Will the "Mini Boar" work at solid Beach?

The recent Pipe Master�s was pretty damn amazing! Especially the heat with Kelly vs. Timmy Reyes! Timmy had Kelly combo�d with two epic barrels with something like two minutes remaining in the heat. I was feeling sure Timmy would win but was wondering why I had not seen anything explosive from Kelly- when suddenly- Kelly turns around and gets a great barrel, while paddling back out after that wave, Kelly turns around and drops in super late on a Backdoor beast and gets an incredibly deep barrel and �Wham-Bam� wins the heat just like that! EPIC!

What made the win even more terrific was that Kelly was riding a weird little semi gun, named the �Deep Six�. The �Deep Six� is basically a shortened gun. All the nose length is removed, the wide point pushed forward, narrow in the back ending with a classic rounded pintail. To make up for the paddle-ability with the board�s decreased length, the board is obviously a lot wider under the chest area and has a lot more volume foiled throughout it. It is a bigger gun condensed down through the width and thickness, allowing Kelly to get deeper in the barrel, pump the board through walled up sections, and go incredibly fast! Kelly explains his concept pretty well HERE-

Kelly and his "Deep Six".

Everyday someone comes in and asks about Kelly�s fugly board. Would such a short/fat gun work here at the Beach? About 14 years ago I had broken my whole quiver in the space of a month, and the Beach was on fire! Seemed it was double overhead and offshore day after day, and alas, I did not have any money for another semi gun. My neighbor across the street had a basement filled with old stuff from all the previous tenants, and upon rummaging through it I found the ugliest (yet what was to become one of my most favorite surfboards) I had ever had seen. We affectionately named it the �CHUBBER�. It was a 6�0�, a solid 3 inches thick, wide squash tail, thruster (the side fins were glassed on with a standard fin box for the center) shortboard. I wish I had a picture of it because I cannot explain how *%^#ing ugly that thing was. It had obviously been run over by a car, and the first foot of the nose had been reassembled with the worst repair
job/cloth wrap I have ever seen. It had a really gross yellow spray job and a bunch of huge 80�s style lams pasted all over, featuring the shaper�s logo- "UP DOWN". I cannot find much info about the "UP DOWN" label except I think they primarily made wind surfing boards. Anyways, I started surfing this thing simply because it was the only board I had. When I walked or paddled by other surfers on the �Chubber� they would start cracking up, it really did not look like it could surf- but it could! The think was so buoyant and flat, that it paddled incredibly well. I was actually able to catch and surf double over-head Beach on it. You kind of had to chuck it down the face, and with that wide squash tail it was loose as all hell, but it kind of worked! With our regular 7�6 semi guns we called our type of surfing �drop and stop� because usually we would drop in, pick our line, and cut out before the next set caught you inside. We were not talented enough to turn our guns that much on solid double overhead waves, but with the �CHUBBER� I was able to position myself all over the face of the wave compared to the usual straight line with my semi-gun. It always made me wonder how that board would work with a more pulled in tail and a little more entry rocker.

After all this �Deep Six� hype (CI is currently making them and we will order a couple- but they might come too late for the current winter season) I had to try a more refined �CHUBBER� for this upcoming swell. Dave of Vernor surfboards was kind enough to quickly turnaround this board for me. He took my favorite 7�6� x 19 1/2 x 2 1/2 semi gun dimensions and made the �MINI BOAR�! A 6�4� x 21 wide x 2 7/8 thick EPS and epoxy mini monster!

The "Mini Boar" ready to go.

I have taken it out just to paddle it in the small surf the last couple of days, and I have found it is soooo buoyant that I am having a rough time trying to get it to plane well, or engaging the rail in turns, BUT- it is not for little mushy waves. Will it work in solid Beach? Or will I go cartwheeling down the face and eat shit? The answers and more after I test it out this weekend