Chapter 1: Intro

Trip Forman: Welcome to the Real Board Loft. I’m Trip Forman. Today we got Matt Biolos with us. Actually, he’s got us with him. We’re in the shaping room here at Lost and we are going to be looking at the original Puddle Jumper with the D-25 tweaks. We’re stoked to see this board come back. Over the years, the original Puddle Jumper became more and more high performance and more and more tweaks, it became more and more shortboard-esque. Yeah, not full short obviously, but it’s nice to see a version going back to the roots that is truly grovel-oriented, but obviously it’s got some tweaks. So Matt, talk with us about what’s going on with the original Puddle Jumper 25.

Matt Biolos: Yeah, the Puddle Jumper. I mean, like you said, it evolved into the Puddle Jumper HP and the Puddle Jumper Pro. We did round tails and then every year we sit around, we’re like, “Oh, we need a groveler. We need a groveler.” We already got the world’s greatest groveler, the Puddle Jumper, but it just kind of is on the back burner the last half decade or more.

Chapter 2: Design Evolution of the Puddle Jumper ’25

Matt Biolos: So, we just kind of like you grab a board from a couple years ago. Maybe the logos are big and it’s a little garish and I open the files and maybe the original Puddle Jumper is like a 10–12 year old file. I could make it, I could refine it and clean it up and keep the same dimensions, almost the same volume, and I think it would just be amazing. Fine-tune the aesthetic, fine-tune the cut file, and fine-tune the logos and the whole package. So that’s what we set out to do. Kind of rely on our laurels and something that we’ve already created that we know is proven and works and thousands of people around the world have bought and loved this board in subpar conditions. So for the Puddle Jumper, we went back to the original.

Chapter 3: Performance on Smaller Waves

Matt Biolos: It’s the original Puddle Jumper. I did just that. I opened up all the original files. You know, B rails back then were a little more round and bulbous. Just really cleaned up the rail, gave it a little more downward slope. Still soft and forgiving, nice and sharp in the tail. The outline really hasn’t changed at all. Just kind of the deck line, the foil, and the rail taper. And we kind of got it so it’s easy to understand. The dimensions are almost exact. The volumes are almost exact, but it’s just the way it’s put together is a little more refined. It feels a little sexier in your hand. The performance is almost exact. You know, you basically have a deep concave under your front foot, which has a straight line in the stringer and lots of curve in the rail.

Chapter 4: V-Shape Tail for Control

Matt Biolos: So, you’re kind of up on top of the water and when you change your mind and want to change directions, this curve in the rail just turns—it’s kind of like a ball bearing but more off the center of the board. Then the rail line flares off the tail. Rocker stays kind of straight in the stringer, but there’s V from basically the front fins out the back of the tail. That’s how you control this wide tail. It’s got a nice down-foiled, edgy, thin tail. No big tail block and it just knives in. It doesn’t slide out. It’ll hold its turns. You can go really, really fast and basically just twisting your hips, turn this thing on a dime. It’s really well shown by Mason Ho in his latest edit. I know Mason Ho can do anything, but he’s riding waves from this big to this big last week in Hawaii, little summer edit on a stock board that we grabbed him right out of the shop. And you can just see it—it’s just so fun. He calls it cheating. I feel the same way. I can go surf Trestles in the middle of winter on this thing with a 5’4 or 4’3, whatever, and mine’s like 6’0 my size. And I can just kind of wiggle along on knee- to hip-high waves and look over my shoulder and woo—cut back, little lip climb, pump—boom. It’s so fun. Big wide nose, parallel outline through the middle for drive. Little bit of curve in the tail for forgiveness. Single concave that zeros out in the nose so it doesn’t catch. Lots of V under the back foot. Really noticeable double concave to squirt the water through and let you get up on one rail and edge in. That’s pretty much it. We fine-tuned the logos, went with some little mini logos, added some color to them. It’s got the original Puddle Jumper model logo.

Trip Forman: This one here is a pretty good size board—5’11”, 41 liters. This is something I would ride in a wave pool.

Trip Forman: That was actually my next question—wasn’t this concept kind of born from wave pools?

Matt Biolos: The wave pool, yeah. I posted footage from five years ago riding a 5’10, 5’11 Puddle Jumper and just having the time of my life. Instead of chasing our tails trying to come up with something new, we just revamp, rebrand, and repurpose something that’s already a proven entity.

Chapter 5: Recommended Fin Setup

Trip Forman: Everybody wants to know—what’s your go-to fin setup?

Matt Biolos: I like my quads. I ride these things about my size. I’m 6’1, I ride a 6’0. Maybe in a wave pool or tropical environment I’ll ride a 5’10. Really good surfers ride them 4–8 inches shorter. So you’ve got guys like Kolohe and Ian Crane riding them really small. Mason’s riding a 5’2. When you ride it around your size, I like it as a quad because it keeps the tail free and loose. I don’t feel like I have that thruster anchored back there. I can get release, it’s skatey, it’s glidy, and it kind of shortens the board. Those riding smaller boards use thrusters for more drive. If you ride it your size or bigger—quads.

Chapter 6: How the Board Handles a Range of Wave Sizes

Matt Biolos: People are blown away by the range. It holds because of the foil in the tail, sharp edges, and V through the fins. The concave disappears forward so it’s not holding water. Water flows cleanly out the tail. You can ride it in fairly sizable surf. Is it designed for that? No. Is it capable? Yes.

Chapter 7: Black Sheep Construction

Trip Forman: Let’s talk construction—this is Black Sheep.

Matt Biolos: Carbon EPS with S-glass. Lightweight, durable, responsive. Carbon laid on a bias so it stays forgiving. It’s our top construction. Great footage of Kolohe, Dino, and Ian Crane riding these—super playful. Lighter boards, easier to throw around.

Trip Forman: What about heat and wax?

Matt Biolos: It can happen, but just keep it in a bag, flip it over, wax before surfing. Most places it’s not an issue.

Chapter 8: Light Speed 2 Construction

Matt Biolos: Light Speed 2 removes carbon. More forgiving, more damp, more playful. If you’re not into carbon, this is a great option.

Chapter 9: The High-Performance Feel of Black Sheep Construction

Matt Biolos: Black Sheep is locked-in, precise, like a Formula 1 car. Light Speed 2 is more forgiving. Poly is the baseline. Each has a different feel.

Trip Forman: Thanks for tuning in. If you have questions about the Puddle Jumper 25 or want to order one, reach out or visit realwatersports.com.