The best advertorial you'll swallow all day!
Earlier today, I had cause to enjoy a conversation with the San Clemente-based surfboard shaper, Matt Biolos. I’d been asked to edit a paper surfing magazine (brazenly retro!) and wanted to create an out-of-the-box surfboard by getting Jon Pyzel and Matt Biolos to collaborate on a single design.
We’ll back and forth on email, set parameters, create a CAD file, send it to a machine and… pop!
Any time I get the ear of a shaper, of course, I point it at my own surfing. I told Biolos I hated being beholden to the decrepit rockers of Hybrids, the functional modern surfboard.
I said I wanted to lift my game a little. I want to transcend surfboard design.
Biolos said, “You saw the clip, right? All those unseen waves of Taj, Yago? The Pro-Formance one?”
I remembered receiving it, but didn’t watch. Who needs advertorial when there are so many flamboyant shorts out there. Pressed to examine and the short is revealed to be a wonderful two minutes of Yago Dora, Taj Burrow, Brother, Griff Colapinto, Ian Crane and so forth riding Biolos’ new Pro-Formance series.
“You ride a Pro-Formance board for one reason,” said Biolos. “Because you believe it will allow you to surf at a higher level and you’ll be able to do things that you can’t on a hybrid or fish.”
Sounds like me.
Pro-Formance ain’t for someone who’s forgotten how to generate speed, howevs.
“You better be able to pump and feel that the boards you’re riding are holding you back from doing the things you want to do on wave,” says Biolos.
Ah, my fatal flaw.
Maybe it suits you?
The Pro-Formance thing. Why?
“Honestly, the bulk of my day-to-day work life is building boards for competitive surfers,” says Biolos. “I spend 75 per cent of my work time focused on making the best possible performance-minded boards, but the retail sales, and the boards going through our factory, are 75% hybrids and grovelers. It’s, like, exactly the opposite. I felt I could do a better job of presenting the boards we are working so hard on and reminding people that we make high-performance boards as well and you don’t just have to ride a Rocket-type board, RNF or a Puddle Jumper-type board from Lost.”
What is it you dig about Taj, Yago, Mason, Kolohe, Ian?
“They’re all individuals. Taj is a living legend. He’s so important in the the history of how al these young surfers promote and portray themselves. He is held in high-esteem from all camps and facets of surf culture. He went out on his terms and is the one guy who no one ever says a negative thing about. Lifestyle, surfing, you name it. Yago brings a laid-back casual to the competition scene. His surfing is perfect post-modern laissez-faire. The least polarising of the South Americans and the easiest for us arrogant Anglos to be attracted to. Kolohe is my muse. My MVP. He is the biggest reason I am so motivated still to do this. He’s the captain of the football team, Mr. America, The California Kid. No bullshit, athlete and performer. Ian Crane and Griffin Cola are classic examples of the easy-on-the-eyes California style. Ian will ride anything I toss at him and love it. He reminds me a bit of Mason. Mason is the living epitome of what we all want to be. He is Jeff Spicoli. He is the Beach Boys. He is The Endless Summer. From one-foot closeouts to twenty-five foot closeouts at Waimea Bay, he’s going to standout, and remind us what its all about.”
Watch! The best advertorial you’ll swallow all day!
…Lost Pro-Formance Series from Lost Video Productions on Vimeo.
