Models

(Photo: James Hudson, Ocean Beach / Photo by Nat Burke)

MODELS - (under construction, to be updated soon)

batato

For: all waves up to OH+3 - versatile egg originally descended from a Lost Couch Potato and Firewire Potato designs -- I liked the bottom idea from the Sweet Potato and the nose and rail lines and overall feel of the Couch Potato, combined them into a design not quite like either of them. Performs very well in all types of waves but especially 3' - 7' range. Simmons-like speed & planing with better pivot -- friendly board for both riders constantly moving their feet and riders you just plant their feet on the tail and keep them there. Very good in poor quality surf, only gets better as wave quality improves.

Planshape: round, egg, hybrid Simmons.

Bottom: rolled nose to single concave to double concave to vee.

Rocker: flat, relaxed, but less flat than Simmons.

General: daily driver for all types of breaks and waves, especially for riders less interested in CT-styled surfing, more interested in the "ride anything" sensibility. Will zip through mush and handle steeper, bowlier, more critical waves better than most Simmons-based designs.

Recommended fins: MR-TFX or T1 for twinny, Merrick fronts with Stretch quad (SF4) 50/50 rears for quad. Excellent with 30/70 interchangeable rears if you can find them as well. Sizing conventional, except medium Stretch rears for both M and L sized riders. When built as "4+1" becomes a very fun 2+1 with 6-7.5" flex fin center (e.g. Rainbow Mikey Detemple) and minimal sidebites (bonzer sides can add a fun, zippy yet responsive dimension).

brotato

For: all waves up to OH+3 - more conventional descendant of Lost Couch Potato, including square tail, with slight changes to rocker, dimension balance, bottom. As with all starting points when inspired by an existing board, where this ended up was a function of wanting to shorten the length for heavier riders without sacrificing paddle, wave catching range and performance.

Planshape: Simmons hybrid.

Bottom: rolled nose to single concave to double concave to vee, or single concave to flat.

Rocker: flat, relaxed, but less flat than Simmons (more tail flip, more continuous rocker).

General: much looser than Simmons while still having zippy drive off the take-off and exceptional planing speed -- a bit more angular feeling off the tail, slightly longer pivot radius than Batato.

Recommended fins: MR-TFX (FCS) or (Futures) for twinny, Merrick fronts with Stretch quad (SF4) 50/50 rears for quad. Twin combinations also work well off both front & rear boxes. Excellent with 30/70 interchangeable rears if you can find them as well. Sizing conventional, except medium Stretch rears for both M and L sized riders.

simm-tato

For: all waves up to OH+3, but especially junky, smaller days, with less juice. A "modern-traditional" Simmons specializing in grovelling, but lively and adaptable to better, bigger, juicier waves with a nubster added.

Planshape: Mildly retro, classic mini-simmons (updated with modern foil, rocker, and bottom) with tweaks for better turning and reduce board length for rider (e.g. 5-10 48L for 200-240lb rider).

Bottom: rolled entry to long single with option of single, vee, spiral vee, or vee-to-flat through tail.

Rocker: flat, relaxed.

General: performance-oriented mini-simmons. More tail rocker, more pulled tail than conventional Simmons, foiled to shrink board length even more than more conventional Simmons designs.

Recommended fins: PC-series with Stretch SF4 center (FCS) or Merrick (Futures) for thruster, Fronts of your preference plus 50/50 or 70/30 rears of your preference for quad.

joe bagles

For: all waves, HPSB (high performance short board) hybrid, combining ol skool and modern ideas.

Planshape: based on the favorite board of LM, a Marina mainstay, a vintage, very 1980s Nagle made for good waves. I kept the planshape and bottom contours, with mild tweaks, while reducing the "elf shoe" nose, relaxing the entry. Not unlike a classic flyer, but very good all around board -- better groveler than HPSBs for better waves, better good-wave board than many groveling specialist boards. Very good all around HPSB, especially for older surfers more about deep carves than skateboard performance.

Bottom: ol skool thruster, with moderate updates. Very mild contours -- not flat but very gentle concaves and transitions.

Rocker: classic ol skool rocker, neither especially flat nor rockered -- even tempered.

General: a variation on a Nagle, also named in honor of the late Joel Bagels, this is a descendant of Marina mainstay Larry M's favorite board. Right in between ol skool and new school, the original board had very mild bottom contours, a good wave rocker, and a classic "elf shoe" nose. I relaxed the rocker a bit, reduced the amount of downrail slightly (while keeping the basic rail idea), and modernized the nose. This is what I'm riding in good, clean, shoulder to head high waves, lately. It's a classic ol skool shortboard with some modest updates. Named in honor of Joel Bagels, legendary Mayfair poker pro, "back in the day."

Recommended fins: for quad, Merrick fronts and Stretch rears; for thruster, your favorite Merrick type of layout (larger fronts, slightly smaller center); also very twinny friendly (e.g. MR-TFX).

stoke machine

For: all conditions, but dims will vary for different waves sizes and types -- i.e. very adaptable shape that works well in higher (per rider) volumes as groveler, in HPSB volume as daily driver, and as a step-up with 5-10% increase over daily driver. Named for one of the 1st good friends I made in Santa Cruz, for whom the first SM was made. Basically a mildly stubbed flyer with changes incorporated for more grovelly conditions.

Planshape: lineage is CI Whip. The original Stoke Machine (the human) had a CI Whip that looked to small for him to me. I took his 6-0 and added two inches in length, a bit of width, retaining the swallow tail (but any tail can be used -- I do like the swallow, and others have liked the swallow on this).

Bottom: fairly typical for HPSB wider grovellers: rolled nose to single concave to long double concave to vee.

Rocker: relatively flat along the stringer, but retaining a good amount of rail rocker -- suitable to all conditions from steep and hollow to flat-faced & mushy.

General: very fun, fast planing, high performance design that does better than many other types of HPSBs when waves are small and gutless, but will still cut like a razor in good waves.

big dummy

For: all waves, noserider. Available in more "ol skool," higher rockered design and more classic very flat rockered design.

Planshape: blend of performance & noserider templates, round tailed noserider.

Bottom: modern noserider (concave in nose, transitioning to flat and vee) up front, performance in the tail (spiral vee with hard edges for speed and performance).

Rocker: flat, modern noserider, or more rockered. Former is better for more advanced, dedicated, more expert longboarders, latter for shortboarders transitioning or only occasionally LB'ing, and less expert riders.

General: fun, classic round tailed noserider with noseriding fin in small waves, high performance noserider with 2+1 in better waves. Two rockers available, one for shortboarders transitioning to longboarding (more rockered, more like old Stewart and vintage boards with lots of rocker), and one much flatter rockered for devoted and skilled longboarders.

Recommended fins: Jacobs noserider fin in small waves, Rich Sanders 2+1 in juicier, better waves. MDT, TK Flex, AFlex and the like are all good fins for this board, in sizes 8" to 9.5" depending on rider and waves, but a good noserider fin and specialized 2+1 will fine tune performance. For off-the-shelf 2+1 your favorite Rainbow flex fin + favorite side bites are the starting point.

bi fi

For: all wave types, will outperform many hybrid HPSB designs in small and weak surf.

Planshape: Based on Tomo Sci Fi. Credit where it's due. Source shape/design tweaked to pack more volume into shorter lengths, and to work with volume redistributed from source board to increase overall volume (per length) and to match different bodytypes and increase paddle/performance ratio (e.g. for big boy top-heavy riders).

Bottom: HPSB single to double barrel to vee to flat, with double channels inside the double barrels.

Rocker: Classic, based on Tomo Sci Fi rocker.

General: this is unabashedly a copy (credit given in order to honor source for board, not to offer a "knock off" and because I liked the result well enough to offer it for custom order. This board does *not* incorporate Tomo's "golden ratio" attention, but does incorporate the relationships between the tail tips , channels, and the strategy of flattening the rocker while the planshape makes up for the changes in pivot radius that the flattened rocker introduces. This board rides very differently than other HPSBs and hybrids, and feels very "on top of the water." Some would call that "washy," but washy is usually negative in connotation, and this type of "washiness" won't be a negative for many -- it translates to a different, floating yet accurate kind of feel. Of the three more traditional shortboards offered here, this is the most versatile because it does the best in weak, gutless, poor quality waves, while still offering sensitive, high performance in good waves. It also feels smaller underfoot in larger volumes.

lil guitar

For: good, juicy, well formed waves. Rideable in any shortboard conditions, but will shine and do best in semi-step dims in high quality waves. Will handle steep, powerful waves well and show its best in good waves. A bit more ol skool than new school. Based on James H's favorite board of all time, a step-up Pearson twin.

sewer sled 5.0

For: finless surfing and fun, cruisy days as single fin. Good hold, but plenty of slide, and finless, free friction speed ridden finless. A cruisy, stable, user-friendly board that feels and performs like a midsized funboard when ridden as a single.

Planshape: essentially a Simmons planshape with a straightened rail line.

Bottom: blend of two different general approaches for finless boards (channels/hard-edges vs convex-surfaces/round-rails). Many sources for the basis of the bottom: Derek Hynd designs, bodyboards, surfmats, Jon Calivas's finless, and conversations here, there and everywhere.

Rocker: flat, closer to Simmons and some hybrid Simmons-based designs than HPSB.

General: best suited for intermediate and adv/int riders -- very expert riders may prefer something a bit more difficult to ride and control. More average riders will want more stability and a lower slide/hold ratio than more skilled riders. Perfect board for summertime, crowded, kelpy low tide days with the option to quickliy convert to a cruisy, ol skool single fin feel with addition of a medium sized single fin when conditions change.

Recommended fins: medium sized Rainbow MDT flex fin, but the possibilities are endless. Various nubs and smaller fins can be added with or without adapter (plate mount or adapter mount) for all kind of variations of finless/finned set-ups. Different types of bonzer set-ups are possible -- channel design has some overlap with bonzers and bonzer-related set-ups, as well as twin-based set-ups are possible and will work well.

peacefrog

For: all waves, but normal HPSB sizings mainly waist-to-overhead -- same slots as classic thrusters, sized to match the intended slot for the rider and break. This is in the classic Merrick Flyer mode (HPSB thruster with hips, pulled behind front fins, mainly a single concave) but with an original rocker, flat and fast with medium nose flip (less than ol skool, more than new skool).

Planshape: HPSB, pulled tail.

Bottom: rolled nose to single concave to flat, or to double to vee (depending on board width).

Rocker: flat, relaxed.

General: this is very much a traditional thruster with hips, in the Flyer mold, but with an original rocker, intended to be adaptable to weak and junky waves, but ready to shine in good waves. Can be tweaked for better performance in all kinds of surf, or for better performance in good surf. Works great as a quad as well and the quad layout is "McKee" to preserve some of that tri-fin drive when ridden as quad.

Recommended fins: PC-series with Stretch SF4 center (FCS) or Merrick (Futures) for thruster, Fronts of your preference plus 50/50 or 70/30 rears of your preference for quad.

o delicious

For: all conditions, grovel to overhead, but ol skool style -- will not outgrovel fish/simmons hybrids in small waves, and will not outperform modern HPSBs in good waves, but will be more fun than any normal HPSB in either & have ol skool feel that modern boards don't have in any waves. Exceptionally adaptable to different wave size, quality and conditions with fin changes (4+1 in layout allows for quad/tri/2+1/single/twinny) waist high to well overhead.

Planshape: ol skool midpoint and volume forward, beefy volume (rail adaptable to rider preference, but mild downrail is a nice match), ol skool rounded pin tail. Almost a Lightning Bolt / Pipeliner type of planshape, but with more rounded tail for more dynamic range in flatter faced waves (but enough Pipeliner for hollow, barrelling peaks).

Bottom: modern bottom -- rolled nose to single concave to short double to vee to flat -- blended with round, ol skool rocker (basically the modern concept of more rocker in the rail line, flatter rocker along the stinger), but with a rocker literally taken from a classic 1980s step-up.

Rocker: more rather than less, rail rocker taken from classic 1980s set-up.

General: this board is probably as close as I've come to making a board like my first, a 1982 Mike Croteau quad. Very, very adaptable to any rideable conditions short of "ugh...longboard only" with different fin choices.

Recommended fins: 2+1, your favorite sidebite plus 6" - 7 1/2" flex fin, the flexier the better.

electric boogalator

For: Daily driver for all conditions up to HH+3 or so. The limit for me on this board is about 8ft (Surfline 8ft), but a more skilled rider might be able to surf double OH very happily with this board -- it is very stable and surprisingly predictable at both high and low speeds for such a wacky combination of design features. My current go-to daily driver: fast in anything, excellent trim in weak waves and through flats, quick response and excellent drive, exceptional paddle for volume (I surf this at normal HPSB volume, though usually this type of hybrid design needs 5-10% over that for me), very quick, tight pivot (esp as twinzer), engaged in bigger waves and at high speed (old school, very tucked under, pinched rail). Excellent wave catching range.

Planshape: altered wakeboard, blown up in Shape3d, tested in finless design, then tweaked to improve for this board. This is the most original design element of the board. Thick tail for great paddle and wave catching, without the bogginess at lower speeds that that can entail, thanks to the channels and tail shape providing lift and sensitivity.

General: a blend of different Simmons-variation ideas, with a modified "quad inside double" Tomo-style tail (the original inspiration for the goal -- paddle + performance -- was Tomo's Sci Fi, married to an ol skool rail design (very tucked under, almost a chine). Very flat rocker, but it doesn't feel like it. A Simmons-type of design that will perform well in any type of wave, including steep/hollow (normally not ideal for very flat rockered hybrid designs). Probably not for younger CT-inspired riders, ideal for those seeking more paddle than HPSBs can provide, with high performance.

Recommended fins: Rainbow or Halcyon (@finsathalcyon) canards in front, your favorite twin set in back for twinzer (best combination, for heavier, i.e. 190 lbs+, riders), or Carver fronts and Carver (size varying according to rider style and weight) rears for lighter riders.

ride clips

(under construction, to be updated soon)