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surfwhere
Legend (inyourownmind)
Reged: 08/05/08
Posts: 440
Loc: Norf Cackalacka
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Re: The Roberts Anything
06/06/12 07:50 AM
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I'm 42 now and stand around 5'9 and weigh 180+. My shortboard dimensions are 6'2 x 18 1/2 x 2 3/8 but it has been awhile since I've been on one. My beloved White Diamond, which has been retired to my son’s room, has the dimensions of 5'9x 19 3/4 x 2 3/8. The Anything Rob made for me is 5'8 x 19 3/4 x 2 3/8. I kept it the same width as the WD so it wouldn’t feel fishier than my old board.
The wax is a combo of straight up Sticky Bumps and some of that Bubble Gum Gu Wax. I like both of them and the GU is good in small waves when you need to push your board around. The traction is Famous 5 pc BDU Camo. Famous is now my favorite pad because it feels like it has more grip over Dakine’s Bruce Irons. The 5pc set seems to help prevent delam and allows for a little more room to move around. The leash is a XM tangle free and for the most part it is. The fins are Roberts fronts and EA center.
When I first rode it, I wasn't synching with it. It paddles and catches waves easier than my WD but it didn't seem to generate speed like the WD. I didn’t know it but on the WD my back foot was doing more work than I though it was. I spoke to Rob and he said that with the larger nose area compared to my WD, The Anything would ride more front footed. I gave it a couple more sessions in chest high waves and I still wasn't getting it. After being stuck in the shop for a few days and watching 5'5"x19 1/4 a few dozen times, I knew it wasn't the board. The next time I went out it was barely waist high. I switched to the Roberts center to tighten the board up which I hoped would give it a more neutral feel. The tail was tighter in turns but I was driving more on the rails. That setup and Robs advice help me learn how to generate speed and I finally made a couple of real good top turns. All of a sudden the board seemed to start coming around smoother and faster than the WD. The Anything turns even had a more shortboard feel than the turns I did on my WD. Those were good but definitely not as tight as on The Anything.
Before going out on my next session I switched back to the EA center. I was curious if the speed would still be there and would it slide out on my turns. After a couple waves this board was riding better than any small wave board I’ve had in years (Roberts, Takayama, and JC). The down the line speed was amazing but what surprised me the most was the acceleration I could feel coming off the bottom and then going off the top of the wave. On the WD I feel like I often used the points of the diamond tail to turn. On the Anything, coming off a back side bottom turn I lean forward and the tail feel like its exploding off the lip. And on front side turns, they seem to be even smoother than what I could do on my WD.
In comparing the Anything to a White Diamond, I would first say that it is definitely more front foot oriented than a WD. Driving off the more forward width did take some getting used to. I’ll say that if you feel you are a back foot surfer and your other boards lean that way, the WD is probably the better option in small waves.
After getting used to it, I feel in bigger waves the Anything is better. I found its limits for me during a barreling day when the waves were solidly overhead. The speed I was getting was ahead of the boards turning capabilities. My WD would get that feeling sooner at slightly bigger than head high.
In my purely shortboarding past I had never been a fan of fishy looking boards or even my friends’ Lost RNFes. The 5’8 Takayama quad fish I got for small waves had speed but no flip in the nose which made my surfing feel like it was regressing. My WD was awesome but its turning radius on bigger or faster waves seemed a little wide. Now that I’ve wrapped my head around it, the extra area nose area on the Anything is helping me catch even more waves and the 80’s hip tail is as smooth as butter. I love it. Thanks, Robert! It's not just anything, it's The Anything.
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