It’s every surfers dilemma, particularly when the waves are small or weak: You want to get in the water, you want to catch waves, you need the board to help you generate speed BUT you still want to be able to lay it on a rail and throw a little spray.

The trend for super fat shortboards has created a lot of fun shapes for surfers of all levels, but unless you’re a WCT contender their fat tails can be hard to control properly rail to rail once you do get the board moving. The Maluku Flying Frog solves this problem by creating something of cut and shut; The front end is similar to a traditional egg or even minimal, but the tail is all rounded pin shortboard.

You paddle in early and easy on that reassuring front end foam, pump through on your front foot on that wide, stable middle section and when you’re ready weight the back foot and put the board on rail exactly as you would with a shortboard – the rounded pin tail gives control through the turn in gutless waves or hold AND control in larger surf.

As a result the board lends itself perfectly to the surfer starting out and looking for an easy route to a decent shortboard surfing style, perhaps before stepping down to a proper shortboard – or the shortboarder looking to keep their rail work tight on days without enough grunt for their standard stick