6’10" x 23" x 3”

Single Fin Box with future sides- Fin’s Not Included

The V8 V Bottom is an homage to yesteryear's design that hailed from Australia circa 1967-68. The jury is still out as to whether Midget Farrelly or Bob McTavish deserves the lion's share of credit for the design, but as surfboards began to go shorter, Midget was the only competitor to show up with an 8 ft. deep V Bottomed surfboard in the Australia versus Windansea surf contest held in Oz. That board was a stringerless 8 footer around 22" wide that wowed the competition as Midget carved deep rail turns in the soft crumbly surf that day. Nat Young was still riding his favorite board, "Sam," a 9'4' and it wouldn't be until later that McTavish & Nat would be spinning a tale to the "Plastic Fantastic" camera crew citing history that Midget took exception to. Dick Graham's photo of Midget taken at the contest and his account tend to support Farrelly's claim.

Recently Greg Huglin asked our longtime, mutual friend George Greenough his recollection on the above, to which GG replied "Midget, no contest".

Regardless of the Who, What, When & Where, the "V8 Vee Bottom" is my homage to the short lived early day V Bottoms that were often criticized as "spin out queens" or, even more harshly, the "surfboards that don't work". Yet it was G&S that introduced Midget's design to America, and reportedly sold thousands of them finding that they worked exceptionally well in small soft waves, especially along the Eastern seaboard.

I have taken the design further, updating it while still remaining true to some of the V Bottoms earlier attributes, and even its perceived flaws. This design has a very deep Panel Vee and wide tail that is foiled to allow the rider to stand in a more forward, closer to center turning position while carving on rail. If the rider desires a looser feel, he/she fudges her foot position back a little at a time at which the board will begin to feel much like a smaller more maneuverable counterpart. The extra long center fin box is positioned well forward allowing the surfboard to set the rail deeper into the water while pivot carving.

The "V8" is not a longboard. V8 has its own distinct personality but perhaps is a tiny bit similar to a displacement hull. Control comes from turning closer to center. The distance of the trailing edge of the fin to the nose becomes the board's 'wheelbase'. If the rider stands too far back the board will feel squirrley or even release and spin out. I intentionally designed the board to ride this way so that a higher caliber surfer can play with this feature executing powerslides or even controlled spinouts once he/she learns the "sweet spots" of the board.

"V8's" are wicked fast in small, soft surf. A fun & ideal ride for 1 to 5 foot surf. They can be ordered as a dedicated Single Fin, 2+1 or "4+1" for different riding characteristics. "V8's" have and are being ridden daily all over the world and its cult following is growing among many who already own BF's Plain Jane/V Machines. Open your mind, your ass will follow.

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