My first Zot was a 6'4" and it took me about 6 months before I felt I was doing it Justice. I felt for a long time it wasn't taking off and was bogging a bit. After a while I realised that while the nuggets are happy if you pop up and keep all your weight on your back foot, the Zot likes you to drive down the wave face with front foot pressure. SO it was back to the gym and practising pop-ups so that my front foot landed between my hands. Once I had that figured the board took off - literally
This board is the best board I have ever ridden.
Paddling firstly, There is a lot of volume in a very small board and with a single fin it is drag free almost. I suspect that the rocker is a lot different in the Zot either flatter or more distributed than a nugget. So it paddles really easily for all those reasons and catches waves with just a few strokes or in some cases no strokes.
Once up and running when you hit the bottom and put her on a rail it just drives then pick you spot you want to turn and hit it. the turns are so smooth and effortless and the board retains its speed all the way through. In a wave with any shape to it even waist high it will crank out continuous turns. ITs ok in mush also in the smaller versions where you can pump it for extra speed, although other options such as a light thruster may do better in those conditions.
In hollow waves it just comes to its own. I just pop up and grab a rail and pigdog the board just locks in on the perfect line. I have never found so many barrels in places I didn't know they even existed. The fantastic thing about the single fin is that right from the pop-up you can change your line with no loss of control.
Bottom line, this is a fantastic board, for me and my style of surfing and it may not suit everyone. I would say the size of the board is important for best results and for me at 5'8" the 6'0" board is better than the 6'4" version. It also take a bit of time to to fully adapt to the Zot, 6 months in my case.
This is such an unusual board it probably merits a few comments from other zot users to help someone decide to make the investment. For me its the best board ever, by a mile.
Rating: 5/5
8 comments:
Kieren - I am so jealous as this was the Zot I was after...I ended up buying a Jim Banks out of frustration !
I have a 6'8 Zot and it is the board that progressed my surfing and in some respects the one I have really truly learnt on. I also have a 6'6 Nugget and a 5'10 Lazor Zap (Surftech).
I come back to the Zot every time but find its size for me (5'10, 76kgs) is a bit big to duck dive in serious surf and I have been after a smaller one for some time in the 5'10 or 6'0 size.
Your comments on the Zot are spot on and even my bigger version turns on a dime. My only addition to your comments is that in weak waves the volume of the board helps but it needs some 'push' to the wave to come alive.
The board inspires so much confidence due to its stability and width, blended with nose rocker to make late drops so easy and the gull wing just locks into the wave but is still so fast.
It is by far the best board I have ridden !!
nice article, this should be spread to all the surfing addict sharing their lives to the world, they should try ....
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I'm grateful for the article post. Fantastic keep on posting.
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So, a couple of years down the track now and are you still in awe of that little Zot?
Have you ridden any of the new epoxy Zots?
Brah have you tried surfing with any GoPro mouth mounts yet? Give this one a surfems and you won't be disappointed http://hostevie.com/shop/gopro-mouth-mount.html
yes, I still love the Zot, They are the to to board in waves with any shape. I think though that they have too much nose rocker and for less than clean waves a Pot Belly would work better as a single fin. My standard shorter board for day to day average surf is a home copy of a zot widned and thickened from a fish blank with fish rocker. SO much fun
I liked the content on this site. Would like to visit again.
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Hi Burnsie, not sure whether you are the same oldguysrip from the Magic Seaweed forum but interested in the Zot if you still have it for sale. See my comments on the forum.
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