Noa Deane And The Cool Comfort Of A Single-Shape Quiver

While filming in West Oz, Noa Deane carried a quiver of three near-identical boards—a small coffin for a traveling professional surfer.

Other than one session, Noa rode the same 5’11” for the entirety of the trip, from Box to solid North Point, a board that had already been broken in on soft beachies back home. And in truth, the only reason he switched was because the aforementioned 5’11” buckled under the pressure of a lofty end section ‘oop. 

It’s not as if Noa’s 5’11” was some sort of quiver killer, or that he’s short on board supplies; he simply sees more value having an intimate understanding of a very specific shape, rather than a variety of boards which suit particular waves.

Essentially, Noa values his relationship with a board over a boards relationship with a type of wave. 

A one-board quiver would be an exaggeration, but a one-shape quiver is not.

Photography

Tom Jennings

Noa, take it away.

I used to ride different sorts of shapes a bit, usually depending on the waves that were on offer. Now the only non-‘performance board’ I ride is a twin-fin, based on a shape my Dad made me as a grom.

The boards I ride are relatively standard, 5’11 or 6’0”, relatively hard rails—four fingers up has to be sharp—flat rocker, foiled fibreglass fins, mostly swallowtails, a thruster set-up, with the same set of fins in every board.

That’s another thing, changing fins constantly between boards makes no sense.

Photography

Mikey Mallalieu

Photography

Mikey Mallalieu

Everything else is essentially just step-up, or step-down versions of this same shape. I worked on it with Luke, I’m happy with it, so why would I change between them?

Getting used to your equipment is the key. Always riding the same length is a start, but there’s more to it than that.

The waves don’t always suit the same shape, but you’re more in tune with a board you consistently ride, and in my opinion knowing how the board’s going to respond is more important than a board suiting a wave. It takes a while to get a feel for most boards too, so it’s difficult to swap between them.   

When I was over in Bali, I broke so many boards consecutively – all of my best boards – and had to suit my surfing to a 5’8”.

Photography

Corey Wilson

Photography

Corey Wilson

First couple of waves it just felt completely different, it was more responsive, but I had to sort of nurse it and adjust my surfing to that board.

Of course, when you’re surfing Pipe, or if you’re surfing absolute slop, you have to change the boards you ride, but when you’re doing normal sort of surfing in normal sort of waves, in my opinion it’s best to surf a single shape—and the exact same board if possible.