I own a quiver Bumble Bart. I am sat looking at the board rack and thought to myself maybe it’s about time I explained to everyone the difference between the models and which waves they are best suited to.

So here you go…

Deshy’s guide to Quiver Surfboards shaped by Luke Hart.

To start with a brief introduction into whom the shaper is…

Luke Hart is described by many as young, motivated, inspirational, innovative and highly creative. Luke has made Quiver into the brand name it is today. He has used a lot of his knowledge and has a great team testing the boards to make sure they are perfect for British waves. Some of Luke’s riders include:

• Alan Stokes:  UK Pro Tour Winner
• Tom Butler:  Pro Tour runner up and English Champion
• Mitch Corbett:  Barrel Magnet!
• Cain Killcullen:  Irish Power Man!
• Oli Adams: aerialist and all round progressive surfer.

Here are a few of his models we have in stock and a brief explanation as to what they are..

 

The Bumble Bart

 

This is my personal favourite board in the Quiver range. I have surfed this board in small 1 ½ foot clean surf and in overhead messy surf. It absolutely flies in both. It has forward wide point with a stub nose and pulled in round pin tail which will give the rail the feel of a good wave board but with the stability and paddle power of a fish. It surfs just like a shortboard when you’re on your feet but you have to put minimal effort into your paddling.

Deep single to double through the fins with slight vee off the tail gives you concentrated speed through the fins with great hold on deep bottom turns and carves.  Medium rocker throughout with the shortened all round template means it sits in the pocket all day long.

 

The Hobbit

 

The Hobbit is a very similar shaped board to the Bumble Bart but with a squash tail and a generally more shortboard shape to it. The Hobbit is more performance driven then the Dirty Truck and the Bumble Bart. It is as easy to catch waves as the Dirty Truck but gives you a much more shortboard like feel to it. This board would be a great in-between board for those days when it is quite fat but a good size and you worry about taking your shortboard out. Alternatively it would make a great first short board if you have been surfing fishes for a while.

The Dirty Truck

 

The Dirty Truck is the slightly fatter version of the Hobbit. It has a bigger pan shape throughout with a similar rocker line. The wide point in this board is further back and is not as big. The dirty truck would be a great board for anything from 2ft clean to overhead barrels. It has a slightly more relaxed rocker line to a standard hip shortboard but not quite as flat as a traditional fish. The pan shape of the tail is slightly wider than a standard shortboard as well but has more rocker in it then a fish. A great performance fish ideal for anything with a bit of punch.

If you want to come and have a look for yourself we are open 7 days a week. Come and browse!

Where to start with trestles this year? Stop number 7 on the world tour. The Hurley Pro Trestles California was epic this year with 3 -5 foot waves through out. Coming in to this event Kelly Slater was on top with Owen Wright sitting in second after beating Slater in New York. The cut off had just happened with a new few faces on the tour including John John Florence and Julian Wilson not to mention some familiar faces requalifying like Heator Alves.

Day one started with 2 -3 foot waves, it looked hard work for the pros. But there was some good surfing from Kelly, Owen, Kerr and Wilson.

It all started to get exciting in round 4 when Joel Parkinson stole a wave from the toes of Julian Wilson and came from behind to progress into the quarter finals in the dying seconds leaving an amped and pissed of Julian Wilson having to battle out in round 5.

Round 5 saw some interesting heats with Mick Fanning being the stand out on a borrowed board. Mick posted a 9 on his first waves and then a 9.23 on one of his last waves of the heat. Damien Hobgood struggled to find his form in a heat in which Mick was literally on fire.

The Quarter finals were also very exciting, the wind started to decrease meaning the aerials could start to come out. Julian Wilson was on a mission after his misfortune in round 4. Julian absolutely dominated his heat with Joel Parkinson scoring a combined score of 18.23.  Kelly Slater also had a tough heat against the very inform young Australian Josh Kerr. Kelly boosted a 17.60 to secure the win.

The Semi finals were magical for anyone who watch at home. There was some incredible surfing. The air reverse was used as a standard way to finish a wave. It was a battle of new school Vs old school with Kelly throwing massive power hacks, Owen Wright surfing the smoothest and fastest surfing in the whole event and the like of young hotshot Julian Wilson looking to boost massive aerials as well as crazy new school pop shove its and what not.

There was no stopping Kelly he was on fire in this heat just throwing so much spray. He was making the most of every wave. Slater was back on a thruster for the first time in a while and he made the most of it with crazy power hacks. Heator Alves tried his best and to be fair on another day he may well have won.

Poor old Julian Wilson was unlucky to have an interference called against him on the first wave of the heat in Which Owen made the most of this with a 7.33. There was then a massive lull in for about 10 minutes. Then a very ampted up Julian started just throwing massive crazy airs. He even popped a shuv it but was unlucky not to stick much. Owen was surfing very maturely and not letting Wilson have anything. Wright wins with a 14.74 to Wilson 10.04 . Wright then had to go through to the final to face Kelly for ASP world tour record 3^rd in consecutive events final. The scores were drawn with Kelly winning Teauphoo and Owen winning New York. It was a tense build up! Who was going to win the decider?

King Kelly struck again and just won the heat to become to get his 37^th career win and his 5^th trestles title.  It was a tough final in which it was decided in the last 4 waves of the heat. Wright almost had it but Kelly’s experience paid of on in the end as he clinched in the final moments.

“Owen (Wright) is tough and he’s been surfing great,” Slater said. “There really are no weak points to his surfing and he’s going to be a standout in every spot. A lot of the guys tried to get him this week and I got lucky in that last exchange. I was taking the first wave of the set under his priority and once I got priority I wanted to wait. It almost looked like there wasn’t a wave after Owen’s. It’s been fun surfing against Owen and surfing Lowers. It’s been a great week and thanks everyone for the crazy support, it’s been wonderful.”

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES FINAL RESULT:
1 – Kelly Slater (USA) 17.50
2 – Owen Wright (AUS) 16.74

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES SEMIFINALS RESULTS:
SF 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.40 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 16.57
SF 2: Owen Wright (AUS) 14.74 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 10.04

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES QUARTERFINALS RESULTS:
QF 1: Heitor Alves (BRA) 12.77 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12.50
QF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.60 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 11.07
QF 3: Owen Wright (AUS) 15.67 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.67
QF 4: Julian Wilson (AUS) 18.23 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14.93

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 5 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Heitor Alves (BRA) 12.74 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 9.80
Heat 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) 15.27 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 12.97
Heat 3: Mick Fanning (AUS) 18.23 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 10.27
Heat 4: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.67 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 12.37

CURRENT ASP WORLD TITLE TOP 10 (After Hurley Pro at Trestles)
1 – Kelly Slater (USA) 44,950 pts.
2 – Owen Wright (AUS) 39,900
3 – Joel Parkinson (AUS) 35,400
4 – Adriano de Souza (BRA)31950
5 – Josh Kerr (AUS)30,800
6 – Taj Burrow (AUS) 29,250
7 – Mick Fanning (AUS)28,200
8 – Jordy Smith (ZAF)27,500
9 – Jeremy Flores (FRA)23,700
10 – Michel Bourez (PYF) 22,250

For video highlighs check  http://www.hurley.com/hurleypro/videos.cfm?type=od

Since Firewire’s launch they have been working hard to improve all their models to make them suit all different kinds of waves. They have even made certain models like the dominator to suit many different conditions and surfing abilities. They have created several different kinds of technology. I have written this blog to help you understand the difference between the models and technology’s.

First of all is the construction:

RAPIDFIRE:

Rapidfire  is a hybrid technology, combining the carbon rod suspension of the direct drive models with a bamboo top deck skin.

Rapidfire’s core is shaped from 2lb fused EPS foam and the bamboo skin is applied using Firewire’s proven sandwich construction. Unlike FST and Direct Drive, the 2lb foam and bamboo deck sandwich do not require a vent.

The interior carbon rods work with the bamboo skin to optimize flex patterns, maximizing speed and drive through turns, and while not as dent resistant as the Direct Drive or FST aerospace composite skin, the bamboo does create significant compression strength.

Rapidfire’s flex characteristic is similar to FST and the overall effect is a highly tuned surfboard with increased performance over traditional surfboard constructions. Rapidfire is a similar price to premium PU surfboards.

FUTURE DESIGN TECHNOLOGY:

FST relies primarily on the PARABOLIC Balsa Rail to control flex while the high density aerospace composite vacuumed to both top and bottom decks provides significant impact strength, and is stronger than the traditional PU surfboard.

The Parabolic Balsa Rail features 12mm balsa built from 3 x 4mm strips, which as mentioned not only control flex and add strength, but also act as a buffer against rail dings. Furthermore, the long-term flex memory supplied by the balsa rails ensures boards maintain their lively feel for longer.

FST models are more expensive then your premium PU board and the rapidfire with the idea that you very high performance board that is more durable then your standard PU / Epoxy board.

Next i will talk you through a few of the latest models made with these technology’s. I’ll start with the most versatile board in the Range.

The DOMINATOR:

The Dominator is a very versatile board. It combines a full outline with a thick foil from nose to tail and a 5/4/3 fin configuration (use as a 4 fin quad or 3 fin thruster). The wide point has been moved back to reduce the nose profile, maintaining all of the speed but with none of the top turn drawbacks of retro nose outlines.

It’s super light weight and could be surfed in all conditions with a slight fin movement. I surfed a 6 ft one of these in messy 2 ft surf and i could not believe the amount of waves i caught! It was super floaty when i was paddling out and for waves. As i popped up it felt more like a shortboard then a fish. I would say to go a bit smaller than your normal shortboard as there is a lot of float in these boards as the rail maintains its thickness all around the tail, so you can probably go up to 4 inch smaller than your regular shortboard depending on your ability. I would highly recommend this board. If you were to get rid of all your boards and use one for all this would be it!

The HELLFIRE:

The Firewire Hellfire is a ‘contemporary Hybrid’, taking the best characteristics of the Dominator and Spitfire, maintaining bottom curve, thickness distribution and rail volume, but adding 2” in length with a narrower nose and tail. And deeper double concaves for extra lift and drive at speed. The result is a more standard short board look and feel. The Hellfire has more of the on-rail; in the pocket drivey feel that you trust in your “normal” short board. Suggested lengths are 2” to 4” shorter than your regular short board, or 2” to 4” longer than your hybrid.

The hellfire also features a step down rail around the tail which gives it an even more shortboard feel making you feel you are surfing something that is only 2 ¼ thick as a appose to the fact you are actually surfing a board that is 2 ½ thick. I am yet to surf one of these but if it is a more performance version of the dominator then i am super keen. They look great and i am definitely keen to get one as it is exactly the kind of board i am after with characteristics of a performance fish with more float and still the feel of surfing a shortboard. Can’t wait to try one out.

The SWEET POTATOE

The Firewire Sweet Potato is the surfboard that is half the size of a longboard but catches as many waves, even when its small mush. Everyone that has surfed these boards has loved it in all conditions. The Sweet Potato is such an easy board to surf. It puts the fun back into surfing, from tiny ripples to head high surf!

I have not met anyone who has surfed one of these and not loved it. They look quite odd as they are so round. They look a bit like giant skim boards but they definitely don’t surf like them. I surfed a 5ft 2 model and couldn’t believe how much speed you can create out of nothing but yet still had a lot of hold through your turns. A great board to have in your quiver and definitely the most fun board you will ever have in there!

Hope this helps you understand and decide on your next board!

On Tuesday 2nd November the surfing world was stunned and shocked as Legendary Pro Surfer Andy Irons past away in his hotel room in Texas. The 3x world champ was to ill to compete in the Rip Curl Pro Search in Porta Rica and was on his way home to Hawaii. Andy  past away after batterling with dengue fever. Just 2 months after winning his 20^th ASP contest. Andy wife was 7 months pregnant with there first child.

This is a tribute to live and times to one of the true legends of surfing and the only man to ever really stop Kelly.

The Official Billabong press realise: The world of surfing mourns an incredibly sad loss today with the news that Hawaii’s Andy Irons has died. Andy was a beloved husband, and a true champion. Irons, 32, withdrew from a professional surfing event in Puerto Rico last weekend due to illness and passed away during a layover en-route to his home in Kauai, Hawaii. He had reportedly been battling with dengue fever, a viral disease.

At this time the family thanks his friends and fans for their support, and asks that the community respect its privacy. The family also asks to not be contacted so their focus can remain on one another during this time of profound loss.

Andy Irons was born on the 24^th July 1978. Irons grew up surfing  on the dangerous and shallow reefs of the North Shore in Kauai, Hawaii. Over the course of his professional career, he won three world titles (2002, 2003, 2004), three Quiksilver Pro France titles (2003, 2004, 2005), two Rip Curl Pro Search titles (2006 and 2007) and 20 elite tour victories including the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing four times from 2002-2006. On September 3, 2010 he won the Billabong Pro in Tahiti. He and his family hosted the Annual Irons Brothers Pinetrees Classic, a contest for youngsters. The Governor of Hawaii declared February 13 forever “Andy Irons Day”.

Andy is the only surfer to ever have won at every event on the ASP World Tour. Even at home in Hawaii he manages to dominate the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. AI tops the list of most Triple Crown prize money won cumulatively with $271,725, and has the single season prize money record with $59,000, which he won in 2006. Irons tied with Sunny Garcia for most Triple Crown event wins, seven total (four at Pipe, one at Sunset and two at Haleiwa). Furthermore, Andy and Derek Ho are the only two surfers to win at all three venues of the Triple Crown. In addition, Andy’s battles with Slater at the Pipe Masters are epic, legendary duels that give us chicken skin whenever mentioned.

Andy began his days surfing the breaks around his island home of Kauai. He was lucky enough to have the beach that close to his house it was basically an extended backyard. If those things weren’t enough to inspire his surfing, than a younger brother of sixteen months by the name of Bruce certainly pushed his competitive spirit into overdrive.

While competing the WQS and during his early days on the WCT, Andy created quite a stir due to his confident, in your face and often reckless attitude. He was labeled “too cool” and “arrogant” and quickly had the reputation as the WCT rebel. Not many people thought he would be surfing’s next big thing.These days it is that same underlying aggression which he has learnt to control and use to his advantage that simply makes him so hard to beat.

From 1998 to 2000 Andy struggled to maintain his WCT position, but in hindsight he was learning valuable lessons and plotting his moves for future years to come.
2002

It’s quite obvious Andy dominated 2002, 2003 and 2004. With his winning streak that started at the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, Australia in 2002 where he defeated 2000 World Champion Sunny Garcia, and continued onto his favorite Tahitian venue, Teahupo’o for a superior ratings lead, Andy was looking good and fast becoming hard to stop. His run continued by locking in a runner-up finish in France, before claiming another victory at the following Billabong Pro competition in Spain. He only entered one WQS event, but reached the final of the Vans Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa. His consistency and talent prevailed and the Hawaiian secured his world title at the second to last WCT at Sunset Beach. Still not content, Andy pushed on and won the year ending Xbox Pipeline Masters, and with it clinched the prestigious Vans Triple Crown of Surfing title. While his obvious focus, dedication and string of impressive results say that he could of done it with his eyes closed, Andy admits that he definitely felt pressure from the stream of talented young blood like Joel Parkinson and the rest of the Aussie posse. Ironically, these feelings of uncertainty worked in Andy’s favor because no matter how well everyone else was surfing, there’s no way he was settling for second best.

2003

’03 proved to be another golden year for Irons. He duplicated his clean sweep for the second consecutive year by claiming the Xbox Gerry Lopez Pipeline Masters, the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing title and the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) world title making him the 2003 World Champion. Irons, pushed six-time world champion Kelly Slater to the very last heat of the year in a grueling nail-biter and sealed his victory in the final seconds when he took first and Slater took fourth. He is the only surfer to ever win all three titles two years in a row. He also won five of 12 2003 WCT events, managed to get inducted into the Surfers Hall of Fame in Huntington Beach in August 2003, captured the Surfer Poll award for the second year and continues his legacy with his second consecutive world title.

2004

Andy was Mr Consistency in ‘04 with results reading 2, 3, 3, 2, 1, 5, 33, 1, 3, 9,17. His continuous motivation and performances sending shudders down fellow competitors’ spines, who often noted that even when Andy needed an 8 or 9 to win with only minutes to spare, he can often jag that set wave or more frighteningly turn an ordinary wave into a winner. Quite simply Andy has dominated world surfing for the past three years. He has pulled away from the pack and with 2 strong placings for the opening Australian leg of 2005, he doesn’t look like slowing down.

In 2009, Irons withdrew from doing the full ASP World Tour season for personal reasons, though he did participate in a few events. He requested a wildcard entry for the 2010 ASP World Tour season, which was granted by ASP President Wayne Bartholomew. As a result, Irons did not have to re-qualify in 2010 via the World Qualifying Series (WQS). Irons won the Billabong Pro Tahiti 2010.

He was inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame in Huntington Beach, California in 2008.

After taking a sabbatical from full-time competitive surfing in 2009, three-time ASP World Champion Andy Irons is back amongst the elite this season and is rested and ready to do some damage on this year’s ASP World Tour. With a swath of accomplishments almost too long to list, Irons has established himself as a devastating force amongst the world’s finest surfers and is without a doubt one of the best competitive surfers of all time.

A major faucet of Irons’ amazing professional career was the intense rivalry between the Iconic Hawaiian and nine-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater while the two ferociously battled one another throughout the opening decade of the millenium. With both of the juggernauts scheduled to compete this season, 2010 could be another year where surfing’s titans clash for the label of world’s best.

Andy’s Attitude

Andy epitomizes the all or nothing attitude. He also takes it wave-by-wave and heat-by-heat, instead of panicking about the bigger picture. Underneath is also a competitive aggression that still sometimes bubbles over but constantly makes him so dominant in the water. This attitude and strength of mind throughout his career has propelled him to earn his three coveted ASP World Champion titles. Along with these Irons was named Surfer Magazine’s, 2002 Surfer of the Year at the Surfer Poll Awards, breaking Kelly Slater’s nine-year hold on the honor. He managed to uphold the title in 2003 for the second year in a row. Amongst the awards, trophies, titles and reputation is a man who holds the key to competitive surfing in the palm of his hand, where will he take everyone else?

Joel Parkinson said this about one of his best friends.

“Wes [Berg, Joel’s trainer] rang me yesterday morning. I had two missed calls back-to-back from Wes so I knew something must be up. When he finally got me he asked if the kids were around. I told him they were and he told me it was best I just walk away from them for a second. Then he told me what had happened. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I went white and I bawled. Right there on the spot. But then I went into shock and I was in this state of shock all day yesterday. A bunch of us went up to the surf club at Snapper yesterday afternoon and had a few beers and cried and told Andy stories. We were talking about when we went over to the desert in West Oz last year to surf and were there for Occ’s birthday. We surfed that righthander, just me and Andy out surfing together. Then we had to sleep in a two-man tent head-to-toe and he complained the whole time because he hated camping. There were so many memories. I remember flipping a chocolate bar in Japan with him for priority in a heat we had together back in 2003. But that was just one… there were a million of them.

“I think I felt worse today than I did yesterday. I woke up this morning and just bawled because it was real now. Yesterday I was numb with the shock of hearing the news, but I woke up today and it was real. I’m never going to see him again. I’m never going to see my friend. He’s gone. I went and trained at the gym Andy and I used to train at, but I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I was waiting for him just to walk through the door.

“I’m really thinking of the guys over in Puerto Rico right now. I really miss them at a time like this, and it must be really hard for the guys who are still in the contest to have to deal with losing their friend but having to keep on surfing. It sucks for the guys still in it, but the contest has to go on. I’m feeling like all this is happening a long way away, and I’m really missing being around my friends on tour.

“I was supposed to be travelling with Andy this year. Before I cut my foot we had it all sorted out that I was going to be traveling with him for the rest of the year, through California, Europe and Puerto Rico. I was going to be traveling with him and Freddy [Patacchia] and we were all going to be hanging out together as this little team. And we were already talking about travelling together next year, taking the girls and the kids to Tahiti. The thought of him dying alone in a hotel room just wrecks me.

“As a surfer he had that mad dog in him. He wasn’t afraid of anything, and wore his heart on both his sleeves. He was the most emotional surfer I’ve ever seen. He had that unbelievable aggression in his surfing, and he became one of the best. I idolised him. If Andy put his mind to it there was nothing he couldn’t do on a wave, and over the years I’ve seen him do some of the most incredible things on the most incredible waves. He and Kelly, between them, have owned surfing for the past 10 years.

“When I was talking to Mick [Fanning] on the phone yesterday I said to him that I think I understand now how he must have felt when his brother, Sean died, because Andy was like a brother to me. He was one of my best friends. You know what I liked about Andy? He remembered everyone. He had this ability to remember faces and names and people in places he hadn’t been to in a decade. People meant everything to him, and he made everyone feel special. You didn’t need to be a professional surfer. He’d meet so many people over the years in all the places he’d been, but he’d remember their names and he had time for all of them. He had that quality. He got involved in people’s lives and took an interest in people’s lives. It didn’t matter who you were. And I know he died young, but he lived his life to the fullest, and what he did in 32 years would take most people 132 years.

“My heart goes out to Lyndie, his son, Bruce, his family, his Hawaiian crew and everyone around the world he reached out to.

“Andy was a king; a king of surfing.

“Love you, mate.”

Joel

Rest in peace A.I

FCS is pleased to announce the signing of dual World Champion Mick Fanning. The exclusive agreement will see the man known as ‘White Lightning’ riding the FCS systems and fins well into the future.

In 2009 a strategic move by Mick to switch from fixed fins to FCS proved beneficial in securing his second World Title. At the halfway mark of the tour Darren Handley, Mick’s shaper of 15 years, made a new quiver of boards, all of which had FCS installed.

“I’m always looking at ways to keep things fresh and moving forward, so halfway through 2009 I started experimenting with FCS and I loved it. I’ve been using them ever since”. Needless to say the new quiver of DHD’s produced some magic that ignited a remarkable competitive streak resulting in Mick winning 3 out of the last 5 World Tour events.

If Mick was not already convinced on the reliability and performance of FCS, his request to have his entire quiver of 09/10 Hawaii boards fitted with the system would prove to be ultimate test. At the end of the season Mick left Hawaii with a second World Title, and firm in the knowledge that when it came to his equipment, FCS was the way forward.

“Overall I feel like FCS fins have a really dynamic flex and I’m getting more whip in my turns. I I really like the extra flex I get through my tail and I find the system speeds up my board and reaction time”.

FCS Brand Ambassador and former tour surfer Richie Lovett remarked after the agreement was signed, “Mick and FCS are a perfect fit. FCS is a technical product based on performance, and Mick is one of the most technical surfers in the world. He’s interested in fin design and he also understands the concept of how different templates, foils and fin constructions can ultimately enhance his surfing”.

Once convinced on the system Mick was keen to start working with different fin templates to gain a greater understanding of fin design and how this knowledge can play a critical role in the performance of his boards.

“I’ve started experimenting with different fins and it’s totally altered the way my boards perform. I always carry a pack of FCS fins with me because it’s fun mixing it up and having all the extra options on the same board”.

Mick was equally excited about the prospect of working closely with a team of designers on a signature fin range that is scheduled to hit the market in 2011. “Right now I’m loving working with the crew at FCS on some new signature fin designs more specific for my surfing. The fins are going to be fast and responsive, with plenty of drive”.

Mick now joins fellow stable mates Kelly Slater, CJ and Damien Hobgood, Julian Wilson, Jeremy Flores, Adriano De Souza, Owen Wright plus a host of other world class surfers on the FCS team.

Surfers Village press release

Surf wear brand Protest have signed World Qualifying Series (WQS) surfer Oli Adams to its team. Oli, 25, has joined Protest as their first male UK rider following a highly successful year. He is currently one of two guys competing full-time on the World Qualifying Series (WQS) for Britain and is also in the running for this year’s UK Pro Surf Tour title.

Originally from Cheltenham, Oli spent his early years travelling with his parents; he began surfing age six and hasn’t looked back since. Oli now lives in Newquay, Cornwall, and was recently awarded ‘Surfers Surfer of the Year’ voted for by his peers at the UK Surf Awards. Oli is definitely a fan favourite and has been in the last two issues of carve magazine with big spreads. The first a 6 page spread showing his adventures around America and Canada.

Country manager, Paul Wilkinson, said; “We wanted to identify the right male UK ambassador for the brand – so we’ve been following Oli’s progress for quite a long time. Oli was the guy we wanted and we’re excited to welcome him onboard. “We are rapidly growing and developing the Protest brand in the UK and to help achieve this it is vital that we continue to support British riders and events.” Design-led brand Protest is delighted to sign Oli to the team that includes UK rider Sarah Beardmore and international riders Yannick De Jager, Melvin Lipke, Marlon Lipke, Lars Musschoot and Christian Boletta. “I’m so happy to have signed with Protest,” said Oli.

They’re a really exciting brand and I’m stoked that they can see my potential. Their backing has given me the support and tools necessary to go out there and achieve my goals in surfing.” Protest is now looking to add more riders to its team and is currently following the progress of several surfers.