2 Days with Floyd - Fatum Surfboards

So me and Floyd are the the best of friends now, our time together can not be measured, equaled or shared. But it's time to say goodbye to Floyd, I was his first but many more will have him.

UUUUhh, perhaps I should explain.

Floyd is a surfboard, well actually he is a model of Gero's who creates functional wave riding vehicles under the brand of Fatum Surfboards.

My unlikely meeting began when large pot bellied man bailed his pop-out (surfboard) right in front of me as a set wave swept the line up. As the pop out missile tracked its course for my head, I quickly scooped my favourite board up to intercept almost out of instinct. I felt and heard the impact and knew it would be bad news for my favourite stick. Time to get out.

After taking some breaths and consoling myself with the fact that I could repair the board and my head was okay, I made the trip to my normal repair merchant. Only to find him on holiday. For 3 weeks! I got back in my van and headed to the only other person within radius that I remotely trusted with my baby. The boys at Fatum Surfboards.

Joakim from Fatum received me with his normal surf glazed smile and we began to discuss repair, price, time etc. It was not looking good. In a moment of flippancy I had made a remark about Fatum giving me a loaner. Joakim has seen many surfers in this hellish situation and assuming a practiced 'bedside manner' he calmly guided me over to the tester rack.

There were lots of boards there, all of which where a bit of a blur in my current state of mind. I saw an ugly looking blue/gray single fin that looked like it had only just dried and almost snatched it out of the rack.

Whoa. It felt... pretty good. I could feel my mood lifting as a fresh 7' fin was slotted in and a bar of wax tossed in my direction. I had something I had to do, had to test. A little 6'6 rounded pin single fin. And I knew just the spot.

With the cruelty inflicted upon my favourite plank a fast fading memory I jumped in the van and made a few calls as to the tide and swell a bit further down the coast at a little right hand point (secret). Turns out that it was firing. What were the chances?

I pulled into the car park and I could see these walls reeling off. Suddenly my mild excitement blossomed into a fevered need. Twice I nearly smashed my nose into the asphalt while trying to put my wetsuit on and watch the waves at the same time. I was literally frothing.

I have tried to put into words the quality of the surf that I had but discovered it is impossible to describe the sublime. Instead I have a some video footage of how I thought it went.

When my arms were finished and I did not have the emotion or endurance to sample another wave, I decided to exit the water. Which is when the set of the day came. Not really knowing the lineup that well and to cut a long story short I ended up making friends with some sea urchins and some rocks on the inside. Fortunately my board 'Floyd' was just fine as I chose to shield my new precious friend from the rocks with my own body.

Later after I had time to compute my already full day, pull out the urchins and plug the holes in my skin I reflected that maybe it was a fluke. But I did kind of really really like Floyd.

The next day consisted of two surfs, one back at the same spot and another at a well known and punchy beach break.To my surprise Floyd went well in at the beachy, even in small conditions, making it around sections that you would not have thought possible for a surfboard with just one fin. Suddenly his ugly grey/blue colour seemed to take on a kind of beauty and very slowly I started to think of my quiver including a Floyd.

Just to make sure I popped into to see the boys at Fatum and negotiated another couple of days 'testing' but they knew as well as I did, it was a done deal. I was hooked. I needed a Floyd.

When the time came to take Floyd back for good, Gero was around so I had a quick chat with him about my new favorite board. It turns out it was one the oldest models in the Fatum catalogue, one that has withstead the test of time but also one that was not so  popular these days.

There are many many options such as bonzer bites, 2+1, and all the usual dimension changes, none of which sounded as appealing as my just plain and lovely Floyd. I have spend the weeks since my encounter working out a way of having and of getting not just any Floyd, but that very one.

Many thanks to Fatum, Gero and Joakim for the experience and if you are ever in the area and fancy testing out any of the Fatum range, just pop in for a chin wag but be warned, you might like it that little bit too much.

(Huge thanks to Emely from Surfemotions photography for the title shot and last photo)