Did Dion Agius Just Become A Turn Guy?

Dion Agius has one of the most recognizable frontside airs in the game.

While the Tasmanian is preternaturally talented, this patented maneuver didn’t happen by chance. With his heyday falling in direct alignment with Kai Neville’s mold-breaking films, Dion worked closely with his shapers to develop ‘air boards’ that were generally shorter, flatter, and more attuned to boosting off the type of sections that ultimately influenced the current generation of stylish ‘air guys’. While these boards served Dion well in his high flying endeavors, they were not the best when it came to laying tracks around his Tassie home. As a result, he and his new shaper (since 2017) Hayden Cox (aka Haydenshapes) began working on a board to improve Dion’s turns, and boy did they find a winner.

The Haydenshapes ‘Raven’ is the latest model to come out of the Australia-based surfboard/design studio. They started out with the goal of adding some 90’s style carves into Dion’s repertoire of straighties and death floats, and the project only progressed from there. Rather than give you a watered-down version of the narrative, here’s the story straight from Dion himeself:

“Several years back, prior to a trip to Indo, Hayden and I began concepting ideas and developing prototypes that allowed me to work more on my turns. These various iterations have evolved quite a bit since the first — finally becoming the latest version RAVEN. My boards have always been more suited for taking off and racing to try airs, so we began fine-tuning this one to be faster than any shortboard I’ve ridden previously, whilst finding a balance between drive and being forgiving on rail.”

I was sent on an errand run to the Haydenshapes store here in LA just a few weeks ago to pick up a Raven for Mikey C.’s upcoming Joyride, and to say it felt electric under arm would be an understatement. From Hayden’s immaculate Raven-inspired decal to the board’s tight swallow and sleek curves, I found myself staring longingly at it in the corner of my room. After watching the above, it’s likely you too will yearn for the Raven’s siren squawk.

Click above to see Dion sample his latest model around home, and click here to scope the stock dims for yourself. You won’t regret it…