SPEEED

OUTLINE

Flat nose, parallel outline, hip diamond tail. The combination of outline elements does a lot of different things in this board. Firstly the wider nose lets the board climb on top of the water really fast as you start to paddle, so paddle acceleration is instant and wave catching is really good. Also great for climbing over whitewater on the way back out, along with foam climbs onto frothy whitewater sections. The parallel outline is really fast down the line, it holds great speed and gets around sections easily. Then as you step back onto the hip it literally turns on a dime, so you can really square off tight bottom turns and hook snaps under the lip. As for the Diamond? I reckon it looks better.

RAILS

Low to medium thickness, standard profile upfront with a slight bevel and pronounced bottom edge, carrying some meat into the tail to accommodate the depth of the channels with really crisp hard edges. Keeping the rails low, adds to sensitivity into turns along with added stability at paddling speed. The subtle edge upfront helps the front really climb onto the water and give it a skaty feel. Even though the rails into the tail carry some volume, most of it is removed due to the channels, so from the fins back the edge is quite crisp allowing for good release and speed.

ROCKER

High performance shortboard style rocker. It’s a clean curve nearly all the way, with a subtle acceleration in the nose, combined with the wide nose it makes it look like it has way more nose rocker than it actually does. So while your first impression of the board could be a medium performance, hybrid fun board, the performance rocker transforms the board.

BOTTOM

Single concave with 4 super deep channels in the tail. The concave helps pull it up onto the rail easier and also engages the face on the drops, but the outstanding feature is for sure the channels. I did a lot of channel bottoms in the late 80’s early 90’s and really enjoyed them more in my longboard. I used a curved channel (Thanks Star Jammer) that redirected water out to the rail, rather than more directly out the tail. This had a feeling of allowing the back end to come around quicker and easier through a turn. Because the water was escaping out the inside rail, as opposed to needing all the water to travel completely across the board and release off the opposite rail, so in combination with the hip they have a similar effect. Next, the channels make the board fast, way faster than expected, at first this was a bit of a mystery, but my theory now is the added turbulence through the channels, creates a boundary of vortices and eddy’s that the board somewhat climbs onto and separates the surface of the board from the main body of water under your board when you’re really moving. Also because the channels are cut so deeply into the rail I think air is able to sneak in there and create a little less viscous drag on the surface as well. Lastly, the channels also offer an extra degree of hold, feedback is the board is harder to slide, so a lot of the advanced guys say they can go a size down on their fins and it works.

DECK

It’s relatively rolled on this board, the goal being a low rail. At paddling speed, the water rushes over the rail, as the rail is submerged below the waterline, this creates more stability because the board can’t bob around without having to lift the water with it. While stationary it’s not so effective.

FINS

Thruster. Standard reliable performance thruster but with the added hold of the channels.