Welcome back everyone!
Today I am getting back to my roots with a normal what they ride about a dear friend. Tad Mask is an ex-St Augustinian currently holed up in New York riding out the Covid storm. I have known Tad for over ten years and through our shared love for surfing, nerdy things and arguing with each other we became close friends rather quickly. You know those people that move away that you still end up talking to you multiple times a day? That’s Tad to me.
When I met Tad his surfboard knowledge was sparse and skills were intermediate at best but he trusted me to help him build a quiver that allowed him to excel quickly. Im pretty sure we started with a 6’0″ K-Whip model and ever since then when he needs a board we always come together and brain storm on his next move. He still regularly orders boards from the shop so when he came to me asking about a versatile step up for pretty serious surf I pointed him in the direction of the Mayhem retro gun… enjoy!
surfer- Tad Mask
height- 6’3″
weight- 190 lbs
Board- Lost Surfboards by Mayhem Retro Gun
6’4” X 19.5″ X 2.63″, 32.25L running FCS2 Mayhem quads
A good step up has a nice blend of volume and curve which this board has in spades.
Lost’s retro series have some of the best colorwork on the racks..
words from Tad on his banana boat:
“I bought this board in 2019 in anticipation for a trip to French Polynesia. After getting three days to surf various breaks in Tahiti, we were going to be on a sailboat for 12 days, checking out some of the other islands in French Polynesia. Only bringing three boards, I decided I need a versatile step-up instead of a gun (and let’s be real – I was going to be surfing by myself mostly, at isolated spots, and wasn’t going to be surfing 15’+ reef passes by myself).
I had some conversation with friends who had been to the same areas I was going, and one of the things they emphasized was having too much board length could be a disadvantage – most of the waves were not long pointbreaks but big fast, pitching reefbreaks that needed a board that could make a steep drop in a compressed area. I was looking for a board that had the float and length to allow for getting into steep, overhead reef passes, but could also make the quarter-mile paddles from our boat to the break and back bearable.
Doing some research and asking my friend/board guru Matt about some likely options, I settled on a 6’4 Retro Gun by Matt Biolos at Mayhem. The board was 2-3” longer than my normal shortboard length, had a nice heft without being too heavy, and the slightly more-round pin tail and FCSII 5-fin plug setup offered me some options. This RG was perfect for the entire trip, and was awesome in a variety of waves. Another added bonus for this board is that the same advantages that allowed me to ride this at big, fun tropical reefs are also advantages when riding the bigger winter swells in New York, where I live. I love the RG, and I’ve found I actually really like using it was a quad, with my go-to fins being the L Blue MB Shaper series FCSII fins.”
CHECK OUT OUR INVENTORY OF STEP UPS HERE!
