Dimensions: 5’7 x 18″ 7/8 x 2″ 1/4
Rider Height/Weight: 5’5 140 lbs

With every surfer in sight going shorter and wider on their everyday performance shortboards, I decided to get in on the action and get a shorter/wider small wave shortboard. Enter the Proctor Greased Pig II. A normal shortboard for me used to be somewhere be somewhere in the 5’10 – 5’11 range and when I got the Greased Pig I was a bit skeptical that I’d be able to surf this board in small waves.

Much to my surprise, the Greased Pig paddle great and even better surfed awesome in small and weak lined-up waves. The Greased Pig II features a slightly wider outline compared to a normal high performance shortboard along with a more relaxed rocker. The deck is pretty flat allowing fuller more boxy rails which I think allow you to really push the board on its rail in weaker surf. I have a tendency to dig the foiled rails of a performance shortboard when the surfs weak and small but I think the fuller rails allow you to push on the rail and actually compress and push off the wave with ease which in my opinion is critical to generating speed in small waves. Couple that with a single to double concave and this board really flies down the line when the wave walls up.

This particular board has a five fin box setup though I’ve only ridden it as a thruster. Surprisingly, the board generates more than enough speed as a three fin (I usually struggle to generate heaps of speed on a performance shortboard in small waves). I had another surfer ask me if the board was setup as a quad after seeing me catch a nice little lined-up chest high right. He was surprised that the board was able to generate that kind of speed in such small surf. This board surfs well from knee to head high though it prefers the wave to be running along the reef/bank with some wall to it. The wave doesn’t have to be punchy but you do need a small wall to generate some speed.

The Greased Pig turns well thanks to its tail rocker and bump wing squash tail. It allows for easy round house cut backs and is snappy in the pocket. I would say that it draws a slightly longer lines compared to a high performance shortboard but most surfers can’t ride their HP shortboards in rubbish surf. This is the go to board when you still want to shortboard when it’s small and crappy as you can still generate speed and do tighter turns than any fish in your quiver.

Fish riders looking to transition to shortboards will find that this board makes the learning curve much shorter. The template and fuller rails make the board very forgiving which is key to surfers who don’t surf HP shortboards on a daily basis. Advanced surfers will love this board when the surf gets small and they don’t want to ride a fish. Those surfers will get the most performance possible in surf that’s just too small and mushy for their HP sticks.

My last thoughts on this board is that the speed this board generates is pretty amazing. This is by far one of the best small wave shortboards I’ve ridden and I think every surfer looking for a small wave groveler should give it a try.

Don’t forget, mention the code: SHACK when ordering your next Proctor and get your choice of FREE 5 fin install, Dakine tailpad, or resin upgrade! http://www.proctorsurf.com/Surf-Boards/shack-offer I hope to have a few photos and videos of the Greased Pig II in action. Stay tuned. Aloha!