6’4 x 20 3/4” x 27/8” Atlantic POD, double pinlines, bonzer runners in American Ash, FCS EVO6 rear setup, cheek-flextail.
I set up this board as an EVO6 exclusively as my last Atlantic POD i rarely put a centre fin in to ride it as an EVO5… it surfed so much better as a 6 fin so this one is no compromise.
Review coming soon.
Mark from Glass Tiger’s own 6’5” Cleanline EVO5 bonzer – wood by Mark, shape by yours truly. Mark will have this board and my Mentawais Cleanline 6’8” at Paddle Round the Pier this weekend.
This was designed for the Mentawais trip this March – it was the board i took out if i was feeling a little insecure. It was so stable and confidence inspiring and did exactly what it said on the box… smooth clean lines, no dramas. It got in early and drove down the face nicely. What i hadn’t expected was for it to go as well as it did this morning at Nettles, (my nickname for this great A frame beachbreak with a 30 minute walk and a little goat tracking). Head high set A frames, shoulder high walls, with the lefts being the better option. The board was, as usual, beautifully stable and unflappable even over the odd bit of chop. I don’t know how much of this is to do with the wood and the parabolics (thanks Mark) vs. the shape, but as a package it all works beautifully. The robustness is also impressive, especially as it is the same weight as a comparable PU board even with all the wood.
Today the board excelled in the small stuff driving calmly but quickly across the faces and yet being able to come hard off the bottom and the top. I was playing around a bit as well, trying to put some of Russell Winter’s tips from the trip into action… and one one wave it worked so sweetly I couldn’t quite believe it was possible on a 6’8 board. Half way along the wave I set up for a section with a really hard bottom turn and then drove acutely back up the face, and instead of rotating too early (and not getting vertical) I kept low, delayed the turn, keeping on the rail and came right up onto the lip, pivoted round hard a fast and back into the face and onto the next section… thanks Russ!
So i guess my conclusion is if you wanted only one board, and it needed to be strong, light, would go in small and large waves, with enough float and glide to make surfing a bit easier… then this would be at the top of my list. Oh, and the wood also feels as good as it looks.
This was the 6’8” EVO5 post Mentawais. Not a mark on her despite being ridden in the largest of the waves. This board is as light/lighter than a PU of the same length even with the wooden deck and chestnut parabolics. A great way to make a beautiful and high performance bonzer… if you have deep pockets. These go out at £850 including the FCS fins and a mat finish, add another £100 for gloss (which would look awesome!). They are collaborations with Mark from Glass Tiger, so leadtimes get a little stretched as we pass it between us. Allow 6-8 weeks. Has to be the ultimate travel board though!
A new test from myself and Mark at Glass Tiger . It’s a 6’8” x 20 1/4” x 2 5/8” Cleanline EVO5 with oak parabolic rails, epoxy 6oz bottom and a wood/epoxy 4oz sandwich deck. We aiming to achieve a superlight wood option with a more traditional flex pattern.
Big thanks to Mark, Jason, Daz and Nigel for pushing this one through in time for the Mentwais trip, leaving this Thursday. Right now Daz is getting the FCS plugs in and fighting against the clock to have it hard enough to flip over, do the valve, the fin box + drill through, and then sand it before I go.
This board is going to get a bit trippy when you next see it…
Here we have the EPS core shaped last week… yesterday Jason glassed it in 6oz epoxy on the bottom with 4 oz cut rails all in a pastel olive green… and it looks amazing with its angular rails ready and waiting for next weeks 1.5mm wood deck and some 3/8” parabolic oak rails… then it comes back for a 4 oz clear epoxy deck and rail wrap before it gets its FCS bonzers in an EVO5 set-up. So it is half Glass Tiger half epoxy Cleanline for Indo… The shape has a little more rocker than i normally put in to fit the curvy faces we hope to be surfing, and to help control all that speed. Only reservation I have is i don’t want to get hit by those oak rails!
6’7” x 20 1/4” x 2 5/8” finished shape
Just had my cartilage trimmed in a little keyhole op this weekend… so my apologies to all followers that there will be a bit of lag before posting resumes… which is pretty frustrating as i have 4 boards to shape, one set of Freak Fish fins to foil, a kelp tint and pinlines and a Hendrix ink-job to do… so until i get back in the flow of things here's the last board to be shaped before the op…
It is a 6’5” Cleanline Bonzer 5 for Mark at Glass Tiger…
6’2 x 20” x 2 7/8” vortex bottom with rolled V… designed for barrels, to be ridden as a single fin or as a bonzer (FCS B5s). This board was inspired by my Geoff McCoy Nugget which has delivered me into the best barrels of my life. Thought it was about time I applied some of his theories to a board of my own, with a few twists and turns based on my own ideas. Also need a name for this model – and have yet to find an inspired name… any suggestions?
Not the nicest material to shape BUT I think it all went well… by the time this one is coated in its wood skin by Glass Tiger I am sure it will be worth the effort. The hardest thing for me was having to shape whilst visualising the rails (1/2” wood laminates each side) – so the rails are all squared off and with very little roll under when shaped. Next it heads to Mark down in Falmouth to get skinned before we reconvene to do the rails together.
It’s a 6’4” Cleanline bonzer 5: Tim Stafford-Glass Tiger collaboration and heading up to Peter in Scotland. Hopefully it will get into some Caithness Glass before too long.
A little sanding, a little artwork, speed coats, some microgrooves and these three demos will be ready for some aquatics…
6’0 Porpoise EVO4 in clear and trans blue resin tint, Cleanline 6’4” EVO5 in clear (this one is for Anthony but he says he’ll let people borrow it), Cleanline 6’10” EVO5 in amber tint…
3 boards going through at the moment… Demo 6’0” Porpoise EVO4 , Anthony’s 6’4” Cleanline EVO5 (in clear!), and a Demo 6’10” Cleanline EVO5… all due for completion next Friday… pray for surf.
Ok I know this is a first – a clear board from me! This is test-pilot Anthony's new board. He wanted a shorter high performance version of his 5 fin 6’10 Cleanline… here it is... 6’4” x 19 1/4” x 2 3/8”. Clear glass on fins on this one too…
