Back when 61-year-old Tom Carroll was on the Championship Tour, the surfboards he rode were too long, and the waves he competed in were too small. Aside from Pipeline, the former ASP’s WCT was basically a small wave grind. Somehow, guys like Carroll made 6’ surfboards work in 1’ surf.
Today, there are so many options to have fun in junk surf. Case in point: The Channel Islands Bobby Quad, a small wave weapon that makes gutless surf exciting.
The crew at the Onboard store in Australia recently surprised Tom Carroll with a new Bobby Quad to test in very subpar surf.
“I’ve been pining for this,” says Carroll, eyes wide, when presented with a fresh, unwaxed board made just for him. “This is so slick, this thing. I’ve been watching people rip on these things. Sweet little double concave, with a v out the back, and I guess you could say it has a swallow square [tail]?”
“Bobby likes to hack at things, doesn’t he?” Onboard’s Luca Elder laughs back.
The pair proceeds to paddle out and fly around on a small right rip bowl. It’s obvious from the clips that the board requires little effort, and will make otherwise bad waves enjoyable. Click play to watch for yourself, and read on below for more info about the next surfboard you need in your quiver:
“This model’s story all began a few years back when Bobby asked us to build him something special to stay fast, loose and on top of the water in the small surf his backyard dishes up most of the year. The best part of this board project was that it exceeded his wildest expectations.
“Aside from his ask for building a spicy small wave board that lived up to his high-performance standards, it also had to be a quad fin set-up.
“Bobby’s shortboards are 5’8” but for this customized four-finner he was thinking we ought to take it down to 5’2”. By shortening the rail line and distributing the volume into the width throughout the plan shape, he was able to skate over the flats and carry enough speed to still fit in his signature gauges.
“The Bobby Quad has a low entry rocker that goes into a flat planing surface under the gas pedal portion of the board—this provides the speed to get into waves and over those flat sections. The exit rocker and bottom contours are designed to be all business—with performance oriented flip and generous double concave for added lift to help Bobby boogie down the line in weak-sauce waves. Its tail rocker profile, combined with some width in the tail and modified swallow, provide speed and hold during quick directional changes.
“The model is designed to be ridden 3” to 6” shorter and 1/4” to 1/2” wider than your shortboard. For reference, Bobby’s dimensions are 5’2 x 19 x 2 5/16.
“With feedback from other teamriders and customers, we’ve learned that the Bobby Quad is versatile enough to be scaled up for those wanting to increase their wave count. The rail stays nicely foiled (not chunky) at fuller dimensions, so to maintain the integrity of the design we recommend adding thickness over width to hit your volume. As for fins, we recommend you run your favorite quad templates.”
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