The local surf tech rep here in Hawaii has been cool enough to give SurfboardShack.com a full run of all their Surftech demos. While I’ve always favored traditional PU boards, I am quite intrigued with epoxy boards and Surftech’s long list of boards shaped by the world’s top shapers. After writing an article debating which surfboard material works better, epoxy or polyurethane, I’ve had a number of people inquire about how well epoxy, most notably Surftech boards work in a variety of conditions. Up to this point I had only ridden one Surftech board and a few other epoxys so I guess you can say I haven’t given epoxy a fair chance. Anyway, thanks to Surftech, I now have access to write about every Surftech board available and let you all know how they ride.

I just tested Randy French’s 5’8 Soul Fish the other day in marginal shoulder high surf out on the South Shore of Oahu. This particular Soul Fish has dimensions of 5’8 x 20.75″ x 2.5″ and rides with twin keel fins. When I first took a look at this board I noticed how thick the middle to front section of the board was and knowing how floaty epoxy is, I knew this board would paddle well.

The waves in town this particular day were average with an out of season south swell rolling through. Incoming tide at my normal surf spot which is better suited toward fishy type boards. The waves were on average shoulder high coming in at a funny angle and not connecting all the way to the inside…definitely not epic conditions! Today would be a great day to test the limits of this small wave fish as the Surftech website claims that this board is recommended for gutless to shoulder high surf.

I caught a bunch of waves and it was very amazed at how easy it was to paddle into these weak waves. The board does have a lot of volume for being only 5’8 but I think the ‘floatiness’ of epoxy along with the super flat entry rocker made wave catching ridiculously easy. Once up and riding, this board had more than enough drive…I would say it was more drivey than loose and very responsive. Cutbacks were a cinch and the board seemed to want to go where my feet went. Pumping was pretty good as well and I got a few ultra fast speed pumps on the waves that lined up just right.

The only downside to this board is that it didn’t hold very well on the drop on a couple head high sets. I was practically dropping in sideways on one head high wave which would make me assume that unless you like feeling out of control on larger waves, you should surf this board shoulder high and under. This board is an awesome small wave groveler board, especially for those who don’t like riding longboards.

Lastly, I’ve had problems with epoxy boards being too floaty and not being able to keep the rail in the water, especially in windy conditions. However, the Soul Fish rode almost like a traditional PU board even with offshore winds around 20 MPH.