Stab Magazine | Dane Bites The "Bullet": "This Thing Is NOT A Performance-Oriented Board"

Live Now — Episode 3 Of Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico

703 Views

Dane Bites The “Bullet”: “This Thing Is NOT A Performance-Oriented Board”

Watch: Dane Reynolds mashing man turns on a well-keeled Tyler Warren tugboat

cinema // Nov 18, 2018
Words by stab
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Like anyone who grabbed the thick, bulky, plug-y, thoroughly twin-keeled Tyler Warren while it was in our Los Angeles office, the logic behind the “Bullet,”—as Warren refers to the new model, named for its broad moon tail, gradual sloping outline, and snubbed beaked—confounded Dane Reynolds. 

“This thing is not a performance oriented board,” Dane said, more or less to himself, as he pulled the resin-striped 5’7 out of the Santa Monica Surf Case. 

 

AcidTestMEX AlanvanGysen 0066

Photography

AVG

AcidTestMEX AlanvanGysen 0063

Photography

AVG

While his longboarding as a teenager might have turned heads at Coalition events up and down the coast, it was Tyler Warren’s own surfing on very small equipment that drew attention to his curious sleds. Inspired by Richard Kevin’s exploration of Bob Simmons’ design with EPS blanks and twin-keeled equipment, Tyler carved himself what he coined the “Bar of Soap,” a snubbed-nose, pizza-boxed tail, with incredibly long, dual-foiled keel fins. With Warren’s loose, liberated surfing capturing a certain demographic of the surfing world, and the “Mini-Simmons” design developed a cult following, and remains one of Tyler’s most requested models. 

But Warren had another idea in mind for the Acid Test. Instead he offered his newest take on keel, the Bullet, a moon-tailed mix between a Mini-Simmons and a traditional Hobie-style fish, a design he learned to shape first hand growing up in San Juan Capistrano and hanging in the bay of his longtime mentor, the late, great Terry Martin. 

 

AcidTestMEX AlanvanGysen 66

“It’s meant to go really fast…” Tyler Warren.

Photography

AVG

While Dane noted the board’s heavy weight and density, the board built solid as a fucking tank, he was willing to give it the old college try, admitting however that he had really loved the look of a lot of Tyler’s boards, and was taken back by the Bullet’s seeming crudeness. 

“I’ve seen a lot of really beautiful boars from Tyler, like really refined looking equipment, so this one’s a little confusing to me,” Dane said. 

But on a radically clear and bright afternoon midway through the trip, with chest-high chip shot wedges pinballing across one of the right coves north of Salina Cruz, and a cooler full of Coronas thoroughly on ice, Dane paddled out and shredded the stocky, pluggy little fucker to bits, paddling out the back after a handful of frontside hacks and a blowtail finisher, saying, “Well, I think I’ve done pretty much all I can do on this thing at this point. I really don’t know what else I got for it. Turns better than I thought, and it’s super fast down the line.”

And with that the TW slipped back into the Santa Monica Surf Case. Head south for photographic evidence of Dane’s thorough have at it, shot by Alan Van Gysen, with a few gems from Sam Moody. 

 

AcidTestMEX AlanvanGysen 0737

Finners mean something when we’re talking about 10+ inches of moontail and 9+ inches of keel.

Photography

Alan Van Gsen

AcidTestMEX AlanvanGysen 0746

Not the tightest turning radius, but anything’s possible with enough torque.

Photography

Alan Van Gysen

AcidTestMEX AlanvanGysen 0856

Photography

Alan Van Gysen

AcidTestMEX AlanvanGysen 0857

Photography

Alan Van Gysen

AcidTestMEX AlanvanGysen 0858

Photography

Alan Van Gysen

AcidTestMEX AlanvanGysen 0859

Photography

Alan Van Gysen

AcidTestMEX AlanvanGysen 861

Photography

Alan Van Gysen

AcidTestMEX AlanvanGysen 0861

Photography

Alan Van Gysen

AcidTestMEX AlanvanGysen 0862

Photography

Alan Van Gysen

AcidTestMEX AlanvanGysen 0863

Photography

Alan Van Gysen

AcidTestMEX AlanvanGysen 0744

“I think I’ve done all I’m gonna do on this thing,” Dane Reynolds hitting the fiberglass ceiling.

Photography

Alan Van Gysen

Comments

Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.

Already a member? Sign In

Want to join? Sign Up

Advertisement

Most Recent

Why The Surf Industry’s Kingmakers Are Betting On Florence

Pat O’Connell and Evan Slater on why ex-Volcom, Billabong and Hurley CEOs are backing it.

Jul 16, 2025

Mixed Symmetry — The Surfboards Of Milk & Honey 

As told by Stephanie Gilmore, Caity Simmers, Coco Ho, and Frankie Harrer

Jul 16, 2025

Cloud 9 Becomes First Surf Break To Outlaw Beginner Surf Lessons

Time to make it a universal ruling at sketchy reef breaks? A local photographer explains.

Jul 15, 2025

10 Shapers To Watch In The Next 10 Years — Part Two

A few more foam craftsmen worth keeping on your radar.

Jul 14, 2025

Watch: Rip Curl Mobilises Its Teenage Army In ‘Dunno’

A 30-minute surf film by Vaughan Blakey and Nick Pollet.

Jul 14, 2025

There’s A New Number One Surfer In The World

And it feels so right.

Jul 13, 2025

Controversial Opinion: No One Needs To Yoga In Boardshorts

8 Trunks for the traditionalist.

Jul 13, 2025

Stab Edit Of The Year: Sam Piter Stars in ‘Rogue DNA’.

French blood, thick water.

Jul 13, 2025

Matty McG Skydives Into CT Heat, But Jordy’s Still The Main Event

A full day of heats at J-Bay, and only one shark warning.

Jul 12, 2025

Correction: J-Bay All Foreplay, No Climax

Slim pickings on Day 1 of the Corona Cero Open J-Bay 2025.

Jul 11, 2025

What Do Hollywood, Surf Lessons, Michael Jackson And Traction Pads Have In Common?

A Stab Interview with Teva Dexter, the man behind surfing's hardest new hardware brand —…

Jul 10, 2025

Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico: Episode 3

"The tribe has spoken," Dane Reynolds pronounced, and a surfer's torch was snuffed.

Jul 10, 2025

How Josh Ku Nearly Died Trying To Cross From Ulus to G Land by Hydrofoil

“If someone finds me dead at least they can find my phone and know what…

Jul 10, 2025

Expect No Kiss, All Climax At The “World’s Most Perfect Pointbreak”

A Corona Cero Open J-Bay 2025 preview.

Jul 9, 2025

SEOTY: Liam O’Brien stars in ‘Friction of Perception’

"Hopefully I don’t come across like too much of a peanut."

Jul 8, 2025

10 Shapers To Watch In The Next 10 Years — Part One

“It’s like a drug empire, man. Cut the head off the snakes, and more will…

Jul 7, 2025

Mason Ho Joins Ritual Vision, Releases Remix Of Greatest Hits

Dion Agius riffs on the eyewear brand’s U.S. expansion, Ritualistic Tendencies, and the new stars…

Jul 7, 2025

Is It Time For A New Judging Format?

We have a modest proposal — a WSL head judge disagrees.

Jul 7, 2025
Advertisement