Soulcraft Voodoo vs Secret Weapon

[FireBreathingRubberDucky]

I’m trying to decide between these two boards. I’m riding behind a 2020 G23 and am in the process of adding 800 pounds of lead; more for length than anything else. I’m looking for a fast surf style board that can recover from the farthest point of the curl with relative ease. I rode a Voodoo last weekend and was very impressed with how fast the board was and it’s ability to ride the whole length of the wave. I also want a board that’s great for hitting big airs off the wake. I’m relatively new to surfing but have caught on fast. I’m a lifelong wakeboarder, so wake sports come relatively natural. Any input would be appreciated.

[NautiqueJeff]

Moving this thread to the correct forum.

[Infinity]

FireBreathingRubberDucky I currently have both boards. I will say that the first thing you will want to do is get new fins regardless of which board you buy. They can totally change the feel of the board. A larger/longer fin is going to be faster and will feel more "locked in", smaller fins will require the board to be pump driven more but loosen up the feel a lot. I personally like the Futures: John John fins (grom john) in the small size. Chaos has great reviews on some of their fins too tho I have not tried theirs yet.

The Voodoo is an awesome board that is light, fast and great for surface tricks. I got it in early 2018 and it was perfect for me as I was advancing my skills, its forgiving and the recovery from the back of the wave is great. You can olly & air pretty easy with this board and it was on that board that I started getting my 360's. (360 is about technic, not the board...but at that point I had not yet figured out the technic so a wider, more "stable" board helped me still get around even when I didn't do what I should have). Due to the bigger surface area/volume of this board, if you want to just stand there and let the wave push you, you can. IMO, it was the perfect board for what I wanted.

I had a custom Secret Weapon made last year, its a more advanced board since this is a pump driven board. It has less volume and the harder you push the board, the more you get back from it. Being a lighter board, I can get bigger airs.... but airs are also all about technic so IMO thats not a huge factor. I use the same fins in this board and initially the recovery from very back of the wave was not as good as the Voodoo (my skills) but as I got used to this board that changed and I can now recover from several feet behind the white wash. It wont happen just standing on this board tho, you have to constantly pump and drive this board.... tho having to stay active is one of my favorite things about this board.

Based on what you said, I would probably recommend the Voodoo now, especially since you have already ridden it and like the feel. I dont know if you rode it with the stock fins or not.... while the board still feels great with the stock fins, changing them out made the board feel totally different to me since it still gave me the easy recoveries but also "freed" the board up significantly which just made it a lot easier to throw around when carving/pumping, etc. I have owned 3 Soulcraft boards and loved every one for different reasons (My 1st SC was a JS Pro), I have also ridden at least 4-5 of their other models and have never ridden one I did not like. As my skills progressed, I also went down in size. I am 5' 10" @ 185lbs. My JS Pro was a 4' 8", my Voodoo was 4' 6" and my Secret Weapon is 4' 7" (its designed with less surface area/volume than the other 2). Any of the custom boards you will want to keep our of the direct sun and if you do any damage to it, fix it with an epoxy kit before riding again so it doesnt get water logged.

[FireBreathingRubberDucky]

This may be one of the more helpful insights anyone has ever given me in regards to making a purchase. Voodoo it is then

[FireBreathingRubberDucky]

Just to throw a monkey wrench into the mix I suppose, my buddy came out this weekend and I rode his Hyperlite Varial Exacta. That was also a pretty sick ride. It wasn’t quite as fast as the Voodoo but still had excellent speed. It was extremely light and released off the wave with relative ease. I did some research on Varial and their technology is fairly cutting edge and I like the durability aspect of their boards; specifically their improved tolerance and exposure to sunlight. For my purposes I’m looking at the Trifecta, as it has similar features to the Exacta with a sharper rail and wider tail and seems pick up speed with a little more ease from what I can tell. The Accelerator looks like a good board as well. I don’t suppose anyone has any experience with these boards? I did like that my buddy had some small dings in the board that didn’t affect the ride and he didn’t have to worry about the board absorbing water. Added durability in something I’m paying that much for is a nice feature. I wonder if greggmck would have anything to add?