Hi PainlessJen,
Thanks for the reply.
I am familiar with the board you are talking about. I've got a similar one in my softie quiver, actually. It's a Surface brand board, fish, 4'11", thruster, soft top and fiberglass bottom. I like it, but I'm not as thrilled with the tri-fin set up as I would be with a quad. I have another made by INT that is a box-tail, 4'11" thruster, with the same kind of soft top and fiberglass bottom. They both have Future fins. The INT is pretty good too, but again I'd have liked a quad set up for the stability factor. They are super easy to duckdive though, which, to me, is a big deal.
My latest board is the 5'0 Catchsurf (Morey) fish board that is soft all around (no fiberglass bottom, but it is slick) and is a quad with O'fishL fins. I love the stability of it and it catches waves well but it is a bit slower than the fiberglass-bottom soft boards, I think. Still, an all around fun board and I can't ding it, which is great because I am the ding-queen. Urgh!
I got it for a great price by calling up Catchsurf directly. It was a "blemished" board and I got it for like half off but I can't see any difference between it and the non-blemished boards, so I'm stoked! If you want to check it out, go to
www.catchsurf.com and click on YQuad. Or, if you're in San Diego area, Surfride carries them if you want to see it up close and personal. They also carry the INT and Surface brands, as do many other shops in the county.
Anyway, I'd recommend the Catchsurf or the INT or Surface boards (if you can find a quad set up that would be a bonus in my book) for anyone who wants an alternative to fiberglass (and dingability!). Great on the knees too! Also, I obviously like the smaller sizes, but all these boards are available in larger sizes as well.
Take care and stay wet, everyone!