Haydenshapes recommends a Hawaiian quiver

Headed for Hawaii? Hayden Cox, who you know better as Haydenshapes, reveals which boards he’s packing in the coffins of his team riders (Craig Anderson, Creed McTaggart and more), and which ones he’d take himself. And, for a point of reference, Hayden stands at 5’8″ himself.

Interview by Damien Fahrenfort

What Ando rides out at Rocky Lefts is the Merlot. I’d shape shape myself a 5’5” Merlot in PE Construction, which is good for smaller waves. Then I’d probably do a 5’9” Ando with a rounded pin tail. That would be something I’d surf in anything up to 10-12 foot faces, so long as it wasn’t excessively powerful. It’s a reasonably powerful shortboard though, it’ll hold in when you really want to surf it like a shortboard but with more hold than a standard model.

Craig. Merlot. Rocky Point. 2013. Laserwolf.

Then I’d probably step up to a 6’1” Golden Gun. Which has a bit more curve than the Ando board, and that’s gonna just hold in a way that’ll control a bit of the speed and get up underneath the lip. But that’s something that Creed’s been riding, he’s got one over in Hawaii at the moment. That’s what I shaped Dayyan (Neve) back when he was on tour. Marti (Paradisis) rides it out at Shipsterns all the time. If I was gonna surf Backdoor, that’d be the board I’d take out there.

Another board I’d take is the Shred Sled King. That’s a quad fin. It’s a slab board – best for double-overhead slabs. It has a slipped-up entry rocker, but it has that wider nose, easy-to-surf plane shape with stability in there, but it really holds strong and tight. That’s something you’d ride if you’re surfing anything up to double overhead barrels, fun, slabby kinda waves. That’s a sick board for those conditions. I’d do that one in Future Flex, and it’s a quad fin, and I’d ride it in a 5’8” at six-to-eight foot Backdoor. That 5’8” will basically feel like a 6’6” when you’re riding it. It surfs a lot longer than what the board actually is. I took a 5’8” to Indo earlier this year. I surfed it once, because I needed the swell to be way bigger to ride it. I got good 10-12 foot faced waves, but still not powerful enough to ride that board in a 5’8”. It rides way longer than what it is and loves powerful, slabby waves.

Creed at Off The Wall yesterday, riding a 6’3″ Golden Gun pin tail. Photo: Laserwolf

You can’t go past a single fin, like the one Ando rode at Pipe in Slow Dance. That 6’7” single fin that’s three-inches thick. It has a really drawn-out, slight diamond tail on it. That’s a sick board for Pipe if you’re willing. I rode one out at Nias this year and it was sick. It held the line so well. I’d surfed it as a 5’10” before but never my step up version. Ando has been riding it for a few years and really liking it. So I finally got to ride the step up at Nias and it was so sick getting barreled on that thing. With that single fin, you want to be able to paddle in from a bit further out and get up early. It’s not necessarily for taking off under the lip. It’s more to really hunt a swell down and then get up and roll into it. And that’s how Ando surfed Pipe on it. You can chase the peak ‘cause it paddles so well. You’re sitting a bit further out, you paddle way over the top of the wave, and just roll into it. That’s how you surf that board.

If I was ever going to give Jaws or one of the open ocean waves a shot, there’s a 9’6” that I shaped for Ben Wilkinson. It’s this trippy board with a really extended, long sidecut in it. He got some huge waves on it at Jaws last year. I just call it the Rhino Chaser. I do have a logo for it, it’s pretty funny. I actually scaled down that Rhino Chaser and took it to Nias. I scaled it down to a 5’6” and it went fucking mental. I gave it to Tom Carroll and he sent me a text the other day saying “Holy shit… that board of yours… wow.” Then he went into some more detail about how it reminded him of some old Byrne boards and some old Rawsons from back in the day. He was frothing, tripping out on it. You know how there’s a sidecut in the Merlot and the Germ? It’s got that in it, but it’s really drawn-out. Instead of drawing a tight curve like the Germ does in smaller waves, it draws a really nice line for bigger open face waves. The rocker’s really flat, so it has all this speed in it. But then you tip it on rail and it starts to draw you up the face. Ben said he could’ve surfed 60 foot waves on that board, easy.

And if I could get boards from Hawaiian shapers? I’d definitely love to get some beautiful rounded pins off Eric Arakawa. I’ve always looked at his boards and especially admired the beauty of his rounded pin tails. I’d love to get a replica of the Tom Carroll board by Pat Rawson. I’m friends with Tom and such a fan of that snap under the lip. It was just an amazing board that reminds me of when I was a grommet. You obviously can’t go past a Gerry Lopez single fin either. You’d have to get one of those. They’re three guys that I’d froth to get a board off, just to surf or even just to have. They’re people I’ve always been inspired by.

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