"While this board would probably not have been my first choice to ride on this particular day, it was my best option, having travelled to the Maldives with only my Vincent and a Super Stock long! I find the Vincent super versatile, so that was my backup if conditions changed on my longboard-focused trip late last season. I lucked out with some swell, favourable winds, and a surfing population that, though the season was "done" right at the end of my trip, I couldn't help myself and extended a few extra days in the atolls just north of the equator…"
"Ben Mac and I had put this board under the microscope as I'd found my previous Vincent had a few minor issues. Going over the footage from Dreading South, I'd noticed I was going into a layback on most of my forehand carves due to the board flattening out through the turn. Ben Mac had picked up on it, too, so we threw some ideas around and put another updated version into production. Straight away I noticed a difference. I could drive all the way through the turn with the board holding in on rail but still lay back when it fell right. The changes livened up the board, with the extra curve throughout, it handled way better in the pocket. I'll let B Mac explain what he did!" - Wispy
"Before any new model is released, Dad and I may make up to 5-10 different iterations of the prospective model, hand them around to a huge variety of surfers, gather the feedback, and finally land on a board we know works well. One thing Dad has drilled into me is never to be satisfied with a good board; it's got to be great! So even though we settle on a particular design, it's always open to tweaks and improvements. I am familiar with Wispy's surfing, and I see the minute nuance of when he is connecting with a board and when he's not. Whilst watching some footage of Wisp in NZ, I couldn't help noticing when he was halfway through a front side carve, the board wanted to run flat, causing him to go into an unintentional lay-back turn. We chatted and immediately made another board. For this one, we added more rocker curve between the feet, brought the vee forward 6", deepened the vee a full 1/8", softened the bottom rail nose edge a touch and added a hint of extra outline curve in the tail. Problem solved! The extra curve and vee lets the board slice through turns with a crisper line, completing turns with no flattening out or nose slap that can be common on a longer rail twin. These changes have been added across the Vincent model range, so everyone gets better than 'good'. This is the stuff that keeps our job so interesting and keeps the stoke of shaping surfboards alive." - Ben McTavish
