Josh Kerr wins heat on self-shaped asymmetrical board

Today, Josh Kerr won a heat on what might be the most obscure surfboard ever ridden in a world tour heat. It’s called the Bi Polar, and Josh shaped it along with Rusty Preisendorfer. But more on that soon. Here’s what went down today:

Mr Kerr found himself in a round four heat at diamonds-in-the-rough Chopes today against Basque tube pig Aritz Aranburu and Brazilian supercharger Wiggolly Dantas – to be fair, two of the guys you’d least wanna draw in barreling lefts (outside of the obvious elite). Kerrzy opened with a 5.33. Aritz opened with the same score before backing up with a 6.10 leaving the other two trailing.

In the closing minutes, Kerrzy scratched in to a west bowl, travelling a long way through it (as it grew down the line) before getting shut down: “I didn’t even realise it broke my leash, I felt like I was floating inside my mum’s womb for a second there, then came off and felt like I got slapped by Kaiborg. A straight-up bell-ringer!”

Leaving aside the fact that few tour surfers could offer such unique post-heat commentary, Kerrzy was left wearing a leash with nothing attached. He grabbed his back-up board, which brings us back to the asymmetrical Bi Polar. “My brain was on another planet, even when I asked for this board to ride that I’d shaped, I don’t think I was thinking clearly.” Regardless, dropped into a bomb, draw the perfect line, let go of his rail and was blown out for a 7.87 and a won heat.

“I’m going to try for most events to shape my own board with Rusty (Preisendorfer),” said Josh. “It’s good fun shaping a board with Rusty, creating that surfer/shaper relationship and getting in the bay with him. So hopefully I’ll get to ride (each new board) in the events. Luckily enough I got to ride this one, my first trial one. The little thought in my head was harder rails on the bottom turn, channels, quad… made sense in my head when I shaped it. Then I looked at it when I got given it, like, What was I thinking? But it worked really good, I’ve actually had a couple of really fun surfs on it.”

Ryan Burch and Bryce Young have making an extremely powerful case for asymmetrical crafts in the last couple of years, and Kerrzy winning a globally-broadcast heat on one won’t hurt. And not only is Kerrzy bringing some experimentation to the World Tour, but he’s doing it for a good cause:

“I’m auctioning it off for charity,” he says. “This one’s going to FleaHab, Flea Virostko’s charity up in Santa Cruz. He does really good things up there and I’m stoked to help him out. I got to travel with him many years ago when he was on the Rusty team, he’s a good guy.”

Go here for more info on the Bi Polar auction. And don’t miss Kerrzy in the biz end of the event tomorrow…