Getting the most our of your gear is incredibly important; John Skye shares his tips on trimming your outhaul to get just the right amount of power.

Photo: Dave White

Check out the previous technique videos on Boardseeker:

• The taka with Phil Horrocks
• Catching waves with James Cox
• Wave tips top turn with Jamie Hancock
• Push loop with Jamie and John
• Wave Tips with Ben Proffitt
• On shore bottom turn with Phil Horrocks
• Getting out in waves with John Skye
• Forward loops

Photo: Dave White/ BWA

The Boardseeker technique series now brings you all you need to know about the Push Loop from Jamie Hancock and John Skye. The Push Loop is a great jump to have in your repertoire, so take a look at this step by step guide that could see you nailing them in no time.

Photo: BWA/Dave White.

Check out the previous technique videos on Boardseeker:

• Wave Tips with Ben Proffitt
• On shore bottom turn with Phil Horrocks
• Getting out in waves with John Skye
• Forward loops

RRD introduce the new Wave Cult Quad, Boardseeker finds out more about the new board from John Skye.

Wave Cult 75 LTD V5 Deck

Wave Cult 75 LTD V5 Bottom

Wave Cult 83 LTD V5 Top

Wave Cult 83 LTD V5 Bottom

Wave Cult 92 LTD V5 Deck

Wave Cult 92 LTD V5 Bottom

Wave Cult 100 LTD V5 Bottom

What sizes does it come in?

75L 229×57, 83L=230×59, 92L=231×61, 100L=233×63

What are the main reasons behind developing this new board?

The WaveCult has been our flagship wave board for over 10 years now, and the new version is just the next generation in a long line of highly successful boards. From my experience with RRD over the last 5 years, this is the biggest step forward we have ever made.

What does it deliver that was missing before from the range?

It sounds cliche, but the new board planes earlier, goes faster and turns better! By increasing the width, we improved the planing, which then meant we could increase the rocker slightly, which made it turn better too. After playing around with different bottom shapes we ended up with a super controllable board that allowed the user to push it harder and get more speed. The looseness was really nice in the old boards, but now we have added both more drive and more control. It also seems to have even more range. For each size of board, you can probably go one sail size bigger if needed, and it will stay controllable for longer too. They really are a big improvement. The only board that stays the same is the 100. It has proved to be so popular with big guys, that this year we kept the same shape, but worked on the fin set up, giving it even more range of use.

Who was involved in the development and where did it take place?

Loads of people were involved. Firstly I had been working with our shaper Aurelio on various shapes over the last year and ended up with a pretty special board. We then took a load of different proto types to South Africa and had just about everyone try them. Roberto likes to have his whole team out in South Africa and that way we can get huge amounts of input. In the beginning it was a lot with just myself, Roberto, Jem Hall and Andrea Rosati. Then once we had the design narrowed down, we gave the board to everyone, from punters at the beach, through to shop owners from around the world. Once everyone was in agreement with which was the best design, that was the board that went into production.

First ever Flymount	Tarifa

What are the key features of the board and what do these mean to the performance?

The starting point of the new boards was an increase in the width and at the same time we thinned out the rails. This fundamental concept has been hugely successful across all our ranges, so we tried it in the wave boards and again it worked great. Then to keep the tail width narrow, we added a kink in the outline, which both added drive and improved the top speed. Thanks to the improved planing we could also slightly increase the rocker, which coupled with the thin rail made it even more manoeuvrable. Lastly we tried various bottom shapes, ending up with vee through the tail, which gives the board a very fast and controllable feel, particularly when blasting out through the break, or looking for a jump.

First ever Flymount	Tarifa

Who would you recommend this board to? And in what conditions?

The WaveCult is the classic “do it all” board. It’s happy everywhere, from charging Ho’okipa, to ripping in Pozo and everything in between. Side shore, onshore, side offshore, you really can do everything with this one board. The added width and early planing makes it particularly easy and forgiving for everyone, whether you are catching your first waves or perfecting the latest moves. It just makes radical, easy.

How does the board feel?

What I love about the board is the controllably tracking thanks to the added vee through the tail. I have used these boards mostly in cross onshore “euro” style conditions and I like to jump. The vee gives a really safe feeling when flying out and the more powered up you get, the more you can push down on the tail and the more grip you get. On the waves the mix of the width, the outline kink and the rocker make it both easy to turn and easy to maintain speed, whether you are driving hard or not. Again, this is especially useful in onshore style conditions.

Fede La Croce	Me in Carro, France, with a prototype of the current design.