TAJ BURROW TUBE PIG from Lost Video Productions on Vimeo.
Next in line of our continuing collaboration with Taj, is the aptly named “Tube Pig”. This one came about in 2014, when building a quiver for Taj to ride at home. We made a handful of boards specifically built to with stand beatings from, and perform on, the battering wind-buffed barrels of his beloved beach breaks and radical reefs. Not concerned with contests, ultra-light weights, or whipping airs and “finners”, we built a bit of substance into a few boards hoping they would last in the demanding conditions.
One board in particular was at 5’9” 18.32” 2.25” and 25 liters of volume. Featuring a pronounced round pin tail, with narrower than average hip and a slightly wider than typical nose, it ooozed of drive. Married to the outline is a typical high performance rocker, but with less concave throughout, which runs the rail rocker pretty parallel to the stringer line. This results in no radical curves or breaks in the rail line. One not so noticeable feature that really adds to the effectiveness of this design, is that the nose is just slightly thicker than the tail at both the 12” and 24” marks. This really seems to add both paddle power and drive off the front foot. Individually these features are all pretty subtle. Unlike The Round-Up/Rock-Up, and other exaggerated shortened step-ups, they are not strikingly different looing…But all combined, the whole became greater than the sum of its parts.
On the first one I wrote a note along the stringer of the first “Tube Shooter”. During a recent run of swell in WA, a series of exasperatingly excited texts poured in from TB. Claims like… ”I am not sure if it interests you or not, but this is the best board I have ever ridden in the tube. It’s a real Tube Pig. The thickness lets me in early and it knifes in solid tubes better than any shorty would. Paddle power to catch them, but the short little board fits in the curve better than a gun, and still holds in”. Accompanied with the texts was a relentless assault of gloriously lit videos and photos from Taj’s last couple weeks of surfing. That was enough for me. The Tube Pig… by Taj Burrow. Now…when it’s firing, everyone can go out and make a pig of themselves. Meant to be ridden about the same size, or just a bit longer as your normal board, but mainly for those powerful pumping days in hollow beach breaks and reefs at home…or on the road.
