Wooden Surfboard Ride Report: The 5’6” ADPT

First up is the 5’6” ADPT, a board that has recently been out on the trestles, as it is the direct inspiration for, and elder sibling to, our 6’2” Swift. One of which we now have as a rare custom shaped by James and Chris, resting in our boardrack waiting for its forever home.

The ADPT was designed in collaboration with 3 x British Surfing Champion Alan Stokes, taking its dimensions from Alan’s favourite FORM shape. The project ‘Forest to Ocean’ involved Alan spending time with James in the workshop, discussing shared values relating to nature and all things surfing, before focusing on the design of the ADPT in its wooden configuration.

Once shaped, the finished board was taken to North Fistral, Alan’s local break, to be put through its paces…

Here are Alan’s thoughts on how the board performed, from when we caught up with him last year:

“I knew the board would work, in terms of how it would cut through water, but I didn’t know how much performance it would have… given the development of twin fins over the years, we picked the right time to make a performance twin fin out of wood. Riding this for the first time I was surprised at quite how much performance there was.

The board went well, it was really quick, I had no idea it would be so fast. You get a bit more speed and a kind of weight to a carve or turn that is just lovely. It takes a little bit of adjustment, but if you pull into a barrel and trust in the board’s characteristics, you can do stuff that you wouldn’t necessarily be able to do on a foam board, that’s what I like about the difference.”

We were so stoked to hear Alan’s words and watch him surf one of our boards at such a high level, it gave us more belief in pushing the performance side of our shapes further. The surfing you see in the above video certainly speaks for itself!

Thanks to Alan for his kind words and feedback, you can check out his surfboards here.

If you would like some more information on our ADPT or speak to us about any of our shapes feel free to contact us!