Hello everyone!
We are back with a local shredder profile featuring Franchot Barba (Fran-CHO, not CHOT) a long time friend of mine. I have known Franchot since he spoke broken English in his high school years after relocating here from Venezuela. He is always a good time and I have many fond surf memories with him including lining up with the dance studio tower and splitting peaks during the 2005 dredge. We wouldnt even call each other but every day around 2 hours before high tide we would both show up and paddle out to the same spot and surf our brains out!
I have been helping him with boards since around that time when he bought a 5’11″x18 1/8″x 2 1/8″ CI Flyer 2 F from me… I wonder what happened to that model(what did it morph into?) While we used to be similar in build Chachi(fond nickname) has beefed up over the years and started a family so it has been difficult keeping him on boards that arent too long while maintaining top end performance. He recently had a 5’7″x19 1/4″x 2 5/16″ swallow tail CI sampler that he loved and a 5’9″x18 7/8″x 2 5/16″ Fever in Spine tek but he soon found that he needed a little more volume as he continued to pack on the muscle (naturally jacked I say).
Franchot with his princess Rowan.
Surfer: Franchot Barba
height – 5’9″
weight – 180 lbs
board: Channel Islands Fever swallow tail with Spine-tek EPS construction aka the “Pink Panther” shaped by Mike Walters
5’9″ x 19 1/8″ x 2 3/8″ 27.6L FCS2 Tri-fin using large Mick Fanning Neo Carbon
Funny story, the Pink Panther was originally a custom for a customer who is notorious for ordering boards and not picking them up(logo color this time..). So when Franchot hit me up saying he may grab it off the rack I lol-ed as the board obviously works great. One thing I can say is that I am pumped my friend has found the right formula and hopefully he can use this board as a yard stick for his future quiver choices!
all photos courtesy of Greg Olech and Franchot Barba
