Last month, I invited Conner Coffin on a trip to Australia. He came, and surprised me with a new surfboard! How cool is that. Right before our first session, he started unpacking his boards and called me over. He pulled out a brand spanking new Fred Rubble shaped to my exact dimensions—it even had my name on it. I thought Conner was pretty cool, but after he did that, I thought he was the most awesome human around.

Anyway, after tearing up a little bit and hugging him, I took the board for a spin. This board, designed by Conner himself, felt really forgiving, fast, and easy to ride right out of the bag. From what Conner told me, it has different aspects of the Dumpster Diver, the Rookie, and the Proton. The rocker is slight and the outline is more “normal” looking than a Dumpster Diver. I’ve had both the DD and the Proton and they took a few sessions to get used to, but the Fred Rubble went amazing first wave, which is very rare (especially for me). There’s nothing on the C.I. website abut this board yet, I actually don’t think it goes into production for a few months. But when it does I highly recommend trying one out if possible. It’s suitable for average to shredding surfers. My day-to-day surfboard is a 5’10″ x 18 3/4″ x 2 1/8″ Plus One Esquatch, the Fred Rubble is very similar, just a bit thinner, so you don’t have to do math when you order one, just keep the dimensions the same as your standard shortboard.

With so many models to choose from, it can be tricky figuring out which one will suit your needs the best. So far, the best Channel Islands board I’ve ever had is the Fred Rubble, and right now, the only two people on earth who have Fred Rubbles are me and Conner, which makes me feel special. I’m sure by the summer these things will be flying off the shelves.—Chris Cote

From TransWorld Surf