NATHAN FLORENCE COMPLETE SURFBOARD QUIVER 2026

Okay, we're back with another video complete new era shave clean So I'm gonna run this the rest of the year. It feels really good. Just to be wake up and go no maintenance I'm a pretty low maintenance guy. So We cleaned up it all up and I'm going to shave head era Join, mr. Cool. So mr. Cool will be going on some adventures Shortly, but today's video is about Complete quiver update quiver and gear. So I'm going to go over Boards, I like and sizes Waves, I'd like to ride them in why I choose specific boards for specific places And hopefully you guys can gain Just if you're interested in it, but also gain a little insight into the boards You might pick for somewhere if you're planning to go on a surf trip or even trying to figure out boards for your local spot So we'll start with like the newest A refined version. This is the Porto pad is something we developed two or three years ago And you've heard the concept on this stuff before we have a little cut in of what type I was just here Okay, we got pie Zell in here with our quiver update we're gonna just quickly talk through he just shaped these new guns Seven six and these are boards for Like what do you like these boards for when we make these usually we're talking about Porto Escondido. Mm-hmm cloud break. Yep, big big waves that are curvy and require Yep Yep, that was a big step we took we painted these black because we wanted to take them to colder regions, but We'll see how that goes I'm notorious for leaving boards in the Sun, but This is the portal pad in which me and pie Zell took the Padillac and just refined it, right? We just leaned it out made the rail sharper so that it wasn't just about getting the board into the wave But also like performing on the wave The swallowtail which keeps that little tail outline a little bit straighter and then Nathan's favorite is Riding as a thruster instead of a quad which is typically all Pretty much all the padlocks that I've made are quads more or less and then Nathan likes the control Yeah, all right. Yep. I don't like the skitzy feeling when the waves get big although they are faster the quads, but that there's just a lot more water in the face and Small bumps are actually big bumps on big waves. So I like the control feeling of the thruster I Want to go straight really fast And then I would say the thruster is like I want to take off late under the lip and feel stuck to the face cool, and then So we got these boards in all range sizes Yeah, although you have to nine fours and nine eights even in the corner over there A little bit not sure what? Yeah These boards like this is the board I wrote in the Eddie and that's a 9-8 version pretty much you can see it doesn't quite Have the beak that those original paddle axe had it's leaned out even in here Big waves As far as like just catch them. How can we catch these ways? How can we gain the speed to match the speed of the wave and ride them? And most guys are just taking off and going straight. That was big wave surfing So the volume went crazy the lengths went crazy Nathan Fletcher was trying 12 o's at one point and him and that generation were really like They caused a lot of progression because they were experimenting a ton that's what you have to do and the scary thing with big wave surfing is the only way to test these things is in really heavy consequence waves, so When things don't turn out right when you're experimenting in big waves you really get punished for it and so the back and forth of developing and progressing new gear and big wave surfing is costly on the body in the mind But when breakthroughs happen, it's huge so I said we went from like insanely high volume boards huge beak noses and 10 fours and 11 o's and how can we just catch these waves and once we catch them someone's gonna win the ride of the year or biggest paddle To like hey, wait a second Let's perform on these waves. And so it was like We want speed. Let's experiment with quads and thrusters and refined shapes and moon tails and swallow tails and pin tails Stringers are getting ripped out. Let's go double stringers for the leashes and so things like that as a quick update on just like the fast forward progression till something like now is where we want to go out to these big waves like Jaws or these big waves in Ireland or giant Porto and Basically take off like we would a pipeline like a slab take off under the lip At least that's my goal in these waves take off late and immediately enter the barrel and then maximize your barrel time Right, and then when you're in the barrel, you want to be able to pump and you want to be able to Negotiate foam balls and things like that. And so I wanted all my guns Refined and that meant taking a ton of volume out because not sitting way out the back and gliding in and the problem I found with gliding in from out the back was you have so much speed in and down the wave that you end up doing this massive bottom turn and That bottom turn is like 50 foot 100 foot and the way there's a barreling Miss so much of this incredible ride On a smaller Or less volume where you take off later. You have to take a heavier job You actually end up entering the barrel way sooner and you can maximize your barrel time And so we develop the Porto pad basically this board refined thinner nose and The ranges that I have this board in is from this one being a 7-2 7-2 19 point one three on the width Three point. I think it says three point. Maybe just three inches thick and the volume is 41 liters 41 point six, so we're looking at Look at that rail line Volume is hidden here in the deck. So you still got some paddle power under your chest, but those rails are nice and lean Through experimentation I found that like This I would move from a step up to a board like this Where it's way more of like that gunny feel that minigun that tanker feeling Versus like the really refined next steps. I Would move to that at the size range of like 7-0 and above and so this is a 7-2 I have a 7-4 a 7-6 And from 7-2, 7-4, 7-6. I also have 7-0 I would jump to the 8-0 range because that I haven't experimented with that 7-8, 7-10 range But if the waves got big enough where I needed something bigger than the 7-6 Then you're probably in my experience. You're gonna want to be on something 8-0 to the 8-5 range Once in the 8-0, 8-5 range, I have these Porto paddies Same general thought process And all of my setups, thruster, FCS thruster 8-0 and an 8-5 or an 8-6 is my favorite size for that next step up and so anything from that 7-2 To 7-6 range it's gonna be like 10 to 15 foot and it's interesting because certain type of wave say like 10 foot chokes I'm gonna be on my 6-4, 6-6 and really knifed out version of that because it's so cupped It's such a slab that there isn't enough face to fit that 7-2. Actually the 7-2 has felt really good You might fit it in on the biggest version of a chokes paddle wave But the largest board I've ridden out of chokes is a 6-9 and that was actually the board I rode the wave of my life on all those years ago, and that was a 6-9 next step Two other bigger waves out there. I was on a 6-6 tank so really thick version of that but um, yeah waves like pipeline and Chokes and Super slab waves that can go 10 to 12 foot range I will ride these next steps because you're taking off maximum late Just the curve of the face is so steep that you want the board to fit in and then you want to be able to pump and hit the gas and so any other wave like Even Porto when it's 10 foot is funny enough that 6-4, 6-6 range is gonna feel tiny 10 foot Porto you want a much larger board to me That's a 7-5 is like 10 foot Porto, but you'll see Kind of beginner surfers out there You're not a beginner if you're out of Porto But you'll see the other guys riding much larger boards and if you watch that clip You'll see I'm doing those massive bottom turns because they're on such a big board They can catch them real easy, but the board is so stiff you do this huge bottom turn and you miss a lot of the barrel versus pulling in immediately and Yeah, I love a 7-5 at Porto 10 to the 15 foot range But when Porto hits that real 15 foot plus and bigger, I think 8-0 and 8-5 you're gonna want to be on and so I have this Porto Patti version from 7-0 to a 9-8 and I would ride that 7-0 to 7-6 in Anything like smaller Porto I would ride it in some of the slabs in Ireland Some of the outer reefs over here in Hawaii anything where you want a little more meat and board But you're still riding like a heavy cupped out barrel And then as soon as you hit like the Himalayas the Jaws Really big Mulligmore, well, maybe this not include Jaws yet but big Mulligmore Really big Porto and Like what we would call thundercloud Fiji, so I rode one of my best waves out there on a 7-5, but I airdropped huge No one got a ----. There's only one photo of it. I'll put it in here, but Yeah, I airdropped and got in really late because I was on such a small board and it would have been probably one of the Ways in my life, but I was just too late But I would ride probably an 8-0 to an 8-5 out there now like that last year we had that incredible Baloo perfect condition swell. I was on an 8-5 and it just felt so good. I could easily butt stall it I could pump it I goes getting in nice and so that 8-5 is like the Mulligmore's the thunderclouds are really big Porto's and Then you hit like the Jaws in the Himalayas Where you're at that 25 foot plus open ocean swell coming in and that's when I I would move to that 9-0 9-4 or 9-8 range, which is what these are You can see it's still a Porto Paddy. We have not gone back to the title. It's still a thruster I just have some regular mediums in here because I was surfing the board on a 2-foot day the other day, but I would normally ride in the big wave signature thing in here And this is a 9 8 this is like the Eddie Aikau type of board Jaws, Himalayas Just massive waves and honestly, I don't like riding these types of boards it's just They're so big They work you can get the route of your life on it on a big Jaws wave Just getting in early and doing the big wave. Jaws is really hard to get the perfect wave But these boards work really well for that, but I don't know I love the feeling Yeah, you always want to be on a smaller board once you're in and so Yeah, I think there's progression to be made where you could sneak volume in somewhere and get a larger Wave with a smaller board and have that like really quick reactivity, but I use thrusters and all and that's probably part of it I just love the reliability of them So that's kind of like the big wave these black boards Pretty much. They're meant for cold and I did take them on a tropic trip recently and they were amazing, but black boards in the tropics It's not healthy for them A classic next step something me and my brother's been riding at Big Pipe And a lot of different slabs around the world for probably the last 15 years 10-15 years I Have all these boards glass super light and you think whoa, you're in heavy waves Like why would you get lighter glass? So it adds a lightness to the board and then that lightness gives the board reactability In crucial situations that I love do they break quicker? 100% so Fortunately, I have a relationship with the shaper like I sell that I can be a replacement but if You guys are like buying the board. Obviously you would want the normal glass job just to have it last a bit longer But for me, this is a 6-4 probably one of my favorite size boards to ride at certain slabs. We got 19 To point six three, we got thirty one point five on the leaders Duster again, I would ride my signature big wave sail. I'll show you those in a minute Six four so these boards the next steps. I'll ride from a six Oh for really steep slabs six. Oh version of this next step and I can fit in those slabs It paddled really well, and it's also super fun for turns. I think that's a Heidel may have shaped in the latest But a lot of the team I just love the 6-0 versions as a short board But I love them for turns and stuff as well as like so fun for barrel riding point breaks Hey or something like that, but these six six fours pipeline coats inside ledge BG Eight but Bordeaux even Europe and Africa You can see that that rail is really refined It's a light board To the point of feeling almost as light as an epoxy, but it's not an epoxy. So it has the flex and Forgiving feel of a normal poly board, but the reactability of an epoxy that makes sense It just depends on the wave and it's something you guys can think about For your surfing is not all six footers at the same six footer, right? You have a six foot wave breaking on a very shallow ledge and the lip is Four feet thick and the barrels like smaller. You're gonna ride a very different board than you have at like a six foot beach break because There's just the waters moving way different one You're gonna sit right on the pin point spot and take off really late under it and the other you're gonna need to move around This big expanse and chase steps down and get back out constantly There's long paddle outs and you're gonna want to like catch the speed of this big open ocean moving thing and so not all six birds are the same and sometimes when you're At a wave where the lineup is shifting and need to move around and you think of the leaders below you and your energy Consumption and just being able to chase down and avoid rip currents and all that you want a little bit longer board a little more length if the barrel is like Barreling but it's not crazy kinked out and steps and square then you can use something like a six four and just have a much More enjoyable session than you would on like a six. Oh, even though you could get away with it You just have a better time on that six four And then you get those really like square little tight slabs They go like masonry in Scotland or something like that where you just want a really small board because the takeoff is just tiny You're sitting within a one foot radius and be right on the spot every time the fins I use FCS signature set Thruster for life. They do make a quad set in this. I will say like from my opinion. The quads are faster and They have a squirreliness to them thrusters I the ways I'm surfing I just want reliability and trustability and the thruster gives me that the spin gives me that a stiff sharp fin But I'll use this in anything from my little 60 At like the cave to my 9-8 in the eddie. So it's a crazy versatile fin and for me I'm a simple guy. I just want you know, like something that's gonna be trusted and work in a big range of conditions We are working on a short board version of these things so This is the big wave fin Seven six range. I'll be using like a seven foot to eight foot leash Up from there, I'm gonna be on Eight foot to ten foot leash for those nine eights and those jaws boards like I said, I use the six double up for the short board, but to be honest, I Just got some new short board. I Zelle just shaped me some new short boards Because I had zero short boards Yeah, I'm excited to try this is just the new shorty no-name secrets Go Just something different something new to feel it up and see what it feels like I just went from Ivan I had zero short boards and we're gone on a trip. So he gave me one of his I don't even have any future fins But I gotta borrow some from him This is the radius prime which a ton of team riders said they love Koa told me he loved the Ivans He loves it. She on driving it a lot. And so I was really excited to try it I Just got some new short boards I need to order some new next step six toes because I go through those so often I have like So we're like the four years of the slab tour I have like they've survived these six Oh, but you'll see like the nose is missing and like the tail is missing because I certainly have these like super radix breaks Travel kit. I like to use something like this the travel three Yes But things I like to think about when you're going with airlines is How small can I look the can I make the bag look like I just want four boards to look like two boards if I can get four boards in a bag to look like two and that's like by like you The only thing in the bag is boards and I cinch them down super tight and then I close the bag and it's cinch that And I want the bag to be lean minimal straps minimal handles and For me, that's my favorite because my only goal is just please get the boards there. I Don't use a ton of padding. I don't put a ton of extra stuff in the border back and make it heavy I want them to be super surprised by the weight and often they are so I'll pull over and they're like, oh my god Like, you know, these are the airline people. They're like weigh that right away and I weigh it and they're like Oh that thing's lighter than your normal luggage bag. I mean these people are checking on 70 pounds suitcases So when you show up with a board bag and they're about to throw a fit and it weighs 14 or 15 pounds They're like, oh Bring it on. That's melon, you know so the goal is always to have a board bag that makes a lot of boards look like very little and if you can make Inconspicuous as possible Then Oftentimes they'll see it and they'll kind of say okay. This looks like a lean side. I just brought up two boards in there When they do they see that it's just surfboards and they're like, oh like it's he's just using the bag Purely for these boards. There's not like a ton of stuff. He's hiding in here to gain weight and like sneak it through they're always like weirdly super suspicious of your big board bag when surfers have been traveling for like however long now and so it gets a lot harder when you start to travel with these seven twos and seven fours and seven sixes and obviously with the Nine-eighths an absolute nightmare I've begun to leave boards around the world because I just don't want to travel with them anymore because they never know if they're gonna Make it but a good trick. I have is like say the travel three or the Bigger version if you have a seven foot bag, you can pretty much put a seven four in there because the bag will like Like it'll stretch a little bit at the risk of you're damaging your noses and stuff, but If your goal is to get the boards there and you surf your own crafts on the surf trip then You use a smaller bag One that barely fits everything and it's super tight and super lean It's always been my theory with bringing boards on trips and then you fill your suitcase up with everything That's the fins all the leashes all the surf gear You put in your suitcase because they don't blink an eye at a 50-pound suitcase But they'll wig out if your board bag is 25 pounds because there's a length of it or whatever So I use a slightly smaller board bag than the length of the board and I kind of just like force them to fit Sometimes I lose my noses a little bit, but at least the boards show up most of the time you guys see how much I travel Gear I think about bringing on these surf trips is obviously super essentials I'm going tropical the reef sharp or try to bring some reef boots. I do not care how I look I just don't want cut up feet day one of the trip. I'll bring surf tight. I was saying if I'm going tropical Rashguard board shorts, I'll bring the full-length tights Basically everything for extreme sun control obviously like the air tex tops forms makes tons of sunscreen Tons of like hydrators. I used to tag Basically, I'm looking at like, okay. I need to avoid heat stroke I need to avoid sunburn and I need to avoid reef cuts because that's gonna get me the ability Give me the ability to surf every single day and when you're on a surf trip You're there for one reason especially like a lot of you guys watching When you do get to go on the surf trip Because you probably have to save up and then you have your big trip each year some of you may travel more than others, but you just want to maximize it the last thing you want is Second degree sunburns and heat stroke or a nasty little reef cut to get infected You can't always avoid these things, but you can definitely there's a lot you can do to avoid Most of them reef cuts. I mean you get slammed on your back You're gonna get cut but if you can do your best to avoid infections sunburns heat stroke Eat enough food drink enough water, but bring all those little things to keep you surfing every single day You're just gonna maximize the trip. So for me and I'm going tropical I'm bringing everything I can for sun protection and then reef protection in the water Oh, yeah, I will often bring like a padded suit So like I'll bring like a impact short gun or an impact spring suit to the tropics for In case it gets really big and I want like some proper flotation and some padding for the reef If it's cold, I'm bringing like five mil hooded boots gloves the whole kit You need to realize there's two different types of wax Warm water wax cold water wax. So you want to be on it with your wax. I find in the cold I don't need to use sunscreen as much But not nearly as much or as critical as the tropics you still get super dehydrated so you just run with your hydrators But something with the cold just like the heat saps your strength in something like Indo or Fiji or whatever to heating the cold saps your strength when you're in a five mil and Paddling around in that thing and you live in a warm area. The resistance on your shoulders is gonna feel extreme If you're not used to that, even if you go from wearing a 3-2 every day to wearing that 4-3 or 5 mil just be prepared you want to be fit and trained up because those 5 mils will tire you out and especially if you're in a Really cold region where it just pulls from your body in a different way. You don't have the like Hot fatigue you get with heat exhaustion. You have that like sharp clear cold mindset But the shivering and the cold it seeps in So you just want to be on it with I like to wear a little bit thicker a little more millimeters Even when it's not that cold just so I hate to get cold in the session sometimes I'll wear gloves even when most of the people in the water are not wearing gloves because Why am I gonna have my forearms freeze up when I'm here on a trip? I'm not here for long I need to maximize the session. So why risk my feet getting cut up? Of course, I'm gonna wear some warm water booties Why risk my hands getting cold or my feet getting cold? Of course, I'm gonna wear my booties Even though the water is not that cold and it's protected from the bottom. My 5 mil is a bonus float and so Things like that extra leashes and I actually pair of fins Yeah, when traveling I just take that why risk it mentality and you can never be bummed on that I feel like except for I guess I am do get a little risky with the way I pack my boards because I can lose the noses but in the bigger picture why risk the boards not making it So you can surf a board with a broken nose or a chipped tail, but you can't surf boards that don't show up so that's it for the quiver review the gear and Yeah, we've gone through almost every board in their sizes. So I'm gonna have to clip this up but hope you guys enjoyed that we have already we've been on some wild trips recently and The videos will be coming out soon. There's lots of chase right now