Shaper Reveal: 2023 Electric Acid Surfboard Test With Shaun Manners

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“You’re either on the bus or off the bus,” reads the graphic on all of our 2023 Electric Acid Surfboards.

The quote, a nod from Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test writer Tom Wolfe to his lysergic inspiration Ken Kesey, reminisces an LSD-riddled road-trip through America in the 1960’s.

The Electric Acid Surfboard test is our annual opportunity to pull a three-fin minded, performance inclined purist onto our very own psychedelic safari of unconventional design. This year, in an attempt to achieve the widest variety of boards possible for our West Australian pilot, we requested precisely which type of board we wanted each shaper to make — rather than allowing them the freedom to mow foam within their comfort zone.

Tested on New Zealand’s South Island and three Australian coastlines, some designs orbit close to the refined high-performance sleds Shaun is comfortable with, while the rest range eclectically toward a sharply channeled, unfamiliar astral plane.

Some are made from discarded foam ‘rubbish’ — while others are made from highly engineered covert materials.

All are intended to expand the peripheral concepts of waveriding.

Scroll below for a list of all the shapers whose minds and hands have created our pink and fuschia kaleidoscope of unconventional foam.

Ian Byrne – @thehouseofbyrne
Burleigh Heads, Australia
Label: The House Of Byrne

Simon Jones — @morningoftheearthsurfboards
Byron Bay, Australia
Label: Morning Of The Earth Surfboards

Mark Richards — @markrichardssurfboards
Newcastle, Australia
Label: Mark Richards Surfboards

Josh Keogh — @joshua_keogh_
South Coast NSW, Australia
Label: Josh Keogh Surfboards

Hayden Cox — @haydenshapes
Sydney, Australia
Label: Haydenshapes

Ryan Lovelace — @ryanlovelace
Santa Barbara, California
Label: Ryan Lovelace Surf

Britt Merrick — @cisurfboards
Santa Barbara, California
Label: Channel Islands Surfboards

Neal Purchase Jnr — @nealpurchasejnr
Northern NSW, Australia
Label: Neal Purchase Designs

Eden Saul — @deadkooks
Lennox, Australia
Label: Dead Kooks

Corey Graham — @coreygrahamshapes
Torquay, Australia
Label: Corey Graham Shapes

Kobe Hughes — @kobodahobo
Encinitas, California

Justin Tiernes — @darkartssurf
San Diego, California
Brand: Dark Arts Surf