Neck Beard
Intro
Just like the rest of you I too have had a Al Merrick obsession, I mean it would be rude not to all the best surfers in the world surf his boards. Slater, Reynolds, Curren just to name a few. Stranger than fiction and Modern Collective where on repeat on my computer and I needed a new groveller. Dane Reynolds had just bought out the dumpster diver and the neck beard after it. Dane's end section in Modern Collective blew my mind with the tweaked out airs he was throwing down in mexico on a NECK BEARD. I needed one. Weeks went by and it just so happened the town Al Merrick froth lord himself Timmy Wright had a neck beard that was a tad to big. Perfect I didn't need to fork out for a new one. Strapped for cash at the time I saved up and bought the beast. The wide chop tail and the straight outline was so ugly that I loved it (this board starting my craze on alternative shapes) not only did it look good it also went amazing in the small surf exactly the kind of board that I was chasing. I was sad to let this board go but over time you fall out of love with boards and starting at Torquay Surf didn't help with my relationship with the Neck Beard.
How it goes
Let's just get this straight a wide tail on a surfboard means more area between the fins which in turn means more room for the water to get between the fins and makes it easier for the fins to release. in small waves you can't go wrong with a wide tail. The board gets picked up by the wave earlier and easier because of the surface area of the tail hitting the tail nice and early and then it makes it easy to throw the fins around in turns as in small waves there is not as much push as a larger wave. Hence why the Neck Beard couldn't really handle anything over 4 foot. Too much water would be getting between the fins and with the power of the wave it would create the fins to slip and slide without the surfer wanting this to happen. This is why many people surf wide tailed as quads but that is a whole different story for a whole different board which is coming soon stay tuned ;) I found with the wide chop tail on the neck beard with a thruster set up and the right fins this board how a lovely amount of drive and release. However as stated before once the wave got a bit of power and size it became very skatie and hard to surf. I would often find myself skipping out on bottom turns and top turns just because there was way to much tail area for the waves I was surfing in. The wide forward outline mixed with the wide tail is perfect for small waves though, this board will grovel 1 foot mush without fail and make you feel like your surfing a short board on a 3 foot wave with the amount of lift and speed you get out of the tail. I found it went the best out 2 to 3 foot Rincon where its hitting the reef perfectly so you have a perfect wall running all the way to the beach. It was those conditions I had the most fun on this board.
Whose it for
Do you skate? Do you like to fly down the line and throw fins and reverses? This is the board for you in small waves. With the wide tail giving you so much lift and drive you can get a amazing about of speed down the line. The width of the board also then gives you the perfect landing platform so if your feet do happen to move around throughout the manoeuvre (which they will) you have plenty of room to make a mistake. I am not much of a air guy but this is the one board I came even remotely close to stomping a air. Don't get me wrong though this board also carves really well much better than you would expect. The 'V' out the tail gives the board this ability because generally a wider board can be quite hard to get rail to rail without the 'V' but with the 'V' out the tail this board is quite the carver and for myself as more of a rail guy it worked perfectly as a groveller.
Ideal fin set up: EA side fins with a AM2 rear
Rating: 7
Ideal wave size: 1 to 4 foot
Conditions: Onshore to glassy conditions
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