After many near misses at the Surftech warehouse, I finally got a hold of a Surftech Takayama In the Pink. I had always wanted to try this board and up to this day I had never had the chance to ride a Takayama board. I see these things out surfing all the time and they look like really good boards so I was definitely stoked to finally have my hands on it. This particular In the Pink model is 9’3 x 22.38″ x 2.88″ with a 2+1 setup…Steve hooked me up with FCS side bites and an 8″ Takayama Surftech fin. Not a whole lot of foam but what can you expect for a performance longboard? Before jumping in the water I was hoping it would paddle a bit better than the Pearson Forumla One so that I could compete with all the logs. As soon as I jumped in the water I could tell this board was gonna work well…it floated me well and the lower entry rocker cut helped with the paddling as well.

This particular day saw extremely small and weak surf. It was lining up okay with the surf around knee high at best…this would be a good test to see how well the In the Pink board performed in gutless conditions and how well it groveled. Paddling into waves was a cinch…I have to give a lot of credit to the flatter rocker…you don’t feel like the board is bogging and pushing water up at the nose. The epoxy seemed like it floated a bit better than a traditional PU board and that helped with wave catching as well.

The Takayama ITP also turned extremely well and was quite responsive in the not so great surf. The board seems to want to go where you want to go and as well as it performed in the weak surf, I’m excited to try it at 3’s on the next south swell. As far as its noseriding capabilities, I did manage to hang 5 on one wave and got close on a few others. There just wasn’t enough of a wall to really get to the nose and in small weak surf, you can do a few quick noserides but anything longer will result in the nose pearling. I’ll try noseriding this board in better surf and report back. Stay tuned.

I recently tested a Surftech Bob Pearson Formula 1 performance longboard. Dimensions were 9’0 x 22.5″ x 2.88″. This board is supposed to be more like a competition board that can maneuver well yet still noseride. It’s hard to tell from the photo but this particular board features a very blunt and wide nose typical of Arrow boards. On the extreme end the board also features a very pulled in tail which kinda resembles a rounded pin or diamond tail.

I took this board out to one of the best longboard spots called Number 3’s on a day with waist high peelers and a heavy crowd. The first thing I noticed about this board was how domed the deck was which basically decreased the overall volume considerably. Paddling was somewhat difficult and unless you’re a champion paddler or small framed surfer, this board will probably not float you very well. Once out at the break I had to jockey for waves as I was competing with guys on absolute logs, however, I did manage to snag a few waves and interesting enough the board made up for its lack of paddling power with extreme versatility and performance. I managed a few noserides courtesy of its blunt nose and this board felt really good down the line. Once you got the board moving it seemed to glide pretty well into waves probably due to its flatter rocker but this board was definitely made for solid surf. This board would work well on a fast and steep point break when your only competition in the water are shortboarders! Unfortunately I was under-gunned at Threes this day.

Up next is the Donald Takayama In the Pink board. Can’t wait to see how this one rides!