The SURFIT Mid Length - Your Board

The SURFIT Mid Length was designed for a wave at my local beach and it turns out to be a great all round design for you too

The wave the SURFIT Mid Length was designed for starts to break at double overhead and holds size to about 4 times overhead.

The wave comes out of deeper water. You have to make your decision to commit early, and start paddling, as the wave travels fast. You have to get your board moving with a short number of paddle strokes to be able to get to take off speed to get in. Otherwise you get pitched.

When the wave hits the underwater bank it has a massive thick peak that pitches top to bottom, and it's heavy. So early entry is vital.

Above, this is the wave I designed the SURFIT Mid Length to master. You can see that the whole top section is pitching. The SURFIT Mid Length though is already down the face before the lip! It paddles fast, gets you into the wave early, making the take off easier. Below, it turns out the SURFIT Mid Length works great across all waves and wave sizes, even down to below knee height where you can max your fun mixing up your surfing style

Boards Tried

I'd tried a few different boards to get a handle on this wave.

SURFIT 3 Series

The SURFIT 3 Series is a Shortboard shape optimised for high performance. The drawn in nose and tail easily fit in sucky pockets so you can jam critical moves. The board is also low volume with extra low rails giving bite & great carving. Low area as well makes it super easy to whip in and out of turns. The single-concave to double-concave in a hull with special vee placement gives a heap of speed when there's nothing in the wave, so you don't have to work for it

The first board I took out was a SURFIT 3 Series, one of the High Performance HP Shortboard models. This board is optimised for performance, super fast with instant responsive turns.

First, without the extra length this board did not have enough paddle speed in the short distance to catch the wave, so I had to sit more inside to get into the wave, catching it more under the lip. This lead to missing the bigger bombs, that would break farther out, that I'd end up getting on the head.

It also led to getting pitched as the top fifth of the wave turns to lip and just pitches and the shorter board just couldn't get under it in time. If the peak was shifting, or there was lump or chop, this smaller board would get buffeted and lose paddle speed.

The waves that were caught on the SURFIT 3 HP would have a super fast freefall drop then with its shorter rail outline, while you could hold your line, you couldn't do the long driving turns needed on the bigger open faces.

Also the smaller board required a lot of energy. It was harder to paddle around. As the surf progressed and energy levels dropped it got harder to match the wave's takeoff speed resulting in problematic takeoffs.

California Gun

8'6 and a beautiful board. Yet still not getting up to takeoff speed in the short amount of time and distance

The next board I tried was a California-style Gun. It had a typical narrow nose, narrow tail, very lean.

The problem with this board was that, even though 8'6, it didn't get paddling fast enough or quick enough. It did paddle, but was slow to get going to match and beat the wave. If the peak was shifting or conditions weren't ideal, the board would get caught in the lip.

So length alone didn't help.

On the waves that the Gun did get into and make the drop, it was unstable, finicky not so great with lumps and chop. It could hold a longer turn yet these were straighter line, more like changes of direction rather than open face carves. When the shoulder was smaller than the peak and the wave started to lose power, 8'6 was a lot of board to have to move around.

Design Rationale

The design rationale for the SURFIT Mid Length was to have the best features of a Longboard with the best features of a Shortboard. So from the Longboard you get great paddling and stability that equates to easy wave catching and popups, along with continuous flow on the wave. From the Shortboard you get great drive from the rail with responsiveness, the board going where you want, carving how you want

So the board I designed had to get into the wave early and easily. Not scrambling in, or free falling, but with plenty of control.

Second, once on the wave I didn't want to be stuck in a straight line finding it hard to turn. I wanted freedom on the face being able to carve. To drive into sections, to work the face, make barrels, do cutbacks and repeat.

Collaborating with my buddy Paulie, who makes his own classic Longboards under the Joe Cools label, we talked about a solution. Blending the paddling and ease of surfing of a Longboard with the responsiveness and fun of a Shortboard - with the addition of making the board extra easy to ride, so reducing risk and maximising fun in heavy conditions.

The SURFIT Mid Length

The SURFIT Mid Length uses EPS foam as its core, with your choice of glassing. You can have the traditional tint and cut lap rails, as shown in the Orange pics, or any colour and design you like. There's also the option for high tech lightweight carbon to really blast speed and fun out of your small waves

The result is the SURFIT Mid Length - a spectacular, easy riding, fun board.

Not only did it meet the design rationale, its design is so good it works across all waves, giving you consistent easy super fun surfing. It's there for you if you want to drive hard and take on the lip. It also goes great easy cruising, giving you stylish performance so that you're make more sections, getting longer rides.

It also helps your style as while it helps you do turns, it smooths out erratic moves so your surfing flows.

The Design

Momentum

The SURFIT Mid Length's wider and fuller nose carries through the first third of the board so you get great paddling. You can feel your speed increasing with each stroke. Whether it's getting into that fast moving peak or paddling around a packed crew or into a tiny wave, your board gets and maintains speed.

This paddle speed gives you easy-entry into the wave. You're not stuck in the lip or having that feeling your board is pushing-back when you try to stand. You get continual momentum into the wave and down the face so you can pop to your feet before the wave starts to pitch. This makes your takeoff way easier.

The fin setup makes a big difference. As a twin is how I ride it, with big keels. You get a lot of speed and drive with a looser feel through the tail. Whenever you want you can move forward and have the tail skate around behind you creating a lot of fun in mid to small size waves. You don't have a tracking feeling, rather it's super free. The 2 + 1 configuration below is the traditional setup, assisting with cruising down the line and drawn out carving turns

 

Once on your feet this fuller front area gives you stability, a great connection with your board.

In bigger surf when there's lumps, chop and wind up the face, this momentum and stability helps you cope with it all, easily. 

Control Sweet Spot

Performing great in smaller waves the SURFIT Mid Length gives you a great sweet spot for control. From there, without having to move your feet around, you can speed sections or do turns. Above, in the sweet spot managing speed setting up for a small barrel. Below, in the sweet carving off the top

The SURFIT Mid Length has a great sweet spot back behind the mid point in front of the fins. Here you get great control  and the perfect balance between consistent flow and the ability to do turns at will.

You don't have to dance around the board, going forward to try to get speed then jump back to do a turn.

From the sweet spot the board naturally glides faster than the pace of the wave. So you make longer rides, easily getting around close out sections. You can go into turns too carving to the lip, doing a top turn, then cutting back to the power.

This equates to being able to do more turns when and where you want. Your board isn't forcing you to go straight.

Helping you progress, you can move your back foot toward the tail and do pivot moves. These pivot turns are shorter arc so are more critical. After each turn your board keeps you flowing into the next section helping you setup for your next move.

All Round Fun

From 3 times overhead to knee high, the great features of the SURFIT Mid Length give you a heap of fun in all the waves you surf

Originally designed for that one break the SURFIT Mid Length goes great in all waves.

For example the great paddling, easy entry and takeoff gets you into your day-to-day waves early and effortlessly. If you're a little unfit or don't surf much, you will still match paddling with the crew, the Groms and Hotties, getting your fair share of waves.

When it's tiny you can catch waves, carve turns and smack small lips. You can even mix it up with moves like a Hang 5 or Hang 10!

Your SURFIT Mid Length

For me my SURFIT Mid Length is my bigger wave board. It gets me into monster waves with control and ease that no other board could.

It's also my board I take out when I want to mix it up and have extra fun. This can be on a mid size wave where I want to work on my style, holding a rail, doing a longer turn. I also take it out in tiny stuff, when it's hard to even get a wave!

Hey, when everyone else can barely stand up, you're doing Hang 5s and having real fun!

Your SURFIT Mid Length will do all this for you too. You will have such a great time, being able to focus on riding the wave, doing your turns and moves, all super easy!