Surfboard Focus: 5'6" Seadar - Otter Surfboards

29 . 11 . 13

The one that a lot of you have been waiting for has finally arrived…introducing our 5’6” all cedar Seadar! Earlier this year we casually posed a question on our facebook page asking our followers if they could choose any one of our surfboard models, which would it be? Slightly to our surprise, the Seadar was the standout choice from many of you with the rest of our models garnering fairly equal attention for the tightly contested remaining podium spots. In the knowledge that so many of you had your hearts and eyes set on our wooden interpretation of a classic mini-simmons design, we set to work building a demonstration model.

The Seadar is a hollow wooden interpretation of the recently revitalised Bob Simmons inspired planing hull design. These boards have been adapted from Simmons’ original Californian longboard designs for use on the reeling walls of Baja Mexico’s right-hand point breaks, where speed and the ability to make it through sections are to some surfers more desirable characteristics than snappy manoeuvrability. Effectively, they are shortboards for classic loggin’ longboard waves.

Short, fat and wide throughout (at 5’6″ x 22″ x 2 5/8″) with classic twin keel fins foiled from poplar plywood to provide contrast, the Seadar is planked entirely in Western Red Cedar to reduce weight. It will paddle into waves easily and is a really fast board, particularly in down-the-line situations as made evident in the image above when James dropped down from a high-line speed run at his local beach to duck under the pitching lip and shoot out onto the shoulder. James has surfed the Seadar in the range of progressively wintery conditions that we’ve had over the past fortnight and it’s performed in waves from knee-high to overhead. If you’re interested in finding out more about the Seadar then click through or, as ever, call or e-mail to speak to us directly.

Matt Smith took the Seadar out to the Maldives for a season and this is what he made of it.

“My heart beats fast when I remember this session and I blink and its gone. It was one of the best surfing days of my life; quick hollow empty tubes. It was the first time that I fell in love with this seadar. It hadn’t been my plan to surf this board on this day, but when choosing my craft she was the one that shone the brightest.

I remember holding the full round rails, stroking the nose rail, and paddling slowly back to the line up. I was praised by the men I surfed with, and they like me were surprised to see the wooden craft so alive. She was truly in her element. I learnt that day that weight is so important in scooping in early. I am not the fastest surfer, so it is to my advantage to ride a heavier board in conditions like these.”