I Surfed the JL 10'4 Today!

I tried this JL 10'4 today. It belongs to CB1. We surfed this morning at WB. Waves were head high at full high tide. Big surprise for everyone. The prone surfers showed up in mass at mid tide, but by then wave size was half what it was earlier. We scored today!

This board is really sweet. Compared back to back with my 10'0 x 29 PSH, the JL has more glide. This glide makes it pull into waves easier. It had more drive off the bottom turn. It felt a little slower on the wave. Stability was slightly better. The PSH was snappier turning, more like the difference between a quad and a tri fin, except both are tri fins. This is probably the best way to describe the difference.

The JL felt like its rocker was straighter. I had to take an extra step or two back when making the drop. The PSH feels heavily rockered and more sensitive to weight shifts fore and aft, making late drops slightly easier.

Now having said all this about the differences, we have to place an asterisk next to this review. The PSH had a thruster fin setup. The JL had 2+1 with larger center fin. About 9" is my guess. Then I discovered the owner had his side bites installed flat side OUT. Knowing all this now, I suspect the differences are probably slightly less than experienced today.

Later we placed my rocker jig on the PSH and JL to see if my instincts about the rocker difference were correct. The jig is set to the PSH bottom shape. Notice the nose rocker on the JL is about the same as the PSH.
Here you can see the tail rocker. Notice the rocker is much straighter on the JL
Final thoughts:

Both boards are awesome. Just slightly different. I would recommend either to anyone who asks for my opinion.

Definitely the two best boards of all the ones I've ridden in the past year.

If you can get one, go for it. Awesome boards, awesome session today for everyone.