JACKS REVIEW
Our Team Rider Jack Buckingham has been surfing The SBS Predator model for over a year now, he’s surfed it in small waves, big waves, pumping waves and mushy waves. So we thought who would be better to give you the lowdown, on how the predator stands up after a year of surfing. Jack’s review gives you an idea of just how particular we are and how much testing we put our boards through, to make sure they not only surf incredibly well, but they last the test of time too!
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Jack Buckingham
“This is without a doubt the best small wave surfboard I have ever ridden“
Jack is an SBS Boards Team rider and sponsored surfer who creates daily vlogs about his surf adventures around the UK coast line. Jack regularly surfs for hours a day, creating some great in depth and raw videos that showcase whats it’s like to be a surfer living in the UK. Jack shares the trials and tribulations of surfing in the winter, those daily struggles with cold water, usually pretty windy and rubbish conditions, all in his endeavour to search for those perfect waves.
The Predator
The Predator is one of our favourite all-rounders and one of our best-selling surfboard. It’s designed with the perfect balance of high-performance features and modern comfort.
For Jack’s style of surfing, he needed a board that was fast, loose and able to take on almost any waves. The board had to be responsive and adaptable enough to be surfed well in small waves, but really hold well in bigger surf, that’s where the Predator comes in with its hybrid outline, that is shorter, wider and thicker than your average surfboard. It’s got plenty of volume and width upfront under your chest, which is then pulled back into a more refined, rounded pin tail, giving the board a really unique riding style.
The volume up-front gives it that ease of use when paddling and pumping down the line, whilst the pulled in tail keeps it smooth, fast and responsive allowing you to be more agile in tighter sections of bigger waves.
It’s got a super flat rocker throughout, with a little more lift in the nose to help take on the bigger drops, whilst the added extra foam under the chest area really improves paddling speed and catching waves.
ABOUT THE SHAPE
Its widest point is a little further up the board than most conventional shortboards, allowing for a wider nose and width that is carried through the entire board, giving great speed on any size wave.
It’s gradually pinched down into a foiled rounded pintail, giving less volume in the tail, so you retain that instant rail to rail response of a performance shortboard. It has been slightly tapered in the tail and the nose, giving it a balanced and stable feeling, with a tone of forgiveness in turns. The board’s graduating single concave forces water towards the fins to help generate speed and drive, giving incredible grip in your turns, especially in bigger waves.
The Predator is a really fun, fast and light all-around board that’s going to give you the confidence and speed in bigger waves, as well as the paddle power and wave count in smaller surf. ideal for intermediate – expert surfers.
After 1 year of surfing our Predator surfboard, jack’s board is still in great condition and ready for another year of intense surfing. if you want to check out some of Jacks most recent videos, check out his channel in the link below.
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