Noel's fin recommendations for this board

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Channel Islands

Channels Islands - Rocket 9

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FLEX & FEEL
USER FRIENDLY
DURABILITY
PADDLING
SPEED
CARVING
RAIL TO RAIL
POCKET SURFING
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"The Rocket9 outline has the wide point forward a bit and the tail is pulled in making it super snappy and maneuverable. The swallow gives a great fast release as well. One of the major desires for this board was I wanted was to go fast and then turn hard when I wanted in waves ranging from super average California beach breaks all the way to grinding little tubes. It’s one of the most versatile boards I have ever ridden." - Dane Gudauskas

Published on Jul 20, 2016

This episode is about the Rocket9 by Channel Islands Surfboards. The Rocket9 is a small wave high performance signature board by Dane Gudauskas. Noel goes into detail on the attributes of this board along with his favorite fin set up.

Noel tests two Rocket9 PU boards that are the same dimensions and have the team light glass job. This board design has a single to double concave with a slight Vee out the tail for easy rail to rail transitions. This board felt great in both clean and choppy conditions due to the single to double concave and was easy for him to set his rail.

It has a low entry rocker and a medium to aggressive tail rocker for that high performance feel in both small to medium size waves. The outline is a bit curvey so it likes to be in the pocket but still has that drive because of the concave and low entry rocker. The rails feel a bit normal under his arm so not too full and not pinched.

Noel rode these two boards as a standard thruster and also had a twin fit set up with a small trailer fin. Noel explains that he is a thruster surfer most of the time but he did not like Rocket9 as a thruster but liked it better using the Merrick Twin Fin (MTF) set up and a small trailer fin. He used two different size trailer fins and liked the results of them both.

Noel recommends that if you custom order this board to order it with a 5 fin set up for multiple options for each individuals style and preference.