Successful surfer–shaper relationships are a funny thing. Translating a vague feeling into technical language can feel like decoding Enigma. But when it clicks, it’s one of the most rewarding collaborations in surfing — unlocking new possibilities, new parts of the wave, and entirely new approaches. Here's a case study of a fruitful one between 3x CT winner Barron Mamiya and CI's Britt Merrick.

CI Unveils Their No Nonsense Tube Shooter With 2x Pipe Winner Barron Mamiya

“The Goldie” is built for steep entries, mowing foamballs + getting firehosed into the channel.

hardware // May 6, 2025

Words by Ethan Davis

Reading Time: 2 minutes

When we asked Britt Merrick back in March, “How much do pro surfers actually know about their boards?” he laughed.

“It’s a spectrum,” he responded.

“Some surfers are really involved, and some don’t have the bandwidth or the desire. They just know what feels good to them and want more of that. Those people are super easy to shape for, but I tend to get kinda bored with them. I like to give people a batch of boards and then get all the feedback — positive, negative tweaks, changes, whatever. That’s what keeps me inspired.”

Seeing your boards weaponized in breakthrough CT wins will keep you fairly inspired too…

Among the lineup of surfers he listed with high board IQ were: Parker Coffin (launched two of their best-selling models: the Fishbeard and the SITD-winning CI Pro and CI 2.Pro), Dane Reynolds (Dumpster Diver, Sperm Whale, Neck Beard, Black & White, Sampler + more) and perhaps more surprisingly, 3x CT winner and Hawaiian heavyweight Barron Mamiya — a man whose greatest hits now include back-to-back Pipe Pro wins.

“When we started, Barron didn’t know much about boards,” Britt said. “Now he wants to know everything. I scribble notes on his boards like a mad scientist — ‘Double concave. Fin shift.’ He reads them all.”

We’ve finally got to see the results of that back and forth.

Enter The Goldie.

Gold star, gold logo, gold jersey. Warren Buffet approved. Photo by Tony Heff/World Surf League

If Kelly’s 2008 Wizard Sleeving got people thinking, ‘maybe I can lose the rhino chaser at Pipe and Sunset’, then John Florence and Barron Mamiya have become two of that theory’s most powerful validators — with both racking up major wins on boards that wouldn’t look entirely out of place at Huntington.

The Goldie makes surfing giant Pipe possible on a 6’3” by virtue of its foam distribution: thick in the middle, slender on the rails. The former gives it float, to scratch into waves of heft. The latter, the ability to grab the wall in steeper sections and make late drops.

Unlike most of CI’s models, the rocker profile on the Goldie is continuous rather than staged — because, let’s be honest, you’re not really trying to throw nooners at Backdoor. A deep double concave adds lift and drive when that light at the end of the tunnel is dwindling.

While the Banzai has been the test lab for much of Baz’s Goldie experimentation, Britt and Baz insist it has applications beyond the deathly hollows of Oahu. That means Indo, Mex, Hawaii, West Oz — maybe even Namibia, if you’ve got the PTO and are feeling frisky.

Get yourself a no-nonsense barrel board here.