Breaking news!

Ian from San Francisco:

"Well I have been working to much but I have ridden the 13'er a few more times and got some friends together for a test ride today. The surf was a bit funky looking this morning, but the sun came out and the swell picked up after we paddled out.

I had a hard time paddling out because my leash wrapped knotted around the fin.The board would work much better without a leash, but not an option at large OB. After I fixed this I got right out but had to paddle back the 3-4 blocks I had drifted south to meet up with my friends. By then the sun came out with glassy waves that were head1/2 with some 2x overhead sets.

I caught a few good ones and was getting comfortable with the board. When I was sitting on the outside the wave of the day came and I was square-- deep on the A-frame peak. My friend with the Gopro camera was 20' infront of me and lined up just right. I threw the board over the ledge and aired out most of the 13ft board. On bigger boards with some weight to them this works if you can get the nose to hang up in the offshores just enough to set the rail 1/2 way down on a big face. After I landed the drop it felt like cutting butter on the bottom turn and I blew by my friend and made the next two sections. When I hit the innerbar it closed out and I jumped off and got rolled over the falls a few times and bumped the board once. When I came up the board was in pieces. My friends said it was solid double overhead+ but the cameras batteries had died.

I break a lot of boards every year and was very bummed out to see this one go. I am sorry that the guys in Southern California didn't get a chance to ride it in lined up waves. The challenge was about it working in solid surf so that is what I took it out in. 

My take on the board is that you have to know how to ride large boards or it is going to take you a while to adjust and figure out how to make it work. The board was a work of art and it must have taken a lot of time and skill to make it. It has a cool flexy ride that I have never felt before and does work well in clean surf. The paddle speed is very good and it connects sections well- twangs through the flat spots. On the drops it goes very fast and feels like the tail planes up out of the water the faster you go. When the wave slows down the tail goes down in the water and you slow back down. The over all effect is that the board self regulates the speed and wants to be slotted all the time.

On one of the big nasty bumpy days at OB I did max out the flex after the whole board was planing out of the water and I hit some bumps. On junky big waves you need a stiffer board. I think this board was very fun to ride and could see a place in my quiver for it.

I am sorry but I think it is beyond repair so the test may be over."