From afar, the Christenson Fish looks to be a classic keel fin fish. But when you zoom in, you see so many unique and modern high performance features.
The CC Fish excels in a wide range of surf conditions from groveling up to overhead. The hold of this board in solid surf surprises most.
Trip Forman | 📷 Travis Brown
Tech Specs
•Keel fin fish outline
•Christenson signature rails forward
•Sharp clean release out the back
•Deep inset single concave
•Tapered cedar stringer
•Twin fin
What We Like
The Christenson Fish is Chris Christenson’s high performance take on the keel fin fish. “This board is NOT retro!”
We surfed our CC Fish in a wide range of surf in Cape Hatteras, the BVIs and Mexico; everything from beach breaks to reefs to points. The Fish is a great paddler and wave catcher. The wide nose and flat entry rocker get you intro waves easily with speed.
Trip Forman | 📷 Travis Brown
The CC signature rails forward allow the fish to get on up on rail, generating speed instantly. The also have nice grip up high on the wave when taking off late (and sideways). The twin pin split tail, sharp release out the back, deep single concave and keel fins provide massive drive for generating speed and covering distance. The tapered cedar stringer provides strength and stiffness forward, while allowing the tail to bend through the turns.
Clay Denham | 📷 Laura Vandyken
The CC Fish has crazy drive and speed. This helps you in all size waves, because it gives you the confidence that you can get anywhere you need with speed. From pretty gutless waves up to more than you’d expect, the Christenson Fish is lightning fast with solid control.
Insider Info
Most think the split tail fish design was meant to be a groveler. This is probably why people trip out when they see them being used in good surf. Actually, according to Steve Lis, he made his first fish as a good wave board. The split tail, acts like two pintails, so when you’re up on rail, you’ve got a narrow pintail, with a single fin solidly engaged in the wave face. The control this board maintains, becomes a whole lot easier to understand when you think about it that way.
For the grovel game, speed is king, and so is frictionless drag. This board has the potential to generate massive speed which turns slow waves into a skatepark.
📷 @christensonsurfboards
You want to ride these boards short. Most people are hesitant on the shorter lengths and initially want to get one the same length as their hybrid. Keep in mind the nose is wide, the tail is really wide, and everything in between is wide. So don’t fixate on just the length, otherwise you’ll probably be thinking you could have gone shorter.
Clay Denham | 📷 Laura Vandyken
This board is designed to be used with raked back keel fins. We’ve used the Futures Rastovich Sea Shepards (now discontinued) as well as the Captain Fin Company Christenson Keels in both honeycomb and solid fiberglass construction. The Christenson keels are the go to on this board. You can decide on construction based on your weight and how much flex you want in your fins. The honeycomb version have a bit more flex and suit lighter surfers or gutless waves. The solid glass version are a bit stiffer and suit heavier surfers, surfers who really push hard through the turns and surf with more push.
The Christenson Fish is a workhorse of a travel board. You can surf it in literally anything shy of needing a solid step up or gun.
📷 @christensonsurfboards
Why you want a Christenson Fish:
You’re looking to go fast and lay down unique lines in a wide variety of surf. The Christenson Fish flies free and performs well beyond the aesthetics.
