Britt Merrick Breaks Down the new Channel Islands FishBeard

Parker Coffin said it first: “A NeckBeard 2 would work sick as a keel-fin fish!” So we go to work redesigning the back half of the NB2 template and rocker, paired the board with our CI Keel Fins, and the FishBeard was born.

The FishBeard is pure business in the front and all party in the back. Get forward on this user-friendly board and drive from the center and you’ll have all the speed and flow you always desired. Step back on the tail to engage the fins and rails, which provides you hold, pivot, projection and the freedom to rip as hard as ever. To keep the party going, we dug into the archives and found some vintage mid-80’s, fluorescent logos and recreated CI’s iconic layup from that era.

Britt Merrick

"Britt Merrick is the 43-year-old son of shaping guru, Al Merrick. No prizes for guessing who his biggest shaping influence is. He’s been shaping for 25 years and the craft he made for Stab in the Dark was a tweaked version of popular Channel Islands model, the Fred Rubble. “The only major change was I tweaked the rocker between his feet, especially in front of the front fins. I straightened that area to get it going a little faster. I’d love to see this board ridden on a pointbreak, like Snapper, with a good, steep wall, and down-the-line surfing.”

The Shaping Room - OG Flyer

Britt Merrick breaks down our all-time most popular design, The Flyer... In 1999 Al was searching for a solution to team riders’ dilemma of needing more speed and flow in lesser waves while maintaining high performance, world tour level surfing. The answer was a board that departed from the then overly narrow designs and set the stage for the modern performance shortboard that is now wider and shorter. The Flyer is easily the most ridden and enjoyed all around board in our history.Best as an everyday board in everyday conditions, The Flyer has a single concave entry to double through the middle and a vee exit, Al’s signature bump squash, slight down rail, and a subtle nose beak. To be ridden approximately the same length as you are tall.