The story behind a couple of boards built for speed in smaller to average waves. One of them is floating somewhere in the Pacific Ocean unfortunately. If someone finds it, @PyzelSurfboardsInternational is offering a reward.
Pyzel Red Tiger Surfboard
Silky smooth, even in junk waves, and possibly our fastest board yet, The Red Tiger is John John Florence’s new High Performance Shortboard unlike anything Pyzel have released in the past. It is the ultimate performance machine for small/medium sized, slower, weaker waves based on John’s simple guidance – make it Fast and Fun.
The idea for this board was hatched when John began riding some different – fun boards -during some breaks from competing. By far his favorite in the last year has been our new flat rockered, Funformance board, the White Tiger (5’6″), and he asked Pyzel to turn that design into something he could take back on tour to ride when the surf was less than pumping or on the weaker side. The outline is a touch on the plump side for a HPSB, but the wide point sits a more traditional inch behind center, keeping the emphasis to surfing it off the mid to back half of the board. The wider tail-block squash helps to keep area in the tail which provides lift and drive, and also helps create pop when going to the air. A moderate hip by the front fins puts a break in the outline to help create a pivot point that allows for tighter radius turns and release in the lip. The rocker and bottom contour is really what sets this board from other boards in this category. Its our flattest HPSB so far and that rocker translates to easy, consistent speed from the moment you stand up, through flat sections and even in super weak, small waves. But, flat rocker can feel sticky and tends to make you surf flat, so we run single to double concave (JJF’s favorite bottom contour) through the front 2/3 of the board and then blend that into a significant double concave/deep vee combo through the fins and off the tail. This bottom keeps the flatter board easy to roll rail-to-rail and the vee of the tail works to allow easy vertical surfing and short-arc carves, even in tight, pockety waves. The thickness flow (foil) from nose to tail is balanced and clean, with the front of the board just barely thinner than the back half. The deck is flat-ish, keeping more foam (volume) out towards the rails. The actual rails are full just in from the outline (under the ball of your hand if you are holding the board under your arm), but are tapered to keep sensitivity and bite. Ride your Red Tiger around an inch shorter than normal HPSB, and a bit wider. Volume should be close, but go up a ½ to1 liter for added zing in weaker waves. The board will easily turn your everyday sessions into something special and we believe it will outperform any other HPSB in underpar waves AND still come through when the surf turns on!
Pyzel White Tiger Surfboard
The White Tiger is the latest offering in Pyzel’s Funformance category – a fun, stubby little board designed for average/below average waves. It gets up and goes easily, flies through the weakest sections, but still lets you smash the lip and boost airs along the way. The very first one was a side project board for John John Florence, who rarely rides “fun” boards, just sticks to pure performance. It sat in his garage for maybe a year, and in the meantime I made a few for his little brother Ivan. It was the perfect design to fit Ivan’s surf/skate style and soon he was telling us how much he loved it and sending us clips of him doing big carves and boosting airs on it. Finally JJF pulled his 5’6″ out and was immediately having a blast on it too. Now its one of John’s favorite boards to ride whenever he has some time off from the tour and just wants to play around with something different.
Here’s the basic info on what makes the White Tiger:
It has a clean but stubby outline, with a very full nose and wide squash tail. There is no hip and the wide point is 1 ½” forward of the center. The tail measurement is just slightly wider than the nose. The thickness is also concentrated forward, with a beak-nose design that helps keep the volume up under the chest area for better paddle power. The bottom rocker is even and flowing, flat throughout the board and designed to get up on top of the water quickly, which lets you build and carry speed with ease. The bottom has a single/double concave running through the front 2/3s of the board which transitions into a pronounced vee/double concave in the last 1/3 through the fins and off the end of the tail. The single/double concave give the board lots of lift (think speed) while helping to let the wider design transition from rail to rail with ease. The vee running off the tail also helps the board tip over onto the rail at speed and lets you turn it up into the lip with ease. It has a relatively flat deck that blends out into tapered rails. This keeps a lot of volume in the board while still keeping it sensitive through turns and easy to pump down the line without feeling too boaty for its volume. The Pyzel team recommend you ride the White Tiger anywhere from 2-5″ shorter than your regular shortboard depending on your surfing ability, and ½ to 1″ wider and add a bit more volume than you normally ride. (JJF and Ivan both ride 5’6″ White Tigers and their normal boards are 6’0″).
