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.

Pintail XL details

this is a photo of the new Pintail XL with the base model Performance set up that starts at $799
it also comes with bow and stern grab loops
this is the first boat I unwrapped from the container. It weighs 31 lbs


here you will notice that it comes with the new roto molded performance seat, bow and stern foam pillars




here you will notice that the seat back comes up to start providing a little bit of support. some people will glue foam onto this spot to create a testarossa style race seat, while others will buy a back band to install.

here are closeups of the stock bow and stern grabloops that are included with the basic performance Pintail XL for $799

all of the photos above are of the standard basic peforma set up of the

DragoRossi Pintail XL $799 at 100waves.com

reviews

specs

some fun

perfect length

review

interesting


below are some of the options that can be bought for the Pintail XL



a simple backband kit can be bought to add to your peforma system

you can also buy the freestyle/riverrunner foot sled for great adjustable foot comfort (or you can just add minicell foam to the bow)



here is the adjustable foot sled installed

here is the backband installed



you can also buy the side grabloops. they make great tie down and attachment points, as well as an easy way to grab the boat on the side of the river, and easy carrying handles.


and of course you can install a drainplug. Some people prefer a drainplug, while others prefer not to have one. The choice is yours.

Below are some images of the Pintail vs. the Pintail XL.
The Pintail XL is in orange. You will notice the higher knee/cockpit area, and a bit more foot room. The stern is a touch larger as well.




here is a quick and dirty cut and paste overlay comparing the two boats. I cut out the red (standard) Pintail, made it gray, and pasted it over the white sillouette of the Pintail XL. The small images don't quite do it justice. It's much different in person. But at least here you get an idea of where the increase in volume/room is on the Pintail XL.



"regular" Pintail in red on the left and Pintail XL on the right in orange. Here is the best shot I have, to date, of the size difference between these two boats.