Many of the performance short boards on the market are designed for punchy hollow waves. The kind of waves we don't see every day in the South West. Having a high performance board in your quiver for the good days is a must. Having a board that works on the smaller days is something that makes the challenging surf more fun.
The guys at Mango hooked me up with Nigel Semmens at Ocean Magic Surfboard Factory who designed and finished my recent Mango 6,3 performance short board. I was stoked with how the board performed and wanted to take all the qualities of that board into my small wave board.
The plan was to make a board that would be easier to turn in slower waves as well as skip across any flat sections in the wave. By making the board shorter and wider we were hoping to create a board that would work in good waves but also excel in the harder conditions we often have to surf.
My recent performance board was on a computer file which meant we could make amendments to the dimensions whilst keeping the contours very similar. We decided to take two inches off the length and add half inch to the width of the board. The computer then matches the new dimensions to the existing board design.
After a few weeks the board was ready for collection. I took the new step down board on a trip to Ireland and gave it a good testing in the waist to head high waves. It felt similar to my performance board, so it wasn't a big transition. It just made the challenging surf lots of fun. Definitely keeping this model in the quiver for the smaller days.
Board Dimensions
6,1 x 21 x 2 5/8 - 36.95ltrs
