Surfs like a million bucks...
Over the ditch in New Zealand, a 54 year old guy named Roy Stuart has made headlines all over the world by slapping an exorbitant price tag on one of his hand-made paulownia surfboards. Named ‘The Rampant’, this marvel is hand carved from Paulownia, with a unique Kahikatea wood tunnel behind the fin, and an intricate 24 carat gold lion painted on the deck. Most extravagantly however, this surfboard is asking for six figures. $1.5 million NZ dollars to be exact.
The real question is, does it surf like a million bucks? Does it surf 50% better than a million bucks? Nobody knows, but shaper Roy Stuart is confident in his design, saying his unique design features like the Vort-X fin tunnel offer:
“Incredible drive, rapid acceleration on takeoff and a high top end speed, all with a classic single fin ride. No fuss, no handling anomalies just an eye watering, easy glide in all wave conditions.”
Stuart has made several earlier versions of ‘The Rampant’, and he says they surf pretty good. This is coming from a guy in a fluro orange wetsuit, who regularly asks for five and six figure values for his boards. So he must know what he’s doing…
In reference to the name, Rampant is quite often a term used in heraldry to describe an animal standing up on its hind legs, much like the lion painted on the deck of this surfboard. We don’t know which came first, the lion or the surfboard. But we hope whoever buys this board (if anyone ever does), gives it the ol’ under the arm test. See how she feels in the hand, then slaps down their money, waxes her up and heads for their nearest point break.
What a shame if such a pretty piece of wood ends up sitting on a wall all its life! Read the build log of how this amazing surfboard was created on Roy Stuarts blog, ‘The Kings Ride'.
Tumbi Umbi, NSW
