Friday, June 28, 2013

Ant times two

Yeah, Tim. Yeah, Aaron (the original- the namesake- Aaron's New Toy- A.N.T.).
     I'm back on an Ant; but this time, times two:
     This ANT is just an as-usual Ant; 9'3, 22 1/4 (wide for me!), a taste under 3" thick. Typical.
The other Ant is, actually, a MicroAnt- the MicroAnt as it should have been, but for which the world was not yet prepared when I shaped the first MicroAnt. Think about a Hot Generation with less nose width, the same tail-friendly hull-to-vee bottom, with more curves and corners to turn off of:
This board is a 7'3 morph of a board I've been playing with for over a year now- Called, initially,
the EV: I'm thinking of it as the MA III, or the MA-EV, or the EV, for short. It carries the mass distribution and bottom contour of the Hot Generation, as well as some of the pertinent template, but, as said before, it has more curves to turn off of.
I'm anticipating duck-dive-ability with the narrower nose:
This board is weighing in at:
7'3; 16 3/4 x 21 5/8 x 16 1/8, 1.5" nose, 3.15", 3" back, 1.9" tail in thickness. The template is prettier with  a wider wide-point, but I'm conscious of my foot size, and I didn't want to push wider, personally, past 21 3/4".
     There isn't a board made under 8' that I can't duck-dive with this nose. I came really close to duck-diving
my 8'0 Hot Generation!
     But, as Darth Vader always says: "We'll see!".
This board has had great reviews in Hot Gen sizes for over a year- i.e., between 8'0 and 8'6. A lot like the PHd Puerto Rico, but it is stronger off the tail in an aggressive turn. Like the HotGen- the harder you push it, the stronger it will reward you. I'm seeing that this template will go to original MicroAnt sizes, 7'0 to 7'6, sizes that the Hot Gen won't easily go. I'm excited.
     The Ant:
9'3. Sooo Tim Elsner, that I blush, but I've been 8 years without an Ant ( I've been riding an Avenger, but the last two seasons of "longboard" go-outs have been on an 8'0 Hot Generation- it doesn't count).
Just an average, dime-store Ant, but it's mine!

2 comments:

  1. Really stoked on the EV, what kind of fins have you been running on your 7'3?

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  2. Dukey!
    This board holds the hardest turns my feeble frame can throw. I've used exclusively a PHd
    9.5; some adjustment (+/- 1/2", 2/3 back in box).
    It clings a little too long on bottom turns, not enough to preclude pilot error; I might try a more conventional upright L-Flex as a baseline.
    Absolutely no complaints on turns- super s-turny on flats; by far the most forgiving hull I've ever ridden backside! Even though I don't consider it a "real" hull. BJ

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