bustin surfboards - are carbon fiber boards all they are cracked up to be?

a few weeks at ocean beach in san francisco, i had 20 minutes to kill before heading out for a surf session. i wandered into wise surfboards to check out what was new in surf gear.

my eyes immediately fell on the new aviso carbon boards. you'd be forgiven for thinking; if batman surfed, this is what he would ride. mat black, light, strong, but flexible. how could anyone resist? easy. the price. they're priced at roughly 2x what you'd pay for a regular board.
aviso say on their site that aviso boards will outlast any board on the market. no longer will a surfer count swells or seasons of board use, but years, and many ones at that. even still. i simply couldn't justify the price tag.

i headed out for a session with my buddy, one of those sloppy, disorganized, sucking low-tide head high dumper sessions. paddling out i got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. a heavy lip caught me and my board as i was duck diving and snap! my trusty al merrick epoxy 6'4" was reduced to a memory.

my first thoughts weren't of the great surf me and my board had found together, or the air-trips to kauai, mexico or costa rica that we'd survived. or the 3 month baja adventure we'd taken together. no, my first thoughts were, "score, i can get one of those new carbon fiber boards." and i did. i headed back to wise and picked up a beautiful lost SDII

over the next couple of weeks, i took the board out for several fairly light, quick sessions. she paddled and surfed beautifully. she was everything that i'd hoped for. until ...

last sunday morning the surf came up a bit, producing waves in the 2-3' overhead range. after a mediocre morning session, i headed down to noriega in the late afternoon for dabble with the mid-outgoing-tide. it looked good, with guys scoring some solid rides in the fast hollow surf.

one problem with owning an expensive board is that you can definitely feel the "you'd better know how to ride that thing, doofus" vibe in the water. regardless, i paddled into every decent looking wave that came my way. after a couple of screaming rights, the 3rd wave of the day didn't do at all what i expected and i suddenly found myself weightless, falling down the face of the wave.

i surfaced after light cycle in the washer, dismayed to see one half of my new board about 10' from me in the surf. there was no mistaking that it was my board. i fought back my disappointment at breaking my board and missing the session by focusing on getting back in without being sliced up by the remainder of the bat-board. the funny thing about these boards is that they have almost no buoyancy once they are broken, due to their hollow construction. so swimming back in with the half still attached to me was a bit more of an adventure than it usually is.

the other half washed in a few minutes later (with the help of another surfer). i dragged myself, my damp spirits and my broken board up the beach, trying hard not to make eye contact with the other surfers heading towards the surf.

it was 5:30, so i figured i'd head back to wise to show them the damage. they seemed as shocked as i was, and definitely sympathetic. they hooked me up with the local aviso sales rep. who quickly returned my call, and listened patiently to my sob-story.

the next day, after talking to the folks at aviso mission-control, the rep. delivered me some great news; they'll replace the board. i was relieved, and pleased to see aviso standing firmly behind their product.

so how about those carbon boards? did i get a dud? do they live up to the promise? your guess is as good as mine. maybe i was in the wrong place at the wrong time again. i'll let you know how the new board fares.

update: impressions of the replacement after three weeks

despite the recent oil spill here at ocean beach, i've managed to get out quite a bit on my replacement SDII. i spent the thanksgiving week away from bay area oil and weather, at a great little baja break, where i was served a daily dish of warm water and head high waves with a side of sunshine :)

my new board again surfed beautifully, didn't ding or break on the flight down or the numerous sessions. it did however, develop an annoying leak. it slowly takes water into it's hollow center. the board comes with a drain plug that you can unscrew to remove the water, being careful to avoid getting sand into the petrolium-grease covered o-ring and plastic threads. fun.

i have to confess that i miss my trusty epoxy al merrick.