Surfer: Eddie Toy
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 230 pounds
Board: CI Surfboards Pod Mod Torq construction 6’6 x 21 7/8” x 2 7/8”
Years Surfing: 40
Hometown: Melbourne, FL
Favorite Surf Spot: Satellite Beach
Here’s one for the big guys! Eddie, the owner of the shop dog Jackson, is the friendly face you find in the upstairs back office at the shop. He runs our website and SEO utilization and has been part of the backbone at the shop for many years. Eddie has always been able to articulate what he likes and dislikes about his boards so here are his words on his newest addition to the quiver, enjoy!
After years of experimenting with different sports including SUP, kitesurfing, and foiling I realized that my favorite thing to do is to wax up a surfboard, strap a leash on my ankle and paddle out with my own two arms. My SUP experience led me to try different surfboards with increased volume. I’ve always ridden shortboards growing up surfing beach breaks in Florida, so I was not interested in a fun shape per se. I already have a longboard, but that’s not really my style.
So when I was looking at a new groveler for smaller, mushy surf I knew that I wanted something that was functional, but also more durable than a standard poly surfboard. Enter Torq. Torq Surfboards offers a few different technologies, and the X-Lite is the Pod Mod construction. Torq claims that X-Lite offers a very durable and affordable design with increased flexibility and light weight.
I chose the 6’6″ Pod Mod, which is the largest size they make at 47.6L. Dimensions are 6’6 x 21 7/8” x 2 7/8”. At my weight, I can BARELY duck dive this much volume, and I can barely fit it under my arm, so I definitely would not go any bigger. In fact, if they had a 6’4″ I would do that instead.
This board paddles great, and has a bunch of volume up front with a fuller nose. The pulled in swallow tail with 5-fin configuration gives a few different options for setup. I chose to ride it tri-fin with a set of old school Futures. I feel like the thruster setup is good for more top to bottom surfing, and gives more pivot off the tail than a quad. While the Pod Mod is technically designed as a groveler, the extra paddle power and performance shape makes all the difference in overhead surf.
Last March I was in my hometown for one of the bigger swells of the year, which coincided with light offshore winds. My family still lives down that way, so I dropped the kids off with my parents and headed to Satellite Beach for a low tide session.
I caught a few good waves, but by far my best wave was a right out the back that stood up nicely on the inside and offered several decent turns that felt insane. Walking back up the beach, I spoke with a local photographer Kan Quan that apparently posts up there quite a bit, and he emailed me a link to his Google Photos. Checking back a few days later I was stoked to see he shot a sequence of my entire wave!! Definitely some of the best surf photos I have ever had of myself.
