The Malibu

The initial idea for the Malibu came about after Harrison's number 2 world ranking on the 2021 WSL tour, and the event in Malibu, where he lost in the semis. Harrison felt that his approach to nose riding, which had always been about going as fast as possible in the most critical part of the wave (see above), wasn't getting scored as high as the slow and steady hang tens that other competitors were doing on flip tail nose riders. And while we still agree that nose rides should first be critical and tight in the pocket, we acknowledged that for competition's sake, the blatant, slow burning hang tens, wherever on the wave's face, would score higher than Harrison's fast and critical tight fives.

We also felt that for the most part, your everyday longboarder isn't as fussed about where they're hangin' as much as whether they're hangin'. So we had double the motivation to make something new and special for both Harrison's 2023 title campaign (which, yep, he won), and our favourite everyday punters.

Borrowing a proven rocker and rail shape from the Harrison model, we first introduced extra width in the nose for increased stability. That, coupled with the Malibu's chamfered rail makes the design want to sit high and tight in the pocket, while the generous, blended nose concave creates lift and slows it down so you're not outrunning sections.

A mellow roll to medium foiled 50/50 rail thins out in the tail in a typical Thomas fashion. Unlike the current trend of Californian style nose riders with excessive width and flip in the tail, the Malibu remains agile for a nose rider, with a classic Australian involvement feel when it's on rail. It's a great board for turns.

Once we started to get it dialed, we made a few for some of our team riders, Lachie, Husni, Alvin, T. Payne etc... and received a lot of positive feedback. With some slight changes and variations, we landed on the Malibu as it is today.

What we've found is that the design attributes of the Malibu culminate in a surfboard that works for both the elite and everyday longboarder; the perfect and not-so-perfect surf. The beauty is in how approachable it is, it makes both turns and nose rides easy, which is great for those of us who are at an aspirational stage of our surfing lives. But it still allows for the hard-core and high-level stuff that the best of the best put together.

We're always experimenting with designs here at Thomas Surfboards, so it's bloody great when something sticks as hard as the Malibu. It's a great, everyday nose rider, and now one of our top selling models.

Get in touch if you want to learn more.

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