Shaper Reveal: 2024 Electric Acid Surfboard Test With Dave Rastovich, Presented By Patagonia
A recluse, an odd number of surfboards, and countless righthanders.
Starting Thursday, October 3rd (PST), we’ll be releasing episodes of our 2024 EAST. Episodes will release every other week, as opposed to every week. To watch, sign up for Stab Premium here.
This is the first year that we’ve had an odd number of surfboards entered in our Electric Acid Surfboard Test. It’s also possibly the shortest window of time we’ve ever given shapers to get a board done.
Invites to the project were sent out in the second week of January. The deadline for boards to be delivered to our offices in either Oceanside or Byron Bay was February 1st.
Nearly every single shaper was working with a material they were unfamiliar with. Some, like our beloved Donald Brink, received their invite in the third week of January — meaning they had roughly 10 days to create their rideable experiments.
The fact that every single surfboard arrived on time is miraculous.
Our initial plan was for Rasta to bring all 11 boards to Morocco. But, by the time we’d secured his and Patagonia’s participation in the project, the window was rapidly closing for a North African Atlantic excursion — hence, the incredibly tight deadline.
Unfortunately, a suitable run of Moroccan long period swells never quite lined up.
Fortunately, February marked the beginning of the five-month swell deluge that descended upon Rasta’s New South Wales home. Paired with some finely placed sand, the perpetual onslaught of Tasman affection made a strong argument for staying put — and allowed us to invest more time into board testing than we have on any marquee project prior.
“He’s got this window where he can still surf at his best, and then we’ve had a year where the surf’s been incredible, and then he’s also had your project to push him along,” said Dave’s good friend Sean Doherty. “It’s another reason to go surfing and try different boards and keep him interested and engaged. He’s had a pretty huge year in the water.”
We premiered Episode One at La Paloma theater this past Saturday (photo gallery here), and it will go live on site Thursday, October 3rd at 5pm PDT. In the meantime, Rasta is chasing an Atlantic hurricane with the final four boards in tow. If all goes well, filming for the project will be completed early next week — almost exactly 8-months since Dave’s feet first touched Electric Acid wax.
Scroll below to see all of the shapers involved.
Ryan Lovelace — @ryanlovelace
Santa Barbara, California
Label: Ryan Lovelace Surf
Neal Purchase Jnr — @nealpurchasejnr
Northern NSW, Australia
Label: Neal Purchase Designs
Corey Graham — @coreygrahamshapes
Torquay, Australia
Label: Corey Graham Shapes
Avalon Starick — @avalon_starick
Gold Coast, Australia
Label: XO Coco
Donald Brink — @donaldbrink
San Clemente, California
Label: Brink Surf
Dane Reynolds — @sealtooth
Santa Barbara, California
Label: Channel Islands Surfboards
Ian Byrne – @thehouseofbyrne
Burleigh Heads, Australia
Label: The House Of Byrne
Duke Aipa – @dukeaipa
Huntington Beach, CA
Label: Aipa Surf
Fletcher Chouinard – @fcdsurfboards
Ventura, CA
Label: FCD Surfboards
Marc Andreini – @marcandreini
Half Moon Bay, CA
Label: Andreini Surfboards
John Simon — @simonshapes
Ventura, CA
Label: Simon Shapes
Episode One — October 3rd
Episode Two — October 17th
Episode Three — October 31st
Episode Four — November 14th
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