes was amazing, the was lots of your traditional style twin keel fish , there was also endless different variations in their outline, in the materials and constuction, in fin shape, and amount of fins... It seemed like only your imagination was the limit with some of these out there versions of the fish design. It was a great opportunity for surfers to talk directly to shapers such and Dick Van Straalen and get their thoughts and opinions on anything surfboard related. Surfers were also able to test drive some boards if they wanted and with clean 2-3 ft Alley rights on offer just accross the road, quite a few did just that.Some guys must have tried out 5 or 6 different boards that day, good on them . It was also a good chance for shapers to talk to each other and see what other guys are doing and get thoughts on design and just to finally meet up in some cases .The fish has evolved so much in the past few years and it has now been mostly accepted as a functional part of the complete quiver ( especially if you live somewhare like the Sunshine Coast ) and is a great option on smaller days.It is a design that allows us to draw different lines to the modern performance shortboard and lets us have fun when the waves aren't so great and after all thats why most of us surf in the first place, fun... |
