Simplify or Amplify

“I think the boards can become very simple and minimal, because you’re taking paddling out of the equation. You’re taking out navigation and bad sections. You’re taking out flat spots and trying to manufacture speed and all the other things that we use when [shaping for ocean lineups]. Like, [when I’m surfing] I need to catch the wave, I need to paddle back out, I need to be continuous and surf for hours. But here, you just have to set it up. The takeoff is really easy, where other waves are more abrupt, so it’s minimalist. It’s really simple. At least for our kind of surfing. Until the inland kid that’s never been in the ocean starts doing, like, boat wake-style tricks and stuff. Then it’s going to be a whole ‘nother world.”
— Matt Biolos, …Lost

“With surfers not needing to paddle, the volume in the boards will decrease. They’ll be riding smaller, thinner boards. That means the equipment will be way more refined and responsive. That will be one of the biggest adjustments that shapers and surfers will make. When they do, the performances will raise again.”
— Darren Handley, DHD

“We brought a bunch of different boards to try at the pool, thinking we were gonna have to change it up. We did this test: two back-to-back waves, then go out with another board. But what we’ve discovered is we don’t need to change the boards at all, maybe a little more surface area on the fins. There’s these sections that are really tight, and I’d ride a board an inch shorter in those sections, but when you get out on a little facier section I don’t think an inch shorter is going to be a liability.”
— Britt Merrick, Channel Islands

“As far as the high-performance angle, I’d like to see them riding a bit shorter boards, so they can get a little more radical and start attacking the air a bit more. The straighter outlines on shorter boards are generally more stable platforms. They carry firm, there’s more balance, they paddle easy, they carry the volume of your equivalent shortboard and they’re really easy to love.”
— Daniel “Tomo” Thomson, Firewire

“Kelly [Slater] switches back and forth with different boards — he’s ridden small boards and he’s ridden his normal 5'9"s. I think it’s all going to work itself out as more people ride it, and a lot of the guys are now getting their time in the pool. It’s just about watching the footage and seeing what the board does in certain parts of the waves. People are still learning where to turn, and finding that part of the lip where you want to push the hardest.”
— Travis Lee, Firewire/Slater Designs

Kolohe. Photo: Cestari/WSL