Did you hear? Lib Tech and …Lost have teamed up! My god, what is this? Snow and surf companies can’t collaborate! That’s like, so backward dude.
Incorrect. It’s actually very much forward in a few ways.
To start, this is not the first time snow and surf companies have collaborated on a product. Back in 2015, Bataleon Snowboards put out a special version of its Camel Toe powder board in partnership with legendary longboard pioneer Bill Stewart. I’m sure there have been others as well, especially in the pow riding department.
That said, this might be the first time a snowboard company has contributed something new to the surfing world. If you don’t know what all this hype is about, let me explain.
When Lib Tech first announced they were making surfboards a few years back, I for one was not sold on the idea. Others would agree – I spoke to several surfers who hated the shapes that LIB came out with originally. That’s because LIB decided to make their own shapes, without any help from experienced surfboard shapers.
LIB had one big thing going for them though, and I saw this first hand on a surf trip to Cape Cod in 2015. I walked into a surf shop and was checking out the new LIB boards – one of the salesmen saw me and came over to give me a run-down of the boards. Before I knew what happened, he took a board out, threw it on the ground fins up, and stomped directly in the center with both feet. Everyone in the shop who saw this had a look of horror on their faces – that is, until the board popped back into shape perfectly about a half second later.
I say this because LIB’s surfboard construction is truly insane – what other surfboard material is capable of popping back into shape after a board-snapping blow like that? Nothing I know of. Firewire? Yea ok, test that theory and see what happens.
Lib Tech’s surfboard material is no doubt a heavily guarded industry secret – that said, they explain what they can here on their website. I can tell you from experience that it is lighter than foam/fiberglass, slightly more buoyant, and much better at not snapping in half. Also, the material doesn’t absorb water. That’s key since the material does puncture relatively easily, so be careful when putting it down on pavement or rocks. The good news is you can cover any punctures with stickers and be totally fine thanks to the material.
The Review
Around the time I saw proof of LIB’s insane materials, LIB went and teamed up with …Lost to produce some of …Lost’s shapes with LIB’s insane space-age construction. The result was a line of boards that performed really well (just ask surfers) but were virtually indestructible. The best part? When I got my LIB x …Lost Puddle Jumper, prices for these boards were about the same as your average brand-name fiberglass shaped board.
I own a 5’3” x 20” x 2.32” LIB x …Lost Puddle Jumper with a volume of 28cl. Keep in mind that because of LIB’s materials, you could get a LIB board with a little bit less volume than you normally would and it would still float just fine. I am a smaller guy, and this is the shortest surfboard I have ever ridden, but this thing floats and rips even better than my 5’6” stubbie with the same volume. For someone who mainly surfs in New Jersey, I ride this board during 90% of my sessions. It will make a 2-foot day into something amazing, but that is what they designed this shape for. Credit where it’s due, hats off to Matt Biolos and …Lost for this shape. Best small wave board I have ever ridden.
I say that because this thing generates speed very quickly. That extra volume/float combined with some cool shape features like a concave bottom that transitions to vee in the tail make it almost effortless to fly down the line on a weaker/smaller day. I also love the fact that this thing is shorter than my average shortboard because it makes it so maneuverable, especially on those smaller days. I have been able to do things on this board that I never have before.
I have ridden this board in waves up to 6 feet. For a small wave board, it held its own and frankly, it made me love this board even more. Anything bigger than that though, and I would want something a little longer and skinnier. For waves from 3-6 feet, I ride this board as a thruster (it has 5 fin boxes so you have options). My favorite setup is with the small lightweight FCS PC-3 fins. That’s because for me these fins are the perfect happy medium between twitchy/loose quad and less responsive larger fins. Speed is not an issue as a thruster thanks to the clever shaping by …Lost, and the response and power from these fins are immense.
Keep in mind that LIB’s fin boxes are their own design, but they will accommodate most major brands of fins. LIB’s fin boxes actually have a pretty cool feature – you can adjust the spacing of your fins by sliding them forward and back within the fin boxes.
A closer cluster = more twitchy, quick pivot and loose turns.
A spread-out cluster = more drawn out, gradual turns.
This adjustment actually makes a big difference in the feel of your board, for both thruster and quad setups. Experiment with it, find your sweet spot and mark it with some permanent marker.
Speaking of quads, this board is a riot when ridden as a quad. The first time I set it up like this, I almost got bucked off. The setup was very lively, almost too much. Speed was noticeably faster than the thruster. Turns were easy with instant response and crazy pivot stomping right on the tail. For this, the cluster was closer together than centered. Later, I tried spacing out the cluster as much as possible and it made the twitchiness go away for the most part, but it still had that looser, faster quad feel. Side note – I would love to try this setup with a nub fin as the 5th fin.
Bottom line: I love this shape from …Lost, and I love Lib Tech’s construction. It’s everything I wanted in a small wave board, at a reasonable price, and hopefully with a really long lifetime. That said, I would not recommend you purposefully try to stomp on your board to test its strength.
Alternate Rush 