TEAM NEWS - NEW MODELS

TEAM NEWS

Adam Robertson has been sponsorless for 18 plus months even after making the final at last years WCT Rip Curl Bells Easter Pro. So we are very pleased to see that Billabong has signed Adam. Well done Billabong, Adam is arguably the 2nd best Victorian surfer of all time, behind only Wayne Lynch and maybe Tony Ray. Obviously it is expensive to do the WQS Tour and give yourself a realistic chance of qualifying to the CT level but now maybe Adam can fulfill his dream, good luck.

In the photo from the 2010 Sri Lanka QS Adam is surfing a 6'1 x 18⅝” XFC model with flat deck and chunky rails, but only 2¼" thick. The rocker is a very slight variation on the usual XFC TSR and was the most successful rocker/board for us on this years Australian leg of the WCT Tour.

We made a good one for Andy at 6'1 x 18⅝ x 2 5/16 rounded square tail, deep single with tiny double, fixed DL Soar fins. This board was a little thin for him however and he passed it on to Roy who has surfed it a few times on the CT Tour, all good.

Jay Thompson lights up Jay Bay for a brief moment in round 2 scoring a perfect 10 and backing this up with an 8 plus ride. The 10 was impressive, a long barrel then some committed turns. For me the 8 point ride was more impressive with a commanding lead in the latter part of the heat after securing the 10, Jay was able to take apart his last wave with power surfing that was as good as any seen so far this year.

Jay has been surfing a BF22 model all year (which is the new generation BX2?) but after bad luck and management and pretty ordinary surf for the first couple of CT events he was losing confidence on the boards we worked pretty hard to develop over the last 2 years I guess. So it was a relief for me and Jay to see him surf so well and get a little momentum and confidence from this one heat. Let’s hope he can go on from here and avoid the looming cut.

The BF22 is a flatter rocker than XFC, Jay is surfing 6'2½ x 19 x 2½ Rounded Square with deep single and tiny double through the fins area (just a high stringer really), there is a little vee at the tail hardly any, the rails are low volume and low soft, a little extra area in the nose plan shape but not the tail, with a pretty thin tail also. Jay and Adam are using Futures fin system, Jay prefers the HS fins and Adam is still testing.

NEW MODELS

I have been working on a model for the past 4 - 5 months called the Toe. Essentially this is a Mollusc style board but has a rounder nose and swallow tail. Also deep single to double concave through the bottom with vee at the swallow.

I like the vee at the back in small wave wide boards with concave because it brings a measure of control and assists in rail to rail turning (helps get the wide board up on a rail quickly). Luckily Don Norris was on hand the other day taking shots so I can bring you some surfing images that give you an idea of how the Toe looks and performs.Personally I like the Toe, it is helping me get up on take offs as I recover from torn rotator cuff shoulder muscles. The round nose gives you something to push against as well as glide onto the wave as you jump to your feet, and because of the extra nose area you can surf a shorter board making tight pocket turns possible.

The board in the photos is a Middle Toe at 6'4 x 21¼ x 2¾ and is best in 2 - 4 feet surf. I have a small wave version at 6'1 x 21¼ x 2¾ this is the Toe model for 1 - 3 feet, also I have made an allrounder version at 6'6 x 19¾ x 2¾ called the Big Toe for 3 - 6 feet surf.