The surfboards you ride make an unbelievable difference in what your surfing looks like. The set your looking at here are the boards I use to surf the gulf. On the far left I’ve got a Viking longboard. It’s 9’3 and coyld easily be my most used board. Considering that fact that the surf on the gulf is probably among the worst and least consistent surf in the world, this is a go to for the small, almost non-existent sloppy chop we see regularly. Next is my Martin high performance shortboard. This is the one I ride when I want to move some water and get verticle. For a high performance board it works pretty good despite being somewhat unbalanced (more elongated concave on one side). I honestly don’t expect a hand shaped board from a guy who couldn’t have made more than 50 lifetime boards to be perfectly cut out of a machine. It does what I need it to do when I need to do it, and since the bigger surf this board is ideal for comes so infrequently, it should last many years. Next is the Lost. It needs no explanation. The puddle jumper is a fun little board for quick cutbacks in the pocket and can be layed back on the rail for a snap like maneuver on the right waves. Don’t expect it to put out much water when the surf is big. I bought this about 5 sizes too big. I probably should be surfing this in a 5’8. It was planned as a substitute for the 9’3, however is nothing more than a big clunky, slightly more buoyant, shortboard. It’s probably going to be my number one all around board. The Torq is the next board. This one is about the same amount of foam as the Lost with a different, more old-school shape. It’s a pop out from China probably (the Lost is made in Thailand). The Torq is noticeably lower quality. It fell over and split down the side, a low quality build. Yhe design is really flat. It doesn’t flow down the wave like any normal board should. With the pin tail you might think it could get up in the pocket, but it doesn’t really seem to. It’s still a brand new board, and may be worth a surfing in the small stuff on occasion. Last is the Martin tesin tint. Dylan Martin made this custom for the gulf (like the other one). I asked for a board that would be a high performance good wave board, and got this. It’s a mushburger wave board with a convex bottom (opposite of normal boards which are concave). It can’t do bottom turns. If I stay on top of it it rockets out of the whitewater. It also feels really good and loose off the lip. It’s super fun in small surf.

This set of boards are the boards I’ve been able to and wanted to get my hands on over the years. They have treated me well. I’d be stokes to see what set of boards you’ve got laying around your garage or in your storage room. Send in a picture of your quiver. You could even write a blurb about how they work. Inquiring minds want to know. Send pictures and info to editor@surfingthegulf.com.