Universal

7'5" Universal for Johnny

Clear with a tinted fin patch

Hullish

6'10" 2 + 1 Universal variant

a user friendly hull 

Super 6 + 1/2

6'6" Super 6

for Jon

Mid-length Hull

8'4" Hull for Ivan

Hull

7'0" 2+1 Hull

some elements of the Universal for Chris

Twin

Tyler Warren inspired 5'4" for Alex

hand made stained ply keels

Universal Report

having given the Universal a thorough testing I now feel ready to report back.

Built at the beginning of August, since then it has been my everyday board. I've ridden it in knee high peelers, a wide range of beach breaks, a lumpy double over head reef and a couple of very hollow and challenging, backhand, head and a half reef breaks. The Universal has proved to be a reliable and easy to ride board. with plenty of glide, speed and wave catching ability. It feels similar to a full traditional hull but is much easier to ride and doesn't require the usual adjustment that you would expect with a hull. It projects well off the bottom and will draw a beautiful line on a wave allowing you to put yourself in positions on the face that other boards would struggle with. It carves some great arcs and at 7'9” it's even long enough for me to cross step to a cheater five. I've been pleasantly surprised by how well it handles powerful surf. As soon as the rail engages the board feels locked in and stable but still carves smoothly off the rail.

In smaller, weaker waves it cruises along, rolling turns from rail to rail. It feels Lively, natural and intuitive and it's planing speed matches the wave speed well. As the waves steepens or speeds up the board will accelerate to match it. It sounds obvious but not many boards do it well.

The only time that it has felt a bit of a handful, but not unmanageable was in lumpy double overhead waves with flat faces. I found that I had a lot of speed but no wall to engage the rail in. the board did feel a little unstable until I ran it out on to the flats and lost a little speed. I was then able to get an edge in and start carving turns.

In hollow powerful waves up to head and a half the board feels great. surprisingly solid for a single fin and because of the long flex fin, when it does slide it's very controlled and regains it's hold gently rather than grabbing as some boards do. It feels really comfortable in the barrel and has a very fine response to small changes in line or weight distribution. The take off feels surprisingly comfortable despite the length and low nose rocker.

I recently lent it to a friend for a couple of waves, when he paddle back out to return it I could see his grin from 50m away, there wasn't much more that needed to be said. 

what has really surprised me is how well this board has performed in such a wide range of conditions. The Universal is proving to be one of the best single fins that I have ridden and probably the most useful, versatile and fun mid-length.  

more info to follow here: http://empiresurfboards.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/universal

Quiver Summer 2012

9'4" Cassette, 7'9" Universal, 6'6" Spectro, 6'0" Lumus

The Universal

Dipped in darkness and more Bladey than the Reapers Scythe.

the 7'9" Universal

wide point back, evolution inspired displacement hull

Wave length

Great Article on John Eldridge's recent indo trip.

Look out for the Empire Dirty Pin in the quiver shot. 

Alter-Eggo

7'5" single fin with micro sides

ghost tint with free laps 

Bon Voyage

Alex on his 9'5" Bon Voyage

Bon Voyage

Photos by James

See more here:

http://iamjamesbooth.co.uk/

8'5" Mini Log for Cat

Hull up front, down rail Vee through the tail. 

ghost tint + free lap

2+1

5'11" Super - Transitional Hull

Updated Super stubby, coming in just under 6ft. We've tinkered with the step deck on the nose and taken it right to the rail, flattened the deck and filled out the rails under chest. As the rail moves down towards the tail, it begins to pinch and become more down rail. The bottom contour is a hull which changes two thirds of the way down and transitions into a spiral vee (double concave where the centre point is higher than the rails). The tail is wide and set with a 9" flex fin to really crank over those turns and bomb the line.

Turning

John Eldridge bottom turning the Drity Pin.

photo nabbed from John's blog

Super 6 for Alex

New shape for Alex

 Scooped nose Hull up front, down rail with spiral vee in the tail

Some words from Alex "The Super 6 design is a Transitional Displacement Hull. The idea was to create a board with hull characteristics with modern short board turning control under the back foot. Its a lively board to ride either as a single fin or with the added side bite options. The single fin an inch up from the back of the box will give the board a loose feel, you can engage the rail more on the turns and maintain loads of speed. When the waves are steeper, the side bites (all set in a line - moving the single fin up further) will tighten up the back of the board and stop it sliding out. Thickness distribution plays a big part in the board, its almost 3" thick under your chest for moving around quickly in the line up and paddling in early, this volume then quickly tapers out to the rails and down towards the tail. Also, the foam in the nose is taken out to enable you to drop the entire length of the rail into the turn, on more pivotal turns, it feels light and responsive.  Its a board that takes a bit of time to figure out, constantly shifting your weight and feet around to connect turns, more weight forward to feel the hull and increase speed, weight back for snappy turns back into the pocket."

New shape for Alex

9'5" bon voyage

9'5" for Alex

The Sneaky-long

Here is Alex's review of his new shape

8.0 aka sneaky-long:

8' x 22' diamond tail, bladed out rails, s-deck, 8.5 hull flex fin

The 8.0 is influenced by the late 60s period when longboards started to come down in size opening up a whole new way of riding the face of a wave. In partiular, Bob McTavish and Wayne Lynch were experimenting with a template called the 'fantastic plastic machine', thin rails, roll to vee on the bottom and a George Greenough flex fin. Its a really diverse board to ride, paddles like a longboard, gets in nice and early and cuts a lovely trim. Set with an 8.5 hull flex fairly high up the box and bladed out rails, it has multiple turning characteristics; powerful full rail arcing turns from the shoulder back into the pocket through to more tweaky quick snap from the boards hips. In 4ft plus stuff, its feels solid, reliable and super fast, smaller waves, treat it like log and sneak out some cheater 5s...

Welcome Alex

Welcome to our new hull test pilot Alex Rowse.

details on the board to follow.