This performance fish is not for beginners. Here's why

Updated 2026-09-19

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A Steve Lis-style fish outline usually reads as an easy, forgiving board, and this one is anything but, which is exactly what makes it worth reviewing on its own. This custom-made twin fin from a Gold Coast shaper has a completely different feel from any other fish I own.

A classic outline built as a performance board

The outline is unmistakably a Lis fish, with small channels cut into the tail, but the build is handshaped in PU with an unusual speckled, almost concrete-like finish, and the rails are extremely fine and knifey rather than the thicker, forgiving rail you would expect on a fish this shape. It has a small flip in the nose and a delicate, quite pulled-in tail, and it runs twin Futures boxes. The leash string sits in the middle of the tail rather than to one side, which is a genuine annoyance since it keeps catching my leg for reasons I still cannot explain.

Why the volume runs smaller than the length suggests

At 100 kilograms and 6'2, I found this board on the small side, and the volume is uncertain from the register, likely somewhere around 39 litres, possibly even late 30s rather than 40. The glassing is on the lighter, performance end too, which shows up as a handful of indentations after limited use rather than the durability of a heavier, everyday build. This shaper's boards run smaller and lower in volume across the board, since he is a smaller rider himself, so anyone ordering one at my size should size up from what the length alone would suggest.

The bottom contour, and why fin position matters so much here

Running a straight edge along the bottom shows a mild concave starting at the nose that develops into a proper double concave through the middle, staying as a mild double concave before easing into vee at the tail. The fin boxes sit further forward on this board than on my other fish, which is the real source of its twitchiness: with upright fins or standard hybrids, it felt unsettled and hard to trust on takeoff.

The fin that finally settled it down

NVS convertible keels are what fixed this board. Before switching to them, every session on uprights or hybrids left it feeling too twitchy to enjoy. With the convertible keels in, the same forward fin position stopped being a liability and the board became genuinely rewarding rather than nervous underfoot. Its best logged session produced a 110 metre wave at 21.2 km/h (13.2 mph), across a fairly narrow one to three foot wave range that matches its high-performance intent rather than an everyday, do-anything brief.

Who should actually order this shape

This is a high-performance fish for an intermediate or advanced surfer, not a first fish board. If you are looking at a similar shape from this shaper, go up a size from what the length would normally suggest, since the volume and rail thickness both run lighter than a comparable board from a lot of other shapers.

What this board taught me about ordering custom from a smaller shaper

A shaper's own proportions creep into every board they build, whether they mean it to or not. A smaller shaper riding thinner rails and lower volume boards will hand-feel a custom order toward those same numbers unless a buyer specifically asks otherwise, and a fish outline in particular hides that mismatch well, since the outline alone looks identical at any volume. The fix is not avoiding a shaper whose own build differs from yours; it is stating your weight and asking directly whether the volume in front of you matches a rider your size, rather than assuming the length alone tells the full story.

Questions people ask

Why does this fish feel harder to ride than a typical Lis fish?

Knifey rails, a forward fin position and lighter, performance-level glassing all trade away the usual forgiving feel of the shape.

What fin fixed the twitchy feeling on this board?

NVS convertible keels. Standard uprights and hybrids left the forward fin position feeling unsettled; the convertible keels resolved it.

Should I size up when ordering from a shaper whose own boards run small?

Yes. A smaller shaper's personal reference point for volume and rail thickness can run noticeably light for a bigger rider.

What wave range suits a performance fish like this?

This one is dialed in for a fairly narrow one to three foot range, rather than the wider everyday range a thicker-railed fish would cover.

For the wider fish family and how this compares to a more forgiving version, see fish or mid-length and are fish surfboards hard to ride. Fin position and its effect on twitchiness is covered further in do fins make a difference and keels or upright twin fins. This board has since sold and is logged on boards I have sold.