If you've been following us on Instagram you would have seen that myself and Nick from Sculpt Surfboards have been working on a new Fish. Something specific for Bondi's consistently average conditions, but also something that is easy to travel with and get a few waves up and down the coast or on an overseas trip.

 

If you didn't see it, a month or 2 ago we streamed a live shaping session where Nick and I went through the shaping process and discussed the design at length. Once the board was complete I took it and did some testing. Admittedly, the first shape needed some refinements and after a few surfs by each of us and some consultation, Nick has refined the outline and tweaked a few elements in the engine room.

 

The result is the board below. Yesterday when the Melbourne cup was running I took it for a spin at Bondi. Hoping the crowds were a little lower than usual, the waves were pumping. So here's the lowdown after the first surf. I will add more feedback as I surf it more, but i was very impressed so figured i should share it with you all before the froth wears off!

 

 

Im 68kgs and 5'7, Goofy footer and would say a competent surfer.

 

Dimensions: 5'4 x 20 1/4 x 2 5/16 - 29.6L (OG was 5'4 x 20 1/2 x 2 3/8 around 31L - We both Found there was just too much board) Im running Futures plugs and using the Futures K2 Keel.

 

Bottom: Single to double concave with a slight Vee concave behind the fins - The original was a straight single under the front foot with Vee through the back end.

 

Conditions: 1-3ft Bondi Beach. Glassy with a light Northerly wind.

 

I Started out on a super sucky little right hand shorey, it was 1-2ft but super fun.

The board isn't dead flat like a lot of my other Fish. So for something with a bit more rocker, it paddled and caught waves well. The loss of volume compared to the original wasn't an issue. The extra rocker and narrower tail including the side cut means that in the shallow, sucky shorey I could keep the nose out of the water, still tag the lip and get drive down the line without having to nurse it. A lot of people don't like surfing a twin fish on their back hand however, i think it just takes time to work it out and once you do you'll never go back.

 

After about 30 mins, the shorey turned off and I hit the right hander out off the Icebergs which had a fair bit more size and really allowed me to fine tune how the board works. I found the first wave or 2 the tail felt a bit sketchy off the bottom but put this down to adjusting foot placement.

 

The waves weren't exactly steep but had some size and the Fish was able to drive down the line at speed. After a few waves i found it less inclined to squiggle coming out of a bottom turn and nice flow off the top. The slightly narrower tail and sidecut plus narrower nose area allows it to go a little more top to bottom rather having to surf horizontally like on other Fish I have ridden. The single to double concave with Vee behind the fins means it transitions from rail to rail nicely yet releases off the top.

I definitely felt i could snap it in the pocket or under the lip and go straight into another turn.

 

I really enjoyed surfing this board and am super keen to surf it again, seeing as I didn't even get to test it on my frontside. I will update this once I have so theres an accurate account of how it went.

 

We are now taking custom orders for this model so if you're after something for summer, drop into the store or contact info@sunburntmess.com and we can get it all happening.