This is my latest breakthrough is surfboard design for river waves... its taken countless protoypes all year to come up with what I feel is the ultimate performance board for river waves. In order to arrive here I had to stop and think... WHY is a board designed for the ocean shaped the way it is, and WHY are boards designed for Wakes (behind motorboats) so totally different? What was the specific needs, and factors of the environment, that lead to these two "surfboards" being so totally different.

What we have in common with ocean surfing: We do drive, we do cover some distance. We do climb the wave face, make dynamic lip snaps, reentries, floaters etc. We're able to use the face in height as well as width. We drive about the face like an ocean wave, and our turns are largely much the same.

What we have in common with wake surfing: We don't need to make sections. Compared to the ocean, our top speeds are often low. Take off is a non issue. The wave has no real lip, so lip tricks are not great, so things are done on the face. The waves are slow and mushy, limited in size. If you blow a turn, you can regroup and try again... the wave doesn't leave you behind. You can literally learn the wave.

We are in fact neither one, nor the other, but realistically something in the middle. For the last two years I have been moving slowly away from traditional ocean surfboard shapes, but still "locked" into the concepts. As such, my boards were smaller versions of ocean boards with some changes - shorter and wider, less rocker, wider tails, quad fins with teh trailing fins small so they can easilly be slid out and released without needing a developed lip. But, other than that, essentially they were ocean boards. Tucked 60/40 rounded rails, tri or quad fins with the forward fins still very present and pronounced. There is no doubt, that on habitat, my "river boards" simply work much better than ocean boards - they are faster, turn with more snap, let you get higher on the wave in a turn without flushing off, let moves like tail slides and 360's happen with far more ease... etc etc... but still... its been nagging me and it wasn't until I said "This is NOT the ocean" that it opened my mind to rethinking from ground 0, what we need. Start again. rethink every aspect of the boards shape. why is each feature the way it is, and if its for something that does not exist in our environment, throw it out and put in something better suited.


The reason boards have rounded rails is so they can grip the surface of the water, and not slide out when at high speeds, tracking own the line, helping you make sections, or climb the face of the wave. Round rails are slower, but more forgiving. They grip and climb, but they do not grab and snap up. Hard rails tend to release and slide, and sometimes be unforgiving or unpredictable. On the river, there are no sections to make. Face climbing is limited to an instant, and down the line drive to no more than a second. A hard edge that engages, and snaps the board up teh face and across the wave in an instant is an advantage over one that is smoother and more subtle. By the time it would begin to slide out, the drive is over anyway... you've arrived... the wave has ended and its time to go the other way. The increase in speed allows the board and rider to do more with the wave between turns, other than pump back onto the wave. Therefore, the V6 has a promounced rail, a hard edge, from tip to tail. Unlike a wake board however, this I have tucked slightly. Not as much as an ocean board, but it is tucked because we DO travel further than behind a boat. But the increase in speed from the releasing rail (combined with the lower tail rocker) in significent, and I'm able to cut back and forward across the wave without pumping at all - this is a first. The rail from the fins back then has a negative sidewall much like a wake surf, letting it dig and hold hard and firm - to help the fins, for what they are. The deck and volume of the board however is much closer to an ocean board than a wake surf, at 18 3/4" wide and 1 7/8" thick with a good deck crown.

Fins, large trailing fins, are located in the rear of ocean boards to stop the tail sliding out while driving down the line. The give hold on lip moves, and help the rider drive hard through the bottom of the turn on fast moving waves. These factors are moot out here on the river. You need no more fin than is necessary to let the board hold for the 2 or 3 meters its going to travel, on a non walled out face. having 3 small fins which combined have a similar surface area as the 1 1/2" fins that are engaged in a thruster set-up gives similar hold while the board is on edge and driving, but as soon as its flatened out, they slide immediately. This makes it easier to do tail slides, 360's etc without the need of a curling past vertical lip pushing you back on. Lay backs, and all the power derived ocean moves which largly escape us on rivers become possible. granted, sometimes in mid turn from time to time you'll feel the fins slide out and you have to catch yourself. but thats OK. its not like you're going to get left behind by the wave. You can stop, regroup, and start again. Anyhow, there is no sense in a board that gives you 15 min rides when you're going to get pushed off the wave by the next rider after 2 minutes. Better to have a board that maximises that 2 minutes rather than one that makes it easy. Putting in slightly larger forward fins helps the transition from a regular thruster to this system, and I've had it set up this way for people to try out, but I'm riding it with 6 small fins, and it rocks.

So far, the V6 is the board that I feel has the most potential to open new doors on the river waves we're surfing. Time will tell.
Everyone agrees... the board is lightning fast, and super turny and snappy. But they also agree, it takes a session or two to get used to. But from intermediate surfer like Christine to an expert like Oliver, it seems that the board is easilly rideable once you figure it out and its inherent differances from traditional ocean surfing.