I sold 25 surfboards in a year. These four were the hardest
Updated 2026-09-19
Selling 25 boards in a year is not about picking bad boards. As at May 2026, I started with 54 boards and finished the year with 29, and the four hardest to let go were not weak performers, they were good boards that kept losing to something else in the rack every single time I went to grab a board.
The Firewire Seaside: iconic, but too wide for me
My Firewire Seaside Volcanic was 6'1, just under 23 inches wide, 3 inches thick, 46.5 litres in EPS with a modern fish contour, single into double concave into vee and a swallowtail. It is a well-made, well-known board, but at that width I felt off every time I picked it up, so I kept reaching for something else. Mostly that was a Channel Islands Feb's Fish in Spine-Tek, the same 6'1 length at 44 litres but with a straighter, less bulbous outline. The Feb's Fish paddled better as a twin than the Seaside did as a quad, and I have never had a bad Channel Islands. An Album Plasmic, a custom 6'2 at 22 inches wide and 47 litres with a diamond tail, flat rocker, a single deep vee channel and a twin setup, sealed it: a genuine small, fat wave board that still holds up when conditions turn on. The Plasmic stayed. The rule I took from this: if you keep skipping the same board every session, that board is done.
The A Man O Twin Pin: sensational in the right waves, wrong for daily use
My A Man O Twin Pin was 6'6, 21.5 inches wide, 2 7/8 thick, roughly 45 litres, low rocker, a rounded pin flyer rolling into single vee and double concave to vee, with a beautiful double stringer. It worked especially well with BMT fins and clocked 39.4 km/h (24.5 mph) in the Maldives, the third fastest board I have ever measured. The problem is it only shines in medium to high-end waves, and when those waves show up locally I reach for a longer board with more paddle power. It became the wrong tool for everyday use. Of the ten or eleven 6'6 twin pins I have owned over the years, the one I would keep if it came down to one is a Jim Banks Revolution, also 6'6 at 21 3/8 wide and 3 1/8 thick, with deep scooped concaves and a vee running the full length, about 44 litres in lighter Future Form construction. It turns sharply, paddles well, suits beach breaks and still handles a larger point wave, and works well with Hooker fins that have a wide base and a thinner top.
The Christenson Nautilus: a beautiful board with too much overlap
My Christenson Nautilus, one of two I have owned, was 7'0, 21 1/4 wide, 2 3/4 thick, 44 litres, a quad with a full length double concave and vee into a swallowtail, ridden with True Ames or Hayden Shapes fins and clocking 26.6 km/h (16.5 mph). One detail worth knowing: a Nautilus glassed at the California factory came noticeably lighter than one glassed locally in Australia, and mine, glassed locally, ended up heavier than expected. It went because three other boards in the quiver overlapped it entirely. A Channel Islands Mid Twin, 7'1, 21 1/4 wide, 47.8 litres with continuous rocker, a satin 6x4x6 glass job and a rounded pin tail, works well with BMTs, Soar or S-Wing fins, has a better low end, and is more fun as a twin than the Nautilus is as a quad. An SMTH Grande, a 7'4 step-up twin glassed 4x4x4 in PU with a traditional single into double concave into vee and a rounded pin, is adaptable across points and mushy beach breaks and travels well. And a John Simon Quegg, a 7'0 quad with a rounded nose, a reverse vee nose panel and a pulled-in tail, paddles with almost no resistance and is quirky but user-friendly. Between those three, the Nautilus had nothing left to offer that I could not get elsewhere.
The Gato Heroi Acid Drop: my main single fin for six years, until it wasn't
I had four versions of the Gato Heroi Acid Drop across the years: an 8'9 Speed Acid, sold because a 7'10 version suited me better; a 6'11 that was slightly too small; a 7'4 that was great for travel but a little low volume; and the 7'10 I kept, at 21 1/2 wide, 2 7/8 thick, about 52 litres, rolled to a vee and out a rounded pin tail, ridden with an 8 1/2 inch Ryan or NVS single fin and clocking 33.5 km/h (20.8 mph). It went because of two boards. A Ryan Lovelace FM at 8'1, 21 5/8 wide, 3 1/8 thick and 58.29 litres, shares an almost identical outline, rolled nose and fine rails, but as a twin with the fins close together and far forward it turns more easily than the single fin Acid Drop, and it feels smoother and paddles better. A Vouch Nuevo at 7'6, 21 3/4 wide, about 52 litres, rolled into double concave vee with a rounded pin, side bites and Vouch 9 inch flex fins, clocked 38.9 km/h (24.2 mph); it has unbeatable paddle power and maneuverability in smaller surf, an exceptional concave bottom, and still steps up in bigger barrelling conditions. Between the Lovelace and the Nuevo, everything the Gato did was covered.
What thinning the quiver actually taught me
I gave up two quads, a single fin and a twin over that year, and I am replacing nearly everything with twins, twinzers or quads. I have one thruster left, a 9'1 gun I rarely ride. I did not plan that outcome; the comparisons just kept pointing the same direction every time. The real gain was not the sale money, it was one board per job in the rack, less confusion about which board to grab, and knowing every board left is there for a reason, not as a compromise.
Questions people ask
How do you decide which surfboard to sell from a large quiver?
Notice which board you keep skipping in favour of another for the same conditions, session after session. If that pattern holds, the skipped board is the one to sell.
Does a board being well-known help it sell?
Yes. In my experience a recognized brand like Channel Islands holds resale value and sells faster than a lesser-known local shape of similar quality.
Is a bigger quiver always better?
No. Going from 54 boards to 29 removed decision fatigue and gave me more clarity on which board to grab, without losing coverage of any conditions I actually surf.
Does glassing location change how a board performs?
It can. My Christenson Nautilus glassed locally in Australia came out heavier than versions glassed at the factory in California, which affected how the board felt underfoot.
What replaced most of the boards you sold?
Mostly twins, twinzers and quads. After a year of comparisons, almost everything that stayed in the rack pointed toward those fin configurations over a straight thruster.
For the reasoning behind cutting a quiver down, see how many surfboards do you need and the purge. Fin choices for the twins mentioned here are covered in which type of twin fin suits you and 8 hybrid fins for your twin fin surfboard. The boards that stayed sit on my current quiver; everything named here that moved on is logged on boards I have sold, along with the totals in what 121 surfboards cost and sold for.