SmoothStar has a tradition of looking after the surfing groms in Australia. This is why you see many of the designs bright and colourful, as this is what the young groms want most. Although we’ve had really rad surf skate models for the surf dads and guys over 6ft, we really wanted to improve the performance even further.

Introducing the New SmoothStar Manta Ray 35.5″ – for surf dads or surfers over 6ft tall.

When designing the new Manta Ray, the most important element was how they surf. The bigger and more mature surfers are more about style, flow and power – traditional rail to rail surfing, not the progressive surfing that Filipe Toledo’s doing.

These are the results from our research:

1. More emphasis of drawing out a turn, rail to rail surfing, less on critical turns and aerials.
2. More stability when weight is applied to the back foot in bottom turns.
3. A board that will perform similar to that of 3ft+ waves.
4. More support through harder and stronger turns.
5. A deck design that is more classy yet stylish

So what improvement did we make?

1. Extended the board width, especially where the ride places their back foot. More width provides the rider a comfortable position to push hard when they are driving through a turn. Their toes won’t be handing over the edge.
2. Increased the deck concave, this provides more when driving through a turn.
3. Created a brand new wheel called the SmoothStar Starfish. The Starfish is 2mm wider and 3mm deeper. Although the extra width doesn’t sound much, it is a noticeable difference, especially to guys with power. The extra width provides more grip. The depth provides longer lasting wheels. If surfers are over 6ft but under 80kg we recommend SmoothStar Stingray wheels.
4. We chose 3 stylish colours – light blue, grey and white. All the surf colours with an abstract wave pattern.

We performed testing with our bigger teamriders, specifically Harly Kay, a guy that stands 6″3′ and 85kg. Harly is strong but very nimble surfer. He actually finds all other SmoothStar models harder to ride because they don’t fit his surf stance. We did quite a few modifications to the board and now feel it is 100% perfect for the bigger surfer. Harly absolutely loves it, he reckons its the best model we’ve ever created and suits his surf stance and style of surfing.

To purchase the 35.5″ Manta Ray go to a SmoothStar stockist or buy online.