Meet The Surfboard That’s Been Clogging Your Instagram Feed

If you’re anything like us, there’s a tender spot in your heart (and bank account) for surfboards.

Big boards, small boards, new boards all boards; these foam capsules drive us mad with their typically subtle, occasionally chasmic leaps in design theory. And all of that relates back to surfing’s big “What if“.

What if this board could help me: land my first air, dial in my cutback, or have more… fun?

But back to reality. 

Some of us are cash-rich. Some of us are time-rich. Some of us are neither. Almost none of us are both. As much as it pains us to say, this means we can’t buy every damn slider we see on @boardporn.

But speaking of Instagram, you might have noticed one distinctly epoxy, totally twisted twin-fin (plus-one) making its rounds on your feed lately. You know, the one that Nate Tyler, Dylan Graves, Jake Kelley, Mickey Clarke et al. can’t stop peddling on their pages?

That board is the Haydenshapes’ MISC., and for the sake of all the foam-heads out there, we’d like to tell you a little bit about it.  

A little backstory from the board’s most nimble designer, Mr. Hayden Cox: 

Our team always has a few shapes in their board bags that are not in the HS model lineup. These can be one-off board shapes suited to the various projects they are working on, and some might be prototypes of models we are considering. Ando has used twins every now and then but has always leaned toward my single fins as his preference.

Nate Tyler, however, was looking for a different style of twin – something that would be similar to his favourite wing swallow tail that he loves, the Untitled FutureFlex model. So I blended some of Craig’s twin files and landed it closer to what I would call a performance twin – not quite a twin, but a 2+1 style of twin (that I personally prefer to ride as a true twin).

The MISC. has that free and fast twin-fin feeling down the line, forcing you to relax and let the drag-free nature of the twin fins do the work. Although when you engage a bottom turn, it ends up being grippy, sensitive, and has a real performance feel. The tail breaks free later in the turn, but there’s a wing about two inches back from the front fins, which helps to hold the water a little longer on the rail line, giving you a little more length of rail before the break.

Hence the name “performance twin.”

Jake Kelly puts the “performance” debate to rest.

Hayden on his board construction preferences, and what fins work best: 

The FutureFlex technology [Haydenshapes’ proprietary epoxy tech] brings a lot of liveliness and drive off your rail lines. It’s a continual flex with a very fast response, giving you great projection and speed. People tend to find that this helps them out in smaller waves, where speed generation is noticed right away. Also, boards for small waves always end up being shorter, wider, and stubbier, which you can see in a number of our models including the MISC. 

I personally enjoy what the FutureFlex tech gives me in my busy lifestyle these days. It keeps me surfing fast and enjoying the waves when I get out there. I’ve only ridden the MISC. in the FF tech, but I have shaped a few customs in our PU/Epoxy – PE construction – and customers have enjoyed them too. But I’d say if you want the most out of your MISC. in everyday waves, get it in the FF tech. 

As for fins, the team have mostly been running the Chippa Wilson Twin fin, but the Futures TF template works great too. You’re looking to run a performance-style twin template in the MISC, not a keel. And the fin positioning is way off for a thruster setup, so I wouldn’t recommend that.

Ride it as a true twin or a 2+1… the choice is yours!

With the Northern hemi summer quickly approaching, we’ll soon be forced to stow away our blades and opt for something shorter, fuller, and likely of an epoxy complexion. With last year’s skimmers destroyed from hundreds of failed air attempts, you might be wondering if the MISC. is a small wave craft worthy of your winter wage. 

The truth is, we have no idea – yet.

There’s a MISC. Joyride currently in the first stages of production (i.e. the boys at Haydenshapes are building that tiny sonofabitch, very carefully, using a nail file for sanding!), so you can expect a definitive answer in the coming months.

But if you can’t wait for that pot to boil, and don’t mind drinking a bit of the social media kool-aid, the MISC. might be the slide-happy fun stick you’re after. 

If you try one, let us know. We’d love to hear some feedback.

Build your own MISC. here. 

Be loose, our friends.