While Hawaii is known for powerful gnarly surf during its winter months, most locals surf the weaker waves of Oahu’s south shore, which breaks consistently year round. Because the surf on the south shore is typically much weaker and smaller, I’ve realized that having fun on high performance shortboards (ala 5’11 x 18″ 3/16 x 2″ 3/16) is pretty much futile. On days when the surf is halfway decent, surf spots are normally clogged with a mixture of beginners and above average surfers, shortboarders and longboarders, and more increasingly SUPs (stand up paddle boards).

Lucky for us the retro revolution made fishes cool again and for this I am grateful. For the most part, I exclusively ride fish surfboards in all types of surf and conditions. On really tiny days, I take out a retro twin fin fish which features a flat rocker, thick rails, and wide tail. The extra width and thickness combined with flat rocker helps you push through the mush and soft/non-existent sections.

When the surf gets better, I ride a hybrid fish that’s slightly thicker and wider than my standard shortboard. Similar to the retro fish surfboard, this hybrid fish also features a flat rocker for improved wave catching ability. Add quad fins to that mix and you have a speed demon that can catch a million waves but still perform like a shortboard.

If you’ve been reluctant to ride a fish but have noticed a drop in your wave count or poor speed and wave catching ability at your� home break, I highly recommend you try one. Fish surfboards are normally shorter than your standard board which allows them to fit in the pocket quite nicely yet paddle better due to its flatter rocker. They generally perform the best in less than perfect conditions and can make bad days extremely fun.

I decided to listen to my own advice and try a 5 fin surfboard. I have been riding my TORE Rocket Fish (thruster setup) for a while now and have gotten very used to the board. It has performed well in a variety of conditions both weak and crumbly to overhead and sucking. I have noticed however, that in weaker mushier surf, the thruster had a tendency to bog on turns. It was as if the board used all its speed to complete a simple turn. After having a discussion with Kent Senatore of TORE Surfboards, I decided to try the quad. He absolutely loves his quad and the big difference he feels is how much faster the board works in weaker surf.

I was set to order a quad but one thing pondered in my head. Theoretically, I wouldn’t really have an even playing field for my thruster vs quad test if I got two different boards. All things being equal, no two boards is exactly the same no matter whether it is hand shaped or even machine cut. So I decide to have rear quad fins plugged into my current Rocket Fish.

I surf the board as a thruster for a while to get a good feel for its performance. On very small days it bogged and felt somewhat slow. However, when the waves picked up, it worked great, as would most performance boards in smaller crappier surf. We then had a run of small surf which I decided was the perfect time to test the quad out. I surfed it several sessions straight in less than idea conditions and was instantly hooked. This particular quad had its rear set of fins set slightly farther back than the standard quad Rocket Fish. This made it slightly less loose feeling but still required a bit of getting used to. On several occasions, I could feel the board slipping a little down the line and off the bottom, most likely due to my comfort with thrusters. However, once I got used to the board and it’s loose feeling, the board came alive with a lot more speed in smaller waves. I did a few snaps in waist high surf along with connecting round house cutbacks.

The end result? The quad is definitely faster in smaller surf and it responds faster on turns. In my opinion, as the waves get bigger, you’ll find that the thruster comes alive and performs just as well. When waves a bigger and faster, almost any surfboard will pick up speed. However, it’s in the small gutless waves where the quad shines and gives you an extra quick burst to make it around a section.