Deep down, every surfer loves a good swallow tail. Even Kelly Slater. There’s just something about the elegance of the refined design and the speed and freedom it provides. Whether it’s a retro-style fish or a high-performance shred sled, they’re just cool.
And now Slater has just released his spin on the timeless concept with the new FRK Swallow model from Slater Designs. A collaboration with longtime conspirator Dan Mann, it’s been a work in progress for awhile.
“Dan knows how to shape a board. He’s made a lot of boards out there that people love,” Slater shared in an announcement about the board. “Me and him kind of speak the same language. When you speak to a shaper you can kind of tell if you’re on the same wavelength. He and I tend to have a lot of things to compare about what we know about design.”
Slater Designs
And in terms of design, there are a few things that catch the eye when sussing the board. The swallow tail “eliminates surface area in the last six inches of the board. You get the width of a squash tail for planning speed, but the reduction in surface area makes it easier to sink the rail,” Mann explains.
In his formative years, Slater was notorious for riding “glass slippers,” or boards that had the lightest of glass jobs and were so fragile they were practically disposable. Not so much with the FRK Swallow. Built with Firewire‘s exclusive I-Bolic Technology, “this will last forever,” Slater testifies.
“It’s not an ultra, ultra-light board. It’s got a little bit of weight and substance to it, so when you have a wave and some interval and some power in it [I-Bolic Technology] has enough weight and mass to keep that inertia and that flow in the wave,” he adds.
The Slater Designs FRK Swallow is now on sale at finer surf shops everywhere, and you can dig into dimensions and details online.
Slater Designs
Slater Designs
Related: Kelly Slater Graces Cover of SURFER Magazine’s New Print Issue