Channel Islands "MINI" Surfboard Review by Noel Salas Ep. 4
Reviews 8 years ago 38,554 views
Click to buy: SURF STATION - https://www.surfstationstore.com/collections/channel-islands-surfboards/products/channel-islands-int-mini-soft-surfboard No obligation, but these links & ads help support the site and keeps the reviews coming! If you decide to buy somewhere else or would like to support the show, please donate at https://www.paypal.me/surfnshow This video is about the "Mini" by Channel Islands. Noel Salas reviews the latest small wave board in the CI line up. This is a review about how the contours of the Mini surfboard work and flow together. Come and enjoy the footage of surfing and talking about what makes this small wave so special and unique. Channel Islands Surfboards is pleased to announce a surfboard design collaboration with Kalani Robb and MINI. By incorporating our common passion for performance and having fun we developed a versatile surfboard that performs in a unusually wide range of conditions. The MINI offers a ultra relaxed rocker, wider nose, wider squash tail, thinned rails, and aggressive single to double concave with vee out the tail. Taking a page from Al’s popular Skinny Fish design the MINI incorporates all the speed and wave catching ability of a traditional fish with the performance benefits of a squash tail. Designed to work best in knee to head high surf. This board is best positioned as your go to groveler in your quiver. Ride this board 3″ – 6″ shorter than your height. The Mini I am riding in the video is 5'3 which is 6" shorter then I am and the Channel Islands website is very good at helping with this information on all of their models. I suggest having a range on the volume for all the different board types, i.e. small wave boards, normal short board, and your step up. My range at 170 pounds is 26 on my normal short board to 29 on my small wave grovel boards. I hope this helps and I hope you enjoyed the surfboard review. Cheers!!!
I still recommend the Weirdo for you as a short board for waves 3-6 but it does not grovel that well, but you do have the Joe right?
Funny you mention the Weirdo. I'm torn right now between a weirdo ripper and the mini. I'm 5'11" 155 beginner/int. and have been riding a standard thruster bout 35/36l. Feel it's time to go smaller as I catch everything but am struggling with quick speed pumps and snappier turns; bottom turns typically no prob, stalling a bit on top turn (frontside) and less volume duck diving would be amazing when it gets big. Both boards I'm considering are 33l with the mini being more a fish shape. Which may help my turns and pumps for speed? Thanks and keep up the amazing work!
I think you will get a lot of drive down the line but I am not sure how the board will be going in and out of turns.
I seriously have not had a bad surf on this board. It's not temperamental at all. You just stand up and the thing picks up speed like a rocket. It's surprisingly responsive and goes wherever I want it to go. It has no problems getting vertical and you can hit the lip as hard as you can with ultra smooth landings and smooth transitions into your next turn. For me it is a magic board. Even my friends have been commenting on how fast it looks and how well I'm surfing on it (my mates aren't normally ones for praise either).
I'm riding it with the Futures AM1 fibreglass as a thruster. As a quad I've settled on the FG AM1's in the sides with the medium Channel Islands FRP quad rears (ridiculously loose but still not out of control). I've also surfed the Lge FRP sides with the Lge FRP quad rears which is what Noel is surfing in this video and it went great. I like the smaller fins because the waves I surf require more pivot then the waves Noel is riding. I like the fibreglass fins because although the fins are small for my weight i can push them as hard as I want and they still hold. I can't ride medium honeycomb AM1's as they just don't feel like they engage enough for me. There is a massive difference in feel and drive. I've also surfed the CI Tech 2 mediums in the sides with the medium CI FRP quad rears and it went great as well. I would ride those if it got a bit more powerful and the mini was the only board in my car.
I'm also surprised at what this board can hold size wise. Even though it is super flat it handles sucky waves no problems. It would easily surf well overhead waves if it wasn't top to bottom.
For me the only bad aspect of the MINI is I can't get off the bloody thing because I love it so much.
Go get one now.
Thanks for the quality review. I have a question: Did you find turning the board in tight arc required considerably more effort than when surfing your standard performance shortboard?
10. comment for Channel Islands "MINI" Surfboard Review by Noel Salas Ep. 4
I've seen right now the review of the pod mod!Looks nice and you say it is similar to the mini.
Which one should i prefer for 2-4ft mushy waves(italy)? I would like a board that is easy to paddle, that is manouvrable and get speed to try to perform small aerials. What do you suggest?
20. comment for Channel Islands "MINI" Surfboard Review by Noel Salas Ep. 4
I'm 181x 180lbs intermediate surfer....surfing small waves the most of the time...