A super fun, fast all rounder, this performance hybrid on steroids – Psillakis Surfboards Quad Fish – is a board I keep grabbing for from stomach high to overhead.
A great, versatile outline from sought after Northern Beaches shaper, Mike Psillakis, the Psillakis Surfboards Quad Fish is the remedy for pumping fun back into your average days at home and away.
Like all of Mike Psillakis’ boards, the Quad Fish is 100% hand shaped.
This is the Psillakis Surfboards Quad Fish review for CompareSurfboards.com.
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Benny
Pluses
+ A versatile, performance fish / performance hybrid outline that feels smooth and capable in most conditions
+ Lively and responsive but easy to paddle and generates speed with ease
+ Well balanced all rounder option
Minuses
– Nothing springs to mind. It has limits but every board does.
Benny Rides
The Psillakis Surfboards Quad Fish at 6’2 x 21 1/4 x 2 3/4 at approximately 38L’s of volume. I rode the Quad Fish with the awesome Futures Rasta Signature Bamboo Quad Fins…they’re my go to for many, many boards.
Best Wave Type
Stomach high to just overhead. It will handle most conditions that come your way but there are better options for bigger and smaller surf
Features
- A souped up performance hybrid shortboard
- Features a full forward nose plan shape with a clean tail design
- Single to double concave bottom contour with vee out of the tail
- Overall, a fast, responsive design geared for progressive, creative surfers in smaller waves.
Compare To
- Gary McNeill Surfboards Entity Surfboard Review: a cracking all rounder with similar plan shape, wave range…and fun factor!
- Channel Islands New Flyer (Swallow Tail) Surfboard Review: a CI staple, there a many parallels to be drawn between these boards
- Stacey Surfboards Snake Eyes Surfboard Review: an incredible, versatile all rounder! [Shop Stacey Surfboards Snake Eyes…]
Video Summary
Hey! Welcome to Benny’s Boardroom. This is the Psillakis Surfboards Quad Fish. I’ve surfed a lot of boards by Mike Psillakis. He’s a bit of a legend around the Northern Beaches of Sydney. He hand shapes all of his boards, still to this day, and he’s an interesting guy to speak with. If you’re thinking about getting a custom, especially if you’re around Sydney, I suggest you go and speak with Mike. I think you’ll come away feeling suitably impressed. You’ll probably learn a thing or two.
Psillakis Surfboards Quad Fish – Nose Knows
Mike had suggested to me that I ride his Quad Fish. I had not ridden a board of his, an all rounder board, in a while and he suggested this board because he said:
“Look, for around Sydney, it’s just got such a good wave range, it gets into so many different wave types, and handles so many different conditions.”
And he was right…I really, really enjoy surfing this board!
Experience in the Surf
The first wave I actually ever caught on this board, I was down the South Coast (of NSW) and I took off on this little wave – it was about shoulder to head high, and this was kind of a bigger set that had come through, and it was a little bit sectiony but it was still running a bit and had a few different parts to the wave. Like the first bit was a little bit flatter and then it hit a steeper, faster section. At the end bit it got really kind of grinding and hollow. And the first wave I ever took off on, I took it up from all the way at the top of the line-up and I rode it all the way through and I got a little barrel on my very first wave on this board. That’s always a very good start!
I surfed this just last weekend as well and it was big. It was big and chunky and cross-shore and ugly and I didn’t really have a bigger board in the car. I probably would have opted for a performance shortboard or something with a bit more length and a little bit more performance tuned but this Psillakis Quad Fish handled it just fine.
The Board
This board is a classic all-rounder. It’s a performance hybrid, I would say. A performance hybrid on steroids. It’s a little bit shorter and fatter and wider. It has a little bit thicker outline, as you can see. It’s got a little bit more width through the nose here. But the nose isn’t so wide that you’re going to have trouble in steeper, better waves. I certainly didn’t. Then it comes through the wide point of the board here and comes through to this very nice tail at the back. He’s got a nice wing here that then pulls back into this nifty little swallow tail on the back.
He’s thinned out the tail here, as you can see, so there’s not a lot of bulk in the tail so it’s quite easy to dig it in and turn it. And it just feels really lively and responsive. You kind of point and shoot with this board.
“You figure out where you want to go in the wave and the board takes you there.”
It has the modern all rounder bottom contour of choice. It has a single concave in the front. That flows through to a double and then vees out of the tail. A very versatile all around design. And this Quad Fish is just a fantastic little board. One of my favourites from Mike.
Fin Setup
I haven’t surfed this Psillakis Surfboards Quad Fish as a thruster. I haven’t felt the need to. I’ve been surfing it as a quad with theseFutures Rasta Signature Bamboo Quad Fins [Shop the Futures Rasta Signature Quad Fins…]. These are a really fantastic template. I surf these more often than not in all rounders. Even better wave boards. But they easily handle kind of smaller and mushier conditions as well and I felt like they complimented this Quad Fish perfectly.
Psillakis Surfboards Quad Fish – Fin Setup
Shop Futures Rasta Signature Quad Fins – Bamboo
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a good all-rounder, especially if you like the swallow tail, I mean you want something that you can kind of throw around that’s still going to give you that kind of tuned, performance feeling, it’s going to have a bit of volume, as you can see, to get you up and get going when the waves are smaller and not as good, this Quad Fish by Psillakis Surfboards is a great option.
I hope you are well. Hit that “subscribe” button and find out what’s coming up next week and I will speak with you soon!
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Stock Standard Dimensions & Volume
Standard Psillakis Surfboards Quad Fish dimensions and volumes are unavailable. Contact Mike here.
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