Spine-Tek. Carbon Wrap. HYFI. Dark Arts. Black Sheep. Double Dart. Lib-tech. Varial foam. Futureflex. IBolic. Electralite. The list goes on.
Long gone are the days of ordering your standard performance shortboard – length, width, thickness, fin preference (futures or FCS), and maybe tail shape.
With the commercial takeover of the shortboard industry, no more than 10 (I’d say less) manufacturers now sit atop of the food chain. Here’s my generous count:
Channel Islands – Mayhem – Firewire – JS – Sharpeye – T.Patterson – Rusty – DHD – Pyzel – Haydenshapes
9 of these 10 brands held a best selling board model for 2019, according to Stab.
DHD, Rusty, & T.Patterson are the 3 board builders that do not provide some of these new fancy carbon technology options on their websites. Of course you can (should be able to) order an epoxy board from these brands, this age old material is now falling short to the newer carbon tech stuff we are seeing today.
“Livelier”
“More Responsive”
“Lightweight and Strong!”
“Rapid Reflex”
“Flexible”
“Predictable Performance”
“Spring-loaded flex”
Carbon, in one form or another, is slowly taking over shortboard construction, at least for professional grade surfers. Stab predicted over 50% of the Championship Tour to ride Carbon Fiber boards at the wave pool contest for 2023.
After a brief search of the engine that is Instagram, here are the CT surfers that look to have had access to a carbon quiver in the recent past:
Filipe – Italo – Jack Robbo – Kanoa – Griffin – Connor O’Leary – Sammy Pupo – JJF – Medina – Yago – Barron Mamiya – Jaddy – Michael Rodriguez – Joao Chianca
A couple of notes:
- Slater was left out. He obviously owns part of Firewire, I’m quite sure he could ride Carbon boards if he so chose.
- Jake Marshall rides for Sharp Eye, which is closely connected with Dark Arts. I’m sure he could also ride Carbon if he so chose.
- I was hard pressed to find anything of Kolohe riding a carbon board, though I can virtually guarantee he has access to them.
That leaves 11 surfers on the CT who I could not find evidence of riding carbon boards. Less than half. I would say Stab is well on their way to proving their prediction correct. Anyways, what is the big deal about carbon anyways?
The consensus from my online reading seems to be pretty unanimous; that is, the carbon boards are really only worth the investment for smaller surf. When the waves start to have some push, the price point and the performance of PU’s are still the way to go – again, from what I’ve read. Which brings us to the climax; will Carbon infused surfboards be the thing of the future? Will lineups be infested with black boards and melted wax throughout the world? Does the average surfer have anything to gain from switching over to a carbon board?
I actually do have one friend who rides Dark Arts boards and upon my investigation he did reveal, “when it got head high/over head I literally had too much speed. Need something a little heavier to sit in the water.” Just to add a little context, said friend can surf. Very well, to be honest. He later concluded, “under head high for me, Carbon is the way to go.” Take that as you will. I hadn’t previously thought of it, but the next surf I have with him I will ask to swap boards for a wave or two to give one of these futuristic blades a go.
While I had him on the topic, I had to ask my friend, did he think these carbon boards would be an advantage for the average surfer? His reply, “100% an advantage for the average surfer.”
Maybe a few years until Costco is selling Carbon Soft Tops? Only time will tell. There is much more digging to do on my end. I will be the very first to admit how short I left this post. It’s just an opinion, don’t be too offended. Thank you for tuning in. love you
Cheers,
hwilsin