Fish vs. Turbo vs. Pintail

A good boat for it's time, the Turbo's two main ideas are better served when they are split into two different boats. For example, Ted moved from the Turbo to the Fish because the Fish is more playful and has more bounce. Maurice moved from a Turbo to the Pintail because it is faster and more predictable and stable.


I need to preface this by saying that I enjoyed paddling a Turbo for a year, but the Fish is what convinced me to move over to DragoRossi.
The Turbo is a great boat but it tries to be too many things to too many people and ends up being too much of a compromise (at least in my opinion). There are lots of people who have gone from a spud, to a Turbo, to a Fish, so it's like a transition boat for many. I call it the "Fish training boat", (although I don't think the training part is needed)
Additionally, the Pintail has the added length and volume needed to make a better river runner than the Turbo.




First thing you'll notice is the differences in rocker. A smooth transition and high rocker in the ends make for a drier, more predictable ride. And of course some length helps make the Pintail a much faster boat than the other two.




Larger cockpit and more knee room make the fish a better play-specific boat, and although the photo doesn't show it well, the Fish is shorter but for some reason maintains pretty much the same speed on a wave. Seeing the length difference in the Pintail is easy here. It also has the slightly larger cockpit and wider knee area, giving it easy control in the rough stuff, and that tail is a good length for stability.




All of these boats are fast, photos like this don't really reveal every factor that goes into a boat's speed. But notice the double concave in the Pintail. This is a technique used on beginner surf boards to make them plane up faster. It gives the Pintail unparalleled ability to catch fast waves on the fly. The Fish has a similar concept in the stern but leaves the bow nice and flat and clean for added slipper predictability. I think, from this view, that the Turbo shows it's surf heritage. The bit of slowness that it does have is probably more an issue with the little bit of "kick" rocker that was given to the boat.


Here are some off-angle shots of the Turbo and Fish so you can see how similar they are and how much of a natural progression forward the Fish is from the Turbo.




















and some photos of the Pintail and the Turbo, which should help you understand how the Pintail took the river running intentions of the Turbo and pushed them to make a more predictable river runner.

Small Wave HUGE Fun!

Most of us don't get to surf at Buseater every day. (the worlds were pretty cool, weren't they?)



but we make due with what we have and enjoy the sun, water, and surfing in our own way



hanging with good friends is a major part of the enjoyment



trading tips, stories, and checking out each others boats



(and sometimes being very silly....)

Fish vs Thruster

been getting lots of questions about the differences between the Fish and Thruster, so here are some photos



besides lots of extra knee room, the Thruster has a larger cockpit for easy entry/exit. (Thruster on the left, Fish on the right)



essentially the same length (the Thruster is longer by an inch or so) the main difference is the how/where the boats carry their width.

Demo Boats for sale

inventory is getting a little low


so I'm going to sell off a few of my demos while I still have the opportunity to get a new boat easily



here is the Fish that I've had for a while now. It's the Elite version, with a large seat. I have the thigh wings for it. They were just out in this photo because someone had just demoed it without them.



$400 takes it.



it's in pretty good shape for a two year old boat. Lots of splats and spins (but very few seal launches because I think that's where most people get the big scratches from) The plastic is pretty bomber.



shoot me an email and we'll talk about how to get the boat to you and make the deal happen.

I also have a :"regular" sized Pintail and a Stinger that I'd be willing to part with.

Tville Ted

the level was not optimum, but Ted went off as usual anyway.

The Flume (Housatonic River)

Ok. I think that the photos will tell most of the story of this sunny day on a fun rapid. (there is much more downstream, but I wanted to put the camera away and get into the boat tooo......)



The Flume is a very nice 7' drop that is intimidating because it is not straight.



but it is also not difficult if you can hit the center of the horizon line



the sides are super shallow, and people have hit their heads and face



but if you can hit the center (about 10' wide) and have a reliable roll, then you can just chuck yourself over the drop (you WILL roll about 50% of the time)



Here is local paddler, Bonnie, in her EZ doing the right to left approach



Maurice in his new yellow Pintail XL showing us how it's done



Kenny in a C1 converted Fish hitting the last cross-bow needed to set up the move



and Kenny again showing us just how deep the hole at the bottom is (don't worry folks, he pulled it out like he always does)



Steven's first attempt at the low-water, crossing boof move. If you screw it up, then you get pounded on the rocks. He didn't quite nail it perfectly, but he was able to deal with the minor line adjustments he had to make rather well. Terrific first attmept. This kid is good.



Jeff demoing the Critical Mass with a beautiful boof into the eddy.



Maurice firing it up again in his Pintail XL.



Ted rocking the Pirouette old school style, showing that long boats can boof too.



Jeff in his Crux firing up the creeky line.



Ted firing up the Critical Mass to show that light dudes can paddle the big boats too.



Ted pulling into the eddy (the kick back into the hole is pretty darned strong...)



and one last shot of Jeff, who wanted to give the Critical Mass another try. He was amazed at how "small" the boat paddled. (I guess that means that it turns well)