Surf Features » The Soft-Top Revolution is Upon Us!

The Soft-Top Revolution is Upon Us!

We’ve all seen Soft-Top Surfboards and enthusiasts invading the lineups, so what gives?

 

 

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Even Julian Wilson is packing some foamies!

Spring is finally here! The mercury starts creeping up, the sun stays out longer, laid-back days on the beach… all good right? Not all good, because summer brings with it something all surfers dread. No waves! We all love those big winter swells, not so much the extra wetsuit rubber that comes with it, but we make the compromise. So here’s the flip side, when the waves are notched down to knee slappers it’s time for a compromise on what board you ride. It’s time to break out the soft-top, and we’re not talking about a convertible…

 

 

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Ok, summer isn’t all bad

When the surf turns to shit you might just give it a miss, call it a write-off and keep waiting for a new swell. The truth is, crappy waves are a part of summer for most surfers, so it’s time to embrace it! That’s precisely what Catch Surf are doing, and they’ve crafted a quiver of soft-tops for making the most of all surf conditions. 

 

 

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Pick a board, any board…

It all started with the Beater, which had a simple goal. When lifeguards hoist up the blackball and start calling surfers on hard fiberglass surfboard out of the water, you have a surfboard that you can keep riding. This soft foam surfboard wouldn’t hurt a bather (too much) and in just two sizes, 4 foot or 4 1/2 foot, it could almost get away with being a bodyboard. After years of development the Catch Surf Beater is just getting better and better, with its twin channels, tapered D-rails, and crescent tail all there to help while surfing it finless. It also works great with a single or twin fin setup… 

Small days call for a Beater

The Beater was a big success and other surfboard manufacturers began jumping on the bandwagon too. Blackball beater surfboards were being pumped out and inevitably more and more found their way into the lineup. When you see a guy catching every little ripple breaking onto the beach and hooting his ass off while you sit out back on your regular shortboard waiting for a set that never comes, no doubt you’re thinking about getting one too.

 

 

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It’s better than no surf, right?

With plenty of cash in their coffers Catch Surf got cracking onto creating new soft-top boards to blur the lines of the blackball beater altogether. With the squashed-down-longboard-style 5’ Stump they added a thruster fin setup and a quad fin setup, then signed up Chippa Wilson to create his signature edition soft top…

CATCH SURF X CHIPPA WILSON

Chippa shredding on his Stump!

Then you have the fish-like-swallow-tail Skipper, a bigger beast altogether and built for speed, but still as floaty as they come. The idea was to create a board that could handle itself in the bigger stuff, so they got Jamie O’Brien onboard to give it a thrashing. He ending up getting his own signature model too…

JAMIE O'BRIEN INDO SKIPPER SHREDDING

O’Brien tests the Skipper in Indo! 

So, all in all, it looks like soft-top surfboards are here to stay, and you know how the saying goes, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! Over in Pismo Beach, the DriftingThru surf shop has a whole bunch of Catch Surf soft-tops in stock, they’re offering a pretty damn good discount too, up to $40 off, plus they ship all over the US. With the surf just going downhill for the next 6 months, best you get prepared for it now…

 

 

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He’s laughing at you…