Kolohe Andino Might Ride This "Alternative" Shape In A CT One Day

When does an “alternative” design turn into an everyday driver?

When Matt Biolos and Kolohe Andino are trying to beat the winter doldrums in San Clemente. 

Introducing the “Sword-Fish” from …Lost Surfboards. The love child of the fan favorite RNF Retro and Brother’s more conventional shortboards

“I love that little Retro-fish. It works way better than I ever would have thought, but I can’t get my head completely around that short little nose,” Andino told Biolos in a R&D conversation. “If that thing had a longer nose on it, I could probably ride it in contests.”

Andino on a fish? In a contest? Say it ain’t so!

Maybe he’ll bust it out at Snapper, there are few more perfect canvases for fishes than that emerald sand bank. But we digress…

“I really want that fish with a longer, more pulled nose. Make it about 5’9”, so it feels more like a real shortboard up front. Maybe a bit narrower overall. I want a longer rail, with more drive off my front foot. More power, a bit stiffer, more aggressive and even faster. Ridiculously fast. You can leave everything else kinda the same,” continued Andino.

And that’s what Biolos did. He retreated back into his San Clemente surfboard skunkworks where he tinkered with length, outline, volume, rocker and more. 

“Starting with Kolohe’s magic little 5’6” RNF-Retro we added 3” of length, by extending the nose, pulling it in and added some gradual nose rocker,” Biolos explains.

“We also narrowed the entire board a bit and pulled the tail in just slightly, retaining the double side-cut ‘pelagic’ outline. We kept the tail rocker and bottom curves essentially the same but blended the rails a bit more.”

The board's dims eventually ended up at 5’9” x 19.25” x 2.38”.

Taking the shape down to the test track at Trestles, it was immediately deemed a success.

“I love it. It might be the best alternative board I’ve ever ridden. Let’s make it a model!” marvel Andino.

“So we did,” confirms Biolos.

Enter the Sword-Fish.