Are Alternative Surfboards Just A Trend? | Surf100 Mexico

Over time boards have gotten smaller, wider, and in some cases softer. All these changes, whether slight or severe, have been a direct response to consumer demand. Britt Merrick at Channel Islands surfboards gave us his take on the two categories.

[vegetables]

stab is just one of those angry fellas on his thruster when the waves are 2 foot and everyone else is on logs

[SkipperSurfReview]

I love alternative boards Lovelace, Album and NPJ. They come with better quality and I find them working much better delivering amazing glide than high performance hybrids from the shelf. I’ve recently got CI Twin Pin. That’s the only board that I was interested in big brand lately. It’s a great board however the glass job is poor. So many pressure bumps after 3 sessions. Anyway, I think the alternative boards have a bright future🤙🏼🤙🏼🤙🏼

[John-tgvn]

Wasn’t the thruster an alt board when it originally came out?

[ross]

I’m in my 30s and have had a bunch of shoulder injuries. I still ride a HPSB on good days. But I’m not going pro any time soon so alternative boards make it much easier to get into waves on smaller weaker days.

[ifanemyr]

I personally hope he's right, that everyone will go back to struggling on thrusters and I'll be the only twinny/log/quad guy out having a blast. I preferred to be the alternative guy whereas now, I'm the same as everyone else.... 😲

[evangillespiemusic]

I would love to think unconventional surfboards are here to stay, look at what Tomo is doing with his design’s, who doesn’t love a twinny with a bit of extra volume for the older guys ha,

[bradwalker]

Open your minds people. It's not one or the other. We are entering a new realm of surfing where you can literally have 5 or 10 boards and love each of them equally. The board design simply dictates the way in which you wish to approach the waves on any given day, depending on the conditions.

[glennsak]

Only 5% of the surfing population can even ride a high performance shortboard well. They are the pros. If you are an intermediate surfer, expect lots of missed waves, arm flapping and butt humping.

[sharkfinsurfchannel]

The problem is thrusters don't work very often in some places I own at least 25 boards. The thrusters mostly just sit there.

[thomevans]

I think that there is a time and place for both, there are different conditions that ask for different boards and also if you have a very well made, high performance alt board, they can go just as well as standard shorties but they do different things

[vaughnsigal]

If every wave was exactly the same, you could ride the same thruster all year long. Different waves need different boards

[paulisexpensive]

this is a great advert - i wonder if channel islands want people to buy a new performance short board?

[dylanrobertson]

Simon Anderson’s thruster is over 40 years old. at what point does it become retro?

[adamwaz]

He does realise that only a minute % of surfers can actually utilise a performance surfboard and the vast majority of surfers just want to have maximum fun out in the surf. More foam=paddle power=more waves 🤙🤙

[sawoszao]

Well that aged great with CI releasing single fin midlengths etc

[zareh]

I mean I’ve been surfing “Alt” boards since day 1 and love them. My style just compliments them.

[noahg-]

so psyched for this one, especially the focus on the equipment. I think no matter how much media gets put out on pros boards, it's never really gonna be enough...

[jordysanchez]

They been here for a while now , 55 x 19 1/4 remember ?, and they are here to stay ,

[craig]

I like alternative boards because I can get the dimensions I want. I would love a Lost performance board appropriate for my age and weight but they are impossible to find right now.

[devinsupera]

From my experiences trying different shapes and styles in different conditions, it just feels like i'm doing more on my less high performance boards most of the time. I think if I was a lot better and had access to better waves more often it would be hard to get me off hi-fi but as an average surfer with below average conditions, taking out something odd just makes more out of the slop to me.