Trip Forman: Welcome to the REAL Board Loft. I’m Trip Forman. We are here at Christenson Surfboards with the man, Chris Christenson. Chris, thanks for having us. We didn’t really ask—we just rolled in the door. Our boards are already shaped. We’re here to talk with you today about the Christenson Easy Wind. It’s a new board that just came out.

One of the things that’s really impressive about this board—we already have them in stock at REAL, and right out of the gate we’re getting inquiries from a huge range of surfers. Everything from 5’8, 5’10 all the way up to 7’6. From an all-around daily driver hybrid shortboard to more of a performance mid-length, it looks like it’s going to be a winner for a lot of different surfers. Chris’s board is here, my board is here, and we’re going to dive in with some Q&A about the design and inspiration.

Chris Christenson: This is one of those boards where, when you look at it, any seasoned surfer will know exactly what it’s going to do. It has a really wide range. I made myself a 5’8, you’ve got a 6’10. It works for a performance surfer, a bigger guy shortboard, or someone who just likes a longer rail line. It’s kind of a Swiss Army knife—you can use it a lot of different ways.

It’s a five-fin setup, so you can run it as a quad or a thruster. On clean, glassy days I like it as a quad. If there’s more texture or more bottom turning, I go thruster. That’s my general rule of thumb.

Inspiration-wise, a lot of my boards stem from the Nautilus. That’s been in my lineup for almost 25 years. It’s always been a meat-and-potatoes board with a long range. You could have someone like Bo Crown ripping a 5’8 quad, or a bigger guy riding a 7’0. There’s no strict rule on sizing.

From the Nautilus came the Wolverine and the Lane Splitter. What I felt was missing in the Nautilus was a wider, fuller, stubbier tail—something with a little more gas pedal and release in the pocket. Swallow tails can hang up in steeper sections, so I wanted something fuller in the back.

From the midpoint forward, this is basically the Nautilus, even the same bottom contour. I did go with a little less rocker. The Nautilus actually has a performance rocker—it’s subtle but it’s there. I wanted this to paddle easier.

The other influence came from Randy Stoker’s V Machine. I used to surf with him a lot, and I’d always heard great things about his boards. A customer brought one in, and I checked it out. Without copying it, I took influence from the rear end—combined that with my Nautilus front end, and it blended really well.

Trip: Is this the same width up front as the Nautilus?

Chris: Slightly wider, just to complement the wider tail and keep the wide point in the right place. It also helps paddle a little easier. This is a great all-around shortboard for bigger surfers.

Trip: For me, I’m going to use mine as a groveler. High tide board, beach break board, maybe even a wave pool board. When you look at it, you just know what it’s going to do.

Chris: Exactly. We like to launch things quietly and let them build organically. Customers seem to like that approach too.

Trip: Early on I asked you how this compares to the Surfer Rosa, and you said wider, flatter rocker.

Chris: Yeah, wider throughout, flatter rocker, and it has my signature rails—kind of like fighter jet or airplane wing rails. I took influence from Skip Frye and Mike Diffenderfer on that.

Trip: What are the dimensions on yours?

Chris: Mine is 5’8 x 20 x 2 5/8. Yours is 6’10 x 21 5/8 x 3 1/16.

Trip: Tell us about the name Easy Wind.

Chris: It’s a Grateful Dead song, and also a local Grateful Dead cover band here in San Diego. It fits the board because it’s going to be really easy to surf. It works for beginners through experts.

It’s a great first shortboard—you can ride it at your height or size up if needed. For experienced surfers, it’s a great groveler. There’s no strict sizing formula. I usually ask for someone’s weight, then they choose the length and get used to it.

Trip: Having that flatter rocker and fuller tail gives it a gas pedal. You can push on it and it’ll plane through sections without having to generate all the speed yourself.

Chris: Exactly. Let the plan shape be the horsepower. For better surfers, you can size it up and use it as a mid-range board to slow things down and add style.

Trip: One thing we missed early on was how good the shorter sizes would be. Now that we have them in hand, you can see the potential—from a first shortboard to a high-performance fun board.

I think this board could work anywhere from 5’0 up to 8’0. That’s a huge range.

Chris: Yeah, it scales really well.

Trip: Chris, thanks so much. The Christenson Easy Wind—if you have any questions or want to order one, stock or custom, give us a call at 252-987-6000 or check us out at realwatersports.com/surfing. Thanks for tuning in.