Dane Reynolds, somewhere in France

Fact: Pro surfers ride light boards. Where glass jobs are concerned, longevity is sacrificed for performance. Dane Reynolds however, ain’t like most pros. According to Zoc Zorica of Channel Islands, Dane rides the same sort of glass jobs as the ones rolled out the door daily to surfers like you and I. As Zoc says: “Dane rides with two layers of four ounce glass on the deck and a four ounce on the bottom. It’s pretty average.”So Mr. Reynolds managing to hang onto a special board for over seven months ain’t too much of a stretch. At the 2010 Quiksilver Pro on the Gold Coast, Dane rode a 6’1” Al Merrick against Joel Parkinson. That heat soon transpired to be his best competition performance to date (19.20 points out of 20, thanks). Keen readers may notice the board from the infamous Parko heat is the same as the one pictured here, taken yesterday during a layday for the Quiksilver Pro in France. Though they didn’t find the Banzai Pipeline, Dane, Pat Gudauskas and Gabe Kling sniffed out a little beach break to throw some heat at. Photog Ryan Miller clicked off this gem of Dane mid-shuvit. So why would Dane risk the life of such a craft on a shore break outside of competition? Dane explains: “I would rather ride my magic board and break it than leave it in the car and have it get stolen”. There was nothing remarkable about the session, but it was still good enough for some hot doggin’. Says Miller: “It was out in the middle of nowhere. No other pros, just Dane, Pat and Gabe. Maybe like, three locals out. We surfed for maybe an hour and the wave was too soft so we bailed.” Will we see the magic board again in later heats of the contest? Stay tuned to find out. – Elliot Struck