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Store owner Tim Dickson reviews the Sharpeye Inferno FT (Filipe Toledo Quad)
Demo Surfboards Available:
5'8 25.5L, 5'9 26.5L, 5'9 27.9L, 6'0 31.8L
(Approximately for September & October 2023)
Tim's Dims: 5'8 x 18 3/4 x 2 3/8 -25.5L (I'm 70kg/5'11)
Overview:
The Sharpeye Inferno FT is the board Filipe Toledo rode at Trestles to his 2022 World Title (turns out I was wrong in the video and in 2023 he rode the Sharpeye #77). It's a high-performance, small to medium size wave weapon, set up as a swallow tail (quad only) with a medium rail/rocker and a single to deep double concave.
Impressions:
Riding a quad is a very different feel when you're used to a thruster or twin + 1 so take some time getting used to the board. I found that it didn't start to feel good until halfway through my first surf, and by the end it was feeling incredible. This difference under your feet is due to the lively rail-rail transitions combined with a lot more hold, drive and a bigger turning arch once you're on an edge with two fins locked in. The benefit of these features is all the speed and drive through turns that you could hope for!
I noticed the Inferno FT requires a lot more pressure on my back foot through turns than other boards I'm used to, keep this in mind while riding it, and if you're looking for a board that will allow you to cruise without pushing your surfing harder this definitely isn't the one.
Fins:
Filipe Toledo uses the FCSII H4 Quad set in his Inferno FT's and as such that's the fin set-up Sharpeye recommend.... However as far as I'm concerned, there are no one size fits all solutions for fins - we all surf differently and are a different size/weight so testing out some demo fins with a new board is always a good idea.
All that said, I'm a massive fan of the H4's in nearly all of my thrusters and although I couldn't get hold of some H4 quad rears when testing the FT, I did prefer the front H4's in this board. The first fins I tried were a set of Matt Biolos quads which still worked really well, just not quite as fast.
Recommended Conditions:
1-5ft (4-10ft Faces)
The biggest waves I had on the FT were only 3-4ft but it handled that no problem. With all the hold and drive of a swallow tail quad I think in 5ft surf, especially if its clean, I could still push it hard.
Written By: Tim Dickson