Aku Surf?

[Neverenough]

Anyone try an Aku Surf? I'm on the hunt for a Surf/hybrid style board. We have a Blue Lake that's been ok but it's just too big. We also have a CWB Benz that Im done with. Both of which I'd sale or trade. What are you riding and thoughts? I'm leaning toward a hybrid just because I like skim boards.

[JoeA]

AKU is nice as I rode one last year. I was about to buy one but Drew Danielo talked me in to a Model X when I met him at the Atlanta boat show this year.. We love the Model X but I don;t think you can wrong with the AKU or a Model X.

[seveet]

I think boards are one of those things that you really have to try to know for sure. If your dealer has a demo program, try to use it prior to purchasing. We have an obrien alias (this was the board we all learned on and is still the board my wife uses despite my best efforts to find her something better), CWB Tsunami (we primarily use this for teaching people, esp bigger guys, very stable and easy to spin, but not a lot of down the line speed), Ronix Parks carbon thruster ( this has been mothballed somewhat) and a doomswell neo( my current board). I had been riding the carbon thruster until I got the Neo. When I first rode the Neo it felt like a tank- hard to turn and spin, but my wife said I actually look better riding that when compared to the parks so I kept riding. Now I feel like I am carving better turns, I am able to complete 3's, recover from farther back, and I am working on airs ( I have a 2 inch vertical- should be interesting). The board feels very stable and forgiving to me, but other people jump on it and are all over the place. I would highly recommend the Neo. I am not sure how it compares to the AKU

My wife tells me that the surf style boards don't feel like they have as much of an edge when your trying to make turns. I think a lot of this depends on the fins. The doomswell website has a great article on fins and how they affect board performance.

Other boards I have tried-
Ronix parks carbon thruster- very fast, easy to turn, easy to spin, lots of different fin setups, could benefit from better fins, still enjoy it just like the Neo better
Ronix koal power tail- felt like a log
Liquid force dolm- nice skim, step up from the CWB
Liquid force TC custom- seemed slow and not very lively
Phase 5 danelio pro- nice skim, faster, lighter, not a lot of edge for carving turns, felt like it would spin on a dime, but might not stop.
Liquid force 6- felt like a log.

[jgrun]

The Aku is a great board but it is very fast and direct...I would really recommend testing it before purchasing it. Last year I bought an Aku and a Shredstixx Chaos Bamboo sixer at the same time. I ended up selling the Aku as I personally found the Sixer to be be almost as quick as the Aku but much more forgiving in bottom turns.
You actually can see the Aku on my profile picture...