Slater Designs Frk Plus Ibolic

Slick but fragile – Got this board in 5’11, 30.6L. I am an advanced surfer, 75kg, 6’1. Late drops, barrels turns but no air game. Locations and conditions surfed: beach breaks chest to double overhead East Coast Australian beach breaks and reef breaks. The 5’11 comes in at 19x2.5/8 slightly more narrow than other boards I have had but actually thicker at the same time. For comparison, my last board was 6’1x19.1/4. 2.1/2 and same litres 30.6.

I find the difference in width and thickness quite noticeable, the Frk is a knify shape, good for biting rails, quick transitions and steep drops. Entry rocker is 5.11/16 and exit is 1.15/16 when placed on the ground. That would probably be called strong and medium respectively.

I ride it with the Endorfins medium.

Board is fast, light, snappy, feels great on rail. It can generate speed on smaller waves ok, but obviously it’s not a grovler. Just saying that it is still ridable if you snag a smaller one on a chest high sets day.

Tail release and carve are pretty standard for shortboard shape, just that extra narrow profile offering a bit of extra rail compared with a wider board. And a bit more space between you and the water with that thicker depth measurement but it’s got pretty foiled rails still.

My main concern with this board is that the new “ibolic” construction is quite fragile. 3rd surf I had it was about 1.5 overhead and my leash crushed the tail on a sort-of-funny angled wipe out. The board was dragged inshore from me by the nose deck facing up so that the rail-saver was pressure on the tail. It cracked all along the tail above the grey rail strip but the rail/tail itself was completely fine. 7th surf I put my knee through the nose on the deck in a close out wipeout which I thought should barely have warranted a compression let-alone a ding. For the hefty price of $1240 Aud. it’s hard to cop so many dings on this board so early in owning it. I’m guessing the problem is it’s a very light foam density being used, rather than being under glassed. I’m not sure could be a mixture of both. The rails seem much stronger than the deck as per my board cracking along the tail deck but no damage on the tail rail. Saw another guy on Facebook with the exact same damage, not caused by too long of a string, cracks were both completely straight. July 2024 update: several more deck and rail dings from minor knee and shin impacts.

Overall a cool shape, goes good in good surf, but it’s fragile.

(Tail photo is during my own upgrade/repair with Basalt fibre)