C4 Waterman Sub Vector 9-3 SUP with Todd Bradley – Video
Here’s a video interview of Todd Bradley introducing the latest from C4 Waterman, the 9′3″ Sub – Vector, shaped by Dave Parmenter and Brian Kelana. Todd demos here their current short board offering for stand up paddle surfing which he said took most of its features from Dave’s original board design called “stub vector”. It’s interesting to know that this short board can actually take on big guys of up to 240 lbs.
When I asked Todd about his recommendation for the ideal set-up for big guys, he goes for the quad, which this board actually has. I also noticed that aside from the quad fin set-up, this board also has the diamond tail similar to what’s on their 10′ and 10′6″ boards.
I also took some pictures of this board so you can see the other features.
This new board was designed by Dave Parmenter and Brian Keaulana. The concept for this board came from a famous design by Dave called the “Stub Vector”.
The board comes complete with a deck pad and tail kick pad
A shot of the bottom of the board. There’s a little bit of concave in there but it’s hard to see from the picture
There are 5 fin boxes on this board so you can use different fin setups. You can choose to go with a quad, thruster or 2+1 fin setup.
There’s a decent amount of nose kick on this board
It also comes with a built-in handle
There are 2 leash plugs which you can also use to attach a carrying strap or the C4 Waterman EZ-Strap
The deck is a little bit scooped out and has an angle towards the edge of the rail so that your feet are in a more comfortable position and you have more leverage when paddling.
It has a 3-piece tail kick pad
Watch this clip and see more of the C4 Waterman 9′3″ Sub-Vector.
(click thumbnail to launch video)
Transcript:
Todd Bradley: Evan what we have here is our new C4 Waterman Sub Vector designed by Dave Parmenter and Brian. But this is actually a board that concept comes from Dave’s original famous design that he had called the “Stub Vector”, which is a board that he did and actually changed surfing and a lot of the short boards surfing.
(0:00:26) Dave is really famous for this board called the “Stub Vector”. He took a lot of the attributes from that design and then put them in this one called the “Sub Vector”. It’s a unique board, this is 9-3, and the rails are really special on this. And the way the performance and the rocker are really neat.
(0:00:46) This board is a little over 29” wide. It is about 4 inches thick and the beauty of it is that is actually has a concave deck so your center of gravity is lower in this board so your stability is really good. It has a double barrel concave tail so what happens is it thins out the tail where your feet go. It makes performance style big boys stand up short board. This is the board for you.
If you check it out, for those who have not seen Evan yet, he’s a big boy.
Evan Leong: (0:01:27) I try to stay out of the picture.
Todd Bradley: This is a great board. Comes as a quad, comes a 5-fin, 5-boxes. This is a really unique design. One of the beauty of it is how fast it paddles. I’m really amazed how fast, and how stable this board is. And what you see a lot in a lot of board is the shorter, thicker, wider boards that come out for the big guys is that they tend to yaw (0:01:52) a lot when they paddle if you guys have demoed (demonstrated?) them. You paddled on the left and it goes to the right and vice versa.
(0:02:01)It’s really important that you put into a design a board that will paddle really straight and fast. This board, Dave has accomplished that. Paddles really fast, doesn’t yaw (0:02:11) when you paddle and very loose. I watched some people just recently ride this in Tavarua(0:02:19) and was amazed at the performance that they were getting out of this board.
(0:02:24) This board will be a little big for me, this is not something that I would ride, I’m 165 lbs. This is designed for the guys that are in the 190-240 lbs. range that want to ride really high performance but yet stable board, or the intermediate who wants to get on the board that’s a little bit shorter than what’s he’s usually been riding, because he’s looking for some stability, but still wants the agility. So there you go, stability with agility.
Evan Leong: (0:02:55) Are you mostly setting this thing up as a quad, I noticed it has 5-fin boxes?
Todd Bradley: (0:03:00) It has 5-fin boxes but it’s personal preference. Some people like quad, some people like 3-fin. I usually run with thruster set-up, on my 9’ which I…
Evan Leong: (0:03:11) Thruster meaning three 4 ½” fins?
Todd Bradley: (0:03:13) Three, 4 ½”ers, right. Some people might ride it with a 2 +1 meaning, small 2 side bites and maybe about 7 inch center.
Evan Leong: (0:03:20) You think for the bigger guy, the best set-up normally to get the most ideal set-up coming from the shaper and you guys would be what?
Todd Bradley: (0:03:28) I think this set-up is a quad, would be a really nice board. Everyone who has tried it has set-it up as a quad and really likes it. It’s a unique board; I think it’s a game changer. We’ll be having a line of these boards coming out but this is the first one of the “sub-vector”, great board.
Evan Leong: (0:03:51) How big is the nose? Do you know?
Todd Bradley: (0:03:54) Big enough.
Evan Leong: Big enough for me?
Todd Bradley: This thing’s got plenty of buoyancy
Evan Leong: You’ve got the handle going on right here.
Todd Bradley: You got the handle.
Evan Leong: And then the leash plug places.
Todd Bradley: You got the leash plug places, put the paddle grips in it and carry the board easy.
Evan Leong: Perfect.
It says demo on the tail! Go surf it! Tell us what you think.
As always, a great job of reporting SUP stuff in a “breaking news” and informative format. But Todd Bradley needs to get his act together.
Forget the marketing jargon….”There you go, stability with agility.” He ought to know the dims of his own boards. “How wide is the nose?” is a legitimate question…he should know, it’s his board. Coming back with a flippant remark is for kooks.
Evan, your readers are looking for the real deal, and so are you. That’s why we read your blog.
Keep up the good work bro…
gary
DW – I wanted to take the board that day to demo but he was using it to show someone else and I haven’t been able to connect with him yet. Once I get a chance to try it I’ll give you guys the update. From first glance it looks pretty interesting. The reason I couldn’t ride any of the sub 10′ C4’s previously is bc at my skill level I’m too heavy. This is the first one that should be able to handle my weight ok, I’m much more of a 3 fin guy, rather than quad but I’ll try it w/ both just to see the difference.
Gary – I’ll pass that on to him. I was actually there at C4 for another reason but when I drove up I saw the board on the side so I asked him to do a short video on it. I didn’t give him time to prepare. The width of the nose is 19 1/8″ which to me is 19″.
Since you spoil us Evan, how about an interview with Dave about his shape? The shapers comments would be cool.
Thanks Evan, and I apologize if I came off like a complete grump, but you do good work and I perceived Todd as being just a bit disrespectful. I’m sure a lot of your readers who are interested in C4 will take a good hard look at their boards because of the info you provide.
Anyway, I mean no disrespect to anyone, so thanks too for the back story on your interview.
DW is pretty high on the sub-vector as well and with the real 411 from both you guys we should get a pretty good feel for the sub-vector.
Aloha, mahalo and Mele Kalikimaka!
gary
DW – I’ve been meaning to interview Dave but don’t really have any direct contact w/ him so far. Let me see what I can do.
Gary – No worries. Thanks for your feedback.
Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas in Hawaiian) to you guys and everyone else!
If you guys have more suggestions for me let me know. Thanks.