EXPRESSO
From the very first surf of this new design it was instantly apparent that there was something special about this board.
It was a small clean beachy on the south coast of Australia and it was that first pump down the line that I just knew it was fast.
Fast and smooth as it seamlessly hugged the contour of the face of the wave and accellerated.
And then as I stepped back an enaged the rail. It bit hard and fast, accellerating through the turn. And I was like HELLO. WHat have we got here .
It didn't surprise me too much, as it was what I thought when I lowered the tail rocker and got rid of concave and made a slight V.
However it exceeded my expectations when it came to how all the design elements came together.
I went for a board which was slightly wider than what I normally ride, along with slightly longer to deal with my slightly dodgy knee and hip for added balance, but lowered the thickness as I still wanted the volume to be what I normally ride. The extra stability was added and the sensitivity was actually enhanced. So it was a win win situation. Without going to a step rail which just takes away too much stability to make the experience enjoyable anymore.
The bottom shape is a suble nose concave feeding into a slight V from the midsection through the tail , with a single tail channel to help with some added bite, to aid the Twin fin Nubster configuration.
So with it's fuller yet sleek nose and tail outline, it was going to be interesting how the board design translated to bigger and more powerful surf.
The South West of western Australia is the PERFECT grounds for this type of testing.
First off it was a deep water bombie on my back hand, of double overhead or so.
A scratchy late take off and once again the board intuitively found it's line. Navigating the drop, it contained the speed and then when heel pressure was applied, generated drive down the line, seamlessly transferring onto the toe side to engage the rail for the back hand top turn.
Backhand waves in juice. TICK.
And then there was the couple of days on the right hander which you see in the first sequence, where you can see the satisfaction in my face holding the board here.
Waves where you had to handle the drop, contain the speed and then transfer that into either racing to making the section or getting to the bottom and driving up the face.
So smooth / so fast/ so much control.
it was a done deal and the Dire straits song Expresso LOVE was in my brain.
There were also a bunch of other surfs of different reefs of various contexts. Smaller sucky back hand ones, some absolute Giants of waves and smaller little beachies. It just handled every situation ins a smooth effortless AUTOMATIC way of reacting with waves.
The water knows the difference.