Harley Ingleby HI4 Thunderbolt Black 9'1"

The Harley Ingleby HI4 is Harley’s new competition performance longboard for every day conditions.

Surfer: Trip Forman / 📷: Cody Hammer

Following along with the new WSL criteria for more tip time, and average wave competition venues, the new Harley Ingleby HI4 shaped by Billy Tolhurst tunes the legendary performance of his HIHP model to be perfectly matched to every day conditions. These changes include fuller dimensions, a slightly relaxed rocker and a wider nose. While the HIHP comes into its own in chest high surf and above, the new HI4 can be ridden in surf you’d come to expect of longboarding, starting to perform in knee to thigh high surf and only getting better from there. This board is available in Thunderbolt Red and Black Constructions.

Surfer: James Jenkins / 📷: Jeffrey O'Neil

•Performance longboard shape with added glide and trim capabilities
•Added nose width
•Moderate rocker to blend maneuverability with glide in average waves
•Thumb tail with 4+1 fin set up
•Thunderbolt Red and Black Constructions

We’ve had so much fun surfing this board in everything knee high to overhead. What struck us immediately, in the very first session, is how well this board performs in sub par surf. You can drive it hard, turn it hard and go to the nose, in really small waves. You can also trim and glide on it in small surf. We’d always thought performance longboards needed more surf to get them going, but this one does an insane job of performing in actual conditions that most people ride longboards in.

Surfer: Harley Ingleby / 📷: Jeffrey O'Neil

As the surf improves, so does the HI4s feel. The session in the review video with James Jenkins and Jake Sacks riding the 9’3 HI4 in Thunderbolt Black construction show it’s maneuverability, it’s ability to create speed to make sections, and it’s confident control in sometimes challenging conditions. You can really feel the Thunderbolt tech loading up and releasing - springing you out of the turns. Not only do you feel it, we’ve had more than one surfer in numerous sessions make the same comment about watching the board being ridden.

Once the surf gets chest high and above the HI4 remains in control and stays confident. This is overlap territory between the HI4 and HIHP, so every time the waves get bigger, the HIHP will gain ground for most, but not all, surfers. Not all, because if you still want the added stability, accessibility, glide/trim, and noseriding, the HI4 delivers. The HI4 still makes late drops, gets barreled and wraps full roundhouses you’d come to expect from Harley’s boards. So much fun, you don’t feel guilty for riding it when you could easily be riding a shortboard.

We love the FCS fin set up on this board and the fact it comes marked with where Harley rides his fins. Nice touch. We used the FCS2 Harley thruster set up. No guessing on fin choice or placement. Click, click, click, go.

It’s really easy to get this board rigged up properly using the FCS Harley Ingleby fin sets and the placement marks that Harley uses himself. These fins are available in thruster (slightly larger center fin), quad, and the center fin by itself. If you start out with the thruster set and want to add the quad rears and don’t have access to Harley’s fins, you can sub in the FCS Performer Large trailers. Or you can rig it for both set ups from the get go, with the Harley Quad Set plus the Harley Center fin. This allows both Quad and Thruster set ups.

Surfer: James Jenkins / 📷: Jeffrey O'Neil

If you want to set up your HI4 for max noseriding, Harley uses the FCS Connect 8” fiberglass center fin, with his Harley quad rears in the forward boxes as sidebites. If you don’t have his quad rears, you can also use the FCS Carver PG Quad Rear / Sidebite set. Again, everything here is tool-less and super fast to switch up.

Surfer: Trip Forman / 📷: Cody Hammer

This board is available in 2 sizes: 9’1 and 9’3. The 9’3 is a dream HPLB for bigger guys or those looking for added float/stability and is what we surfed in this review. We’ve also sessioned the 9’1, and this board performs just as well as the 9’3. Both sizes are high performance in a wide range of surf conditions and sizes.

The HI4 would also be a solid choice for novice to intermediate surfers progressing their surfing in punchy beach breaks where most longboards feel kind of flat and don’t fit into the curve of the wave.

Surfer: Trip Forman / 📷: Cody Hammer

Why get this board versus a more trim oriented noserider style longboard? The HI4 fits into curvier waves better than flatter longboards. You can also surf it more aggressively off the tail, loading and unloading turns, creating speed, wrapping back Into the pocket, all while maintaining glide and trim characteristics. It’s also more forgiving to surf in challenging conditions compared to flatter noserider style longboards. If you want to surf your longboard more aggressively and put more energy into your turns (at any ability level) the HI4 is definitely worth checking out.

You’re looking for a high performance longboard that excels in every day conditions. The HI4 is really impressive in a wide variety of surf. We’re not giving ours back.

The HI4 is essentially a scaled-up HIHP with a bigger nose. It features easy, continual rocker that allows it to turn well in the hook and support noserides both on the face and in the pocket. The board’s width up front makes walking the nose easy, while the extra width also provides more plane shape curve, making the board incredibly loose off the tail and maintains planing speed on weaker waves than the HiHp. Rounder rails in the front half give the HI4 a lot of hold for a performance longboard, making it a user-friendly addition to your quiver that excels in waves ranging from knee-high to overhead.