Hey Benny, great review!!

I recently pulled the trigger on a 5'5" Average Joe. I'm 165lbs and a intermediate surfer. I currently have a AM1 thruster setup on the board but wanted to try quad setup after your review.

Could I sub the rear fin on the AM1 thrusters with generic fins in the back for the quad set up or do you think I need to buy rear quad fins to get the most out of the board?

I had the Average Joe( AJ) for maybe a year, it was my first step on the path to find a groveler type board, the waves I surf tend to require a longboard for high wave count, which is fun, but how many times can you just cruise down the line, you eventually start to miss the feel of some real top to bottom maneuvers. So maybe my expectations were a lot higher for this board and the groverler genre in general, but I did not find that this board to worked for me. I think I had the 5'7" stock dims, I am ~160lbs plus wetsuit, gloves, booties, maybe 167lbs. Not enough volume, did not float well, struggle to paddle, I think I had one really good wave that I remember vivdely and I felt like I was standing on a food tray, I really had to adjust my style when ridding this, which is fun/experimental, but as a heavy back foot surfer it was a challenge. I ended up returning the AJ and visually fell in love with the Hoglet, which I purchased. Not disappointed at all, the Hoglet allows nice entry into waves, very maneuverable; during sessions I have had a lot of people ask me what I was riding, not because of my skill I suspect, but you are getting into waves close to where the long boarders are located and then you are flying down the line, top to bottom all the way....I am sure some other similar boards do the same, but I really like the Hoglet.

And one note about the whole volume thing it seems, scientifically, weight alone does not cut it in my opinion as 150lbs of fat will float more easily in water, vs. 150lbs of muscle. Just saying I think it is more complicated than weight alone and some SWAG adjustment may be needed for fat/muscle ratio when choosing volume.....cheers and I love surfing and boards, etc as well, headed out shortly...stay wet.

Hi Ben - love having this board in my quiver when it is almost unridable. I went for a 6'1" and the thing is like a longboard in the water with the thick rail. Word of the wise, ride the biggest fins you can get your hands on since you have most of the tail out of the water.

Had the Joe for approx 8 months now and couldn't be happier with it really.

I live in Adelaide where the surf isn't great with majority being knee-waist high mush. Having had a "Biscuit" before I was keen to try the Joe and glad I did. Seems to surf better than the Biscuit which I think went really well but only in clean conditions whereas the Joe seems to adapt better in the real mush we get here.

I'm around 100kgs and I got the 5'9 which is over 39 litres and find this to be enough volume for me however if you were just starting out maybe go more volume....

I've ridden this in 2-4 foot surf also and it handled it no worries but would say is best in 1-3 feet high tide slow waves in my experience.

Highly recommended

I bought the Average Joe and absolutely love it! You can ride small waves like a champ. I'm a beginner and decided to get it over a long board and couldn't be happier. I bought it on the bigger side and would highly recommend to go 2-4 inches shorter than your height. I'm 5'9" 165 lbs and find it difficult to paddle out on rough swells but that's cause I chose a 5'9 and which I wish had gotten 5'5".

HI ,Im 41 ,180 cm, 80 kg surfing for 25 years ,

got the 5.11 ,it has some extra volume but this is what i wanted just to have fun in the smallest days , in those days i would usually grab a 7.2 fun board ,

found the board extremely fun , gets in every wave and moves easily ,paddling is easy and fast,

in fact since i got it i just took it almost to every session , you just take so many more waves so my sessions became so much more fun,

i took it with me to the maldives and it worked well also in overhead peeling point breaks , was a bit tricky in very fast bottom turns but amazing flow down the line ,

i highly recommend this board !!

Just bought this board. Rode the Joe and it got my obsession going for the CI boards and the Joe helped me transition smaller. I bought the groveler model in 5'11" and I weigh 190. I went for it for the foam, vs. the utility and super performance. I ride it in mushy head to shoulder to pitchy beach break - hollower waves.

Loved the review! I rode this board at a Channel Islands demo and really small waves.. It was so fun! I fell in love with it! Thank you for doing this review, I've been waiting for one!

Benny, just wanted to thank you for this review, it convinced me to swap my 5'8 sweet potato for a 5'7 joe. Just had my first surf on it this morning and I'm stoked, it's such a great board and is so much more responsive than the potato! Keep up the reviews mate they're awesome.

The Channel Islands Fishcuit works really well in small but nicely formed waves. I would not regard it as a total groveller like a Sweet Potato or Pier Pony. Unlike some fish shapes its quite possible to get a top to bottom thing going and it does not feel corky. You just have to keep it on a rail. I would not recommend to a beginning surfer because you need to work a little bit for your speed. It works really well with Futures Controllers. Watch the video of Machado.

Well, this is not about the Channel Islands Average Joe but still a great take on the Channel Islands Fishcuit if you're considering one, thanks!