Despite small creature arrivals, I still have an eye on the boards…

‘sled-esque 5’10 x 20 1/4 x 2 5/8 quad for Pavel Danko in Clare (4+4+tail patch, +4 = 2.85kg). Pavel wanted something short, quick, responsive and easy to catch small clean waves with. He is maybe 5’9 himself and powerful looking. The board borrows a few bits and bobs (!) from the bobsled in terms of quad fin positioning factored down for the reduced tail area and also in terms of bottom contouring. They look a bit odd from certain angles to the ‘thruster trained eye’, but the result is impressive drive and carry where it is needed on different parts of the wave face. I guess one benefit over the bobsled might be that this board isn’t as ‘strange’ looking which definitely has an influence on how a surfer might feel about it.

6’4 x 18 7/8 x 2 3/8 thruster for Crevan Faley in Cork (4+4+tail patch, +6 = 2.8kg = result!). Crev surfs fast and precise and wanted something for small to mid sized beach breaks and the occasional reef that would float his frame because while trim, Crevan is more bouncer than ballerina! I think there is often times a real problem for taller people who surf well and want a ‘performance’ (read, regular) short-board for general shredding. The problem is that most boards in this category are aimed at people shorter than 5’8 (professional surfers tending to be vertically challenged) so the dimensions are way off. Consider this, then, a scaled up version for a normal sized surfer, adding width before thickness with fuller foil but sensitive rails and tail volume while avoiding, crucially, being a tank. Check foil below: