Trip Forman: Welcome to the REAL Board Loft. I'm Trip Forman. Today we got REAL team rider Cose Stoyanoff with us. Cose, welcome.

Cose Stoyanoff: Thank you for having me.

Trip Forman: And we're talking about Cose's Lost Formula 1, or a lot of people call it the F1. This is Lost's most performance shortboard and has a lot of competitive results, right? That's actually what brought this thing into production. Cose, you were just reeling those results off like with Yago and Cole. So Yago won Lowers right on this board last year?

Cose Stoyanoff: Yeah, it was a prototype of this board last year. I was actually watching that event and that guy is crazy good. So, I was like, "Wow, I need an F1." And then Cole won on a squash tail version, but in Brazil.

Trip Forman: Yeah. And I also heard at the other end of the wave spectrum, Cole was riding it in New Zealand, too, like at Raglan.

Cose Stoyanoff: Yeah.

Trip Forman: So, on this board, Lost is calling it the highest performance board in their range. You have a lot of experience on Subdrivers, Drivers, and now this board. Why don't you, rather than repeating what Lost is saying about it, tell us underfoot what are the differences that you're feeling in this board versus the Driver series?

Cose Stoyanoff: Yeah. For this board, I definitely like it a little better on point breaks, like on the left, especially on front side. This board just goes and just lets you kind of just put on rail, like kind of what Ethan said in Sabotaged. Just whatever board that lets him do what he wants and like go on rail as hard as he can. This is that version of that board for me. I was also in Puerto Rico and surfing Middles and Soup Bowl in Barbados, and it goes good on rights as well. It's definitely one of my favorite boards as of lately. It's a little bigger than what I've been using liter-wise.

Trip Forman: And so you're at the same weight, but you put on, you're upsizing your boards, or have you grown as well?

Cose Stoyanoff: I've gone up a little bit of weight, probably 5 pounds.

Trip Forman: Okay. And so what is your, actually let's segue, height and weight on you and the dimensions on the board we're talking about?

Cose Stoyanoff: Well, I'm pretty much 5'8" and 150 pounds on a good day. And this is a 5'9" by 18.63" by 2.35" at 26.75 liters board.

Trip Forman: When you said this is a little bit bigger than your other boards, how much did you step up the volume on it?

Cose Stoyanoff: So I was riding my Driver 3.0, which was 5'9" by 18.4" wide by 2.32" thickness and 25.7 liters.

Trip Forman: Okay. So on this one we bumped up like a half or so, or?

Cose Stoyanoff: I bumped up a full liter. And widthwise, this one's 18.63" and the other one is 18.44". So it's a good bit.

Trip Forman: It's a good bit. Okay. And this is a stock board, right? This one is 100% off the rack at REAL.

Cose Stoyanoff: Yes, 100% off the rack. It took me a little bit to get used to it just because bigger boards kind of have to get used to drawing your turns out a little more than usual and having a little more foam on your chest. This board has more foam width up in the nose I feel like, which I really like, especially going fast. You can really bury the whole rail and you don't bog much. It's just all projection and speed and turning speed. I think this is one of the boards with the most rocker on it as well just because it's their Formula 1, right? So it's pretty sick.

Trip Forman: So I've seen a ton of footage out of your Puerto Rico trip and your Barbados trip and the good days here at home. Let's dive in again because I know a lot of people are thinking F1 versus Driver 3.0. That's going to be super popular, right? Especially since both of them are available in squash tails and both of them are available in round tails. If you were to go out and surf both of these boards back-to-back, what is it that's taking you off the Driver and putting you on the F1?

Cose Stoyanoff: Honestly, what I would say is wave height, just because this board is a little better for bigger waves compared to my Driver 3.0. Even in the polys, I'm riding the Driver when it's like waist-high. For this one, I'm looking at the waves and I want it to be at least chest-high or bigger and being punchy. So I think this board definitely needs some push, for sure.

Trip Forman: Okay. And I remember when we were doing the review with you on your Driver 3.0 Black Sheep, you've been moving more to the Driver 3.0 almost exclusively in small waves and not riding the subs as much, like the Subdrivers. It seems like you've kind of gravitated more towards the Driver as your small to midsize wave board, and then this for midsize and up.

Cose Stoyanoff: Just because the Driver 3.0 is definitely more all-around for me. Subdriver has always been a great board, and comparing that to this, I would say Subdriver just needs a lot less wave.

Trip Forman: A lot less wave, yeah. And now let's talk about the round tail. This board's a round tail versus a squash. How do you like, what sort of sensations are under your feet and in your surfing with the round tail? What does the round tail allow you to do that you feel like a squash wouldn't?

Cose Stoyanoff: I'd say it just holds better. Obviously, you get a lot of barrels here and it's a steep wave, so you're going to need that drive throughout your bottom turn and your turn. So I'd say the round tail is ideal for that.

Trip Forman: Better hold, like a better connection through the turn.

Cose Stoyanoff: Yeah, and just more flow through the whole maneuver.

Trip Forman: Okay, let's flip it over. Let's talk about fins. We've been doing quite a bit of review video work today and I've heard the Ethan Ewing fins come up quite a bit. That's what you got in the board right now. Tell us about this fin.

Cose Stoyanoff: It's a Futures fin, an Ethan Ewing template, and these are solid fiberglass. At first, I rode them in Puerto Rico, and I've been a huge fan of the Coffin fins, the other fiberglass fin. Then I got these Ethan Ewings and I was trying them and I really liked them. Then I got here surfing Lighthouse and this thing is just my favorite fin and board combo for point breaks.

Trip Forman: And you're riding, are these mediums or what?

Cose Stoyanoff: Those are mediums.

Trip Forman: Mediums, okay. Solid fiberglass is going to make the fins stiffer. That is another good construction design program for more powerful surf. If you have the softer fins like the honeycomb fins or anything with a foam core on the inside, those are going to be better for smaller waves when you want the fin to flex and rebound better. But if you're talking about chest-high and above, you want these things to lock in.

Cose Stoyanoff: Yeah, for sure. And if you were looking for a honeycomb version, I'm pretty sure the DHDs are the exact same template, these are just fiberglass.

Trip Forman: Okay, so for small waves that would be good. So riding this board maybe in a squash tail in smaller waves, you could go with the DHDs, and then riding it with these when the surf gets juicier.

Cose Stoyanoff: Exactly.

Trip Forman: So you're saying like chest-high and above is the sweet spot for this board with some punch.

Cose Stoyanoff: Yep.

Trip Forman: Okay. And then what do you think the top end is with the round tail? What sort of size have you put this thing into? Because when Middles gets bigger, it gets juicy.

Cose Stoyanoff: Definitely Soup Bowl. I've ridden this board in pretty big Soup Bowl, like over double overhead, maybe on the drop anyway. Yeah, on the drop. And I'd say that's probably the biggest I've put it in.

Trip Forman: And it's still holding, still in control?

Cose Stoyanoff: Yeah, it's still holding good and in control. And I feel like if I'm on a good wave, it's going to let me do what I want to do.

Trip Forman: Have you found, you know, one of the things that we ask is about the accessibility of a board. Obviously, anybody at your ability is going to be open to riding it. Would you feel comfortable recommending this board to lesser ability surfers, or is there something that's going to be holding them back as far as the ease of use or just the ease of building speed?

Cose Stoyanoff: Yeah, if you can surf waves, go down the line, and you're working on turns and want to get into bigger waves but you haven't really had the right board for it, I'd say this is one of the better boards to be doing that if you're starting off with a really high-performance board. You can work your way up step by step, just keep grinding this in bigger and bigger surf.

Trip Forman: And so what's on the horizon for you? You've got this, this is your favorite board in your quiver right now, right?

Cose Stoyanoff: It's my favorite board for point breaks, but my favorite board overall, this is good stuff right here, this is good on the spot. My favorite board is the Driver 3.0 squash tail. That's one of my favorite boards for contests that I use. I don't ride the F1 that much because this is my point break board. I've just been surfing point breaks the past few days, though.

Trip Forman: And diving into that, that's kind of like a reveal right now. That's kind of like a surprise. That's completely unscripted, as the WSL says. Why is it that the Driver 3.0 is your go-to?

Cose Stoyanoff: Yeah, the 3.0. It's my go-to just because I feel way more comfortable on it. This is my first F1, and I've been riding the Driver 3.0 for a while now.

Trip Forman: But you feel like this one has an advantage on the points.

Cose Stoyanoff: This one's got the advantage on points compared to contest conditions, peaky or kind of junky waves, or beach break waves. I would say this one's got the advantage on the points, whereas the Driver 3.0 has the advantage on the beach breaks and everything else.

Trip Forman: Okay. All right, that's good to know. Awesome. Well, Cose, thanks so much for joining us. It is the Lost Formula 1 or the Lost F1. Viewers out there, if anybody has any questions on this board or would like to order one, you can always reach us at the shop at 252-987-6000 or look us up online at realwatersports.com/surfing. Thanks for tuning in.