It seems that cycles are coming around more often these days and what was old is new again even quicker. I designed the High-Performance Retro about 20 years back and now rediscovered its relevance in today’s market. The wider forgiving nose and pulled in swallow makes for a board that catches wave easily and as a thruster can be laid over with more power off the bottom at speed. This model was so popular back then it deserves another run now.
PLANSHAPE
The HPR has a fuller nose which these days is not that unusual so I guess what really sets it apart is the narrow swallow accentuated by the inclusion of twin flyers that dramatically reduce the width of the tail area. I think the amount of barge arsed surfboards around these days make this tail appear narrow, but it is really not that narrow. Perhaps the wider nose makes it appear that way.
ROCKER
The period in which this board was designed was one where nose rockers were being lowered but I went further with this one since I had the spoonish nose that was less likely to dive. This facility combined with the flatter nose really made this board a great paddler. This in turn allowed me to throw more rocker in the tail to give it more turning freedom as well as giving it more play at speed.
BOTTOM SHAPE
The HPR was one of the earlier con-vees that I started playing around with and actually reinforced my belief in this bottom design. Sporting a moderate roll about 6” from the nose then dropping into a 3 mm concave through the guts then into a 3mm vee in the last quarter of the board. A little more sting in the tail was affected with a subtle flute out through the back flyer which really did add sugar to its bight and squirt.
RAILS AND FINS
The rails on this board would be best described as medium
but would feel equally good on the lower side to help bury the wider nose. What is different with this board however is the purposeful placement of the tri fins. The tapering of the last 15” of the board and the extra bight of the flute allows this model to have its 3 fins mover another 1 inch forward which in terms of fin positioning particularly with thrusters is quite a lot. This in effect allows the rider to be positioned further forward reducing the negatives of a wider nose somewhat.
DIMS
6.2 X 20 ¼ X 2 7/16 = 32.5 LTS
6.4 X 20 ½ X 2 ½ = 34.7 LTS
6.6 X 20 ¾ X 2 5/8 = 37.8 LTS
6.8 X 21 X 2 11/16 = 40.2 LTS
6.10 X 21 ¼ X 2 ¾ = 42.4 LTS
7.0 X 21 ½ X 2 13/16 = 45.10 LTS