Ah Morat, where to begin, and what to leave out… For the small percentage that don’t know Tom (grommet), he’s the one you might’ve seen effortlessly surfing switch on a “double-over-ankle” right hand runner, or the one you might’ve seen wearing board shorts that show more leg than any bikini model to ever step foot on Little Cove’s sand. Jokes aside (for now), the kid is a surfboard geek, and avid experimenter, an extremely knowledgable and opinionated one, just ask him. Growing up on performance boards in New Caladonia left him an ambidextrous tube hound, and a move to Noosa left him a nose riding fiend. He knows his shit, he’ll tell you. After picking apart grommet’s over thinking brain we soon discovered he’s quite fond of each of his Thomas crafts. He carries in his arsenal 4 boards, and due to our slowness in getting this out he’s pretty much moved on and refined so well probably have to do another one of these with grommet soon, none of these boards we’ve heard about from past quiver-talkers, so grab a beer and your charged crystals put on your stiffest hot pants and listen to Morat unpack the subtleties of the below beauties;

• 9’6 new faithful - Karina Rozunko’s stolen and now dinged board (sorry Rini), a rather flat and speed orientated log with pinched rails, nose concave and heavy roll. This board excels in anything from fast and hollow point breaks to beaches and has stood the test of time being one of Thomas’ earliest designs.

• 9’8 scoop tail - Extreme levitation and grovel. Ease is what this board is all about. With a combination of a deeper concave, up turned soft rails and a generous exit rocker and scoop out the tail, it is no wonder why this model is so fun to nose ride.

• 5’7 Asymmetric - As a goofy footer, being inspired by Ryan Burch goes without saying. So when the opportunity to surf desert point came, I simply had to try an asymmetrical board for myself. The longer toe side rail combined with a taller single foiled fin gave me effortless speed off the bottom and out of the high-lines while the quad fin and rounded outside rail helped me draw a tighter line and burn more speed to position myself in the pocket.

• 5’5 Mod fish - Derived from Thomas’ traditional keel fin fish, the mod fish has all of the attributes of a straight railed twin fin but with the added versatility and feeling of a high-performance short board. The flyers behind the fin and the added rocker helps me turn harder off the tail and get more vertical in the pocket. I cant get enough of it!