Early Days in France

Heaven? South-west France? A bit of both? Either way, it's the polar opposite of Queensland at the moment, and exactly what the CT crew found when they rolled into Hossegor before the Quik Pro! With new boards aplenty for the longest leg of the tour, you couldn't really ask for better waves to get started on a bunch of super fun R&D.. Full gallery and board breakdowns, below: Julian, swamped in his own spray. At 6'0"/80kg, he rides his Air 17 and the Monsta 6 (here) at 6'0 1/2" x 18 3/4" x 2 3/8" x 28L in a massive variety of waves. More lined up reefs and points will see Jules lean towards a M6, while the Air 17 is his go-to for everyday high performance surfing. Really though, both boards are so versatile it's the little idiosyncracies from day to day and the specific approach Jules is going for that'll decide it. Win/win! Photo Trevor Moran An Air 17, a Monsta 6, and Jules' new fins from FCS (both medium and large). Yep, that'd do us too! Photo Ryan Miller Jules, showing us his fins on the way to the flats. Photo Trevor Moran Ace, finding another one of many backside tubes on the comp bank. At 5'9" / 76kg, he rides a 5'11" x 18 5/8" x 2 5/16" x 26.2L Monsta 6. Photo Trevor Moran Dusty, springing into a huge frontside punt on his HYFI Monsta 6. At 5'11" / 80kg, he rides a 6'0" x 18 7/8" x 2 3/8" x 28.1L (the same as his standard PU dims). Photo Trevor Moran Dusty's been surfing his HYFI M6 all through Europe so far, along with Ryan Callinan, who made the quarters at Cascais on his own shortboard in the new tech. Through constant R&D we've found that as the waves get better and the boards become more high performance, slightly more stiffness works best (as well as added strength), which has seen the black carbon stringer added on top for HYFI customs and team boards like the Monsta 6. It's all about the small details to perfectly suit the design and waves being surfed! Sally, laying into another dreamy right pre Roxy Pro. At 5'7" / 57kg, Sal's everyday Monsta 6 is 5'8" x 17 7/8" x 2 3/16" x 22.5L. Photo Trevor Moran Ryan, charging before the contest started (very briefly) on opening day. Makeable waves like this were few and far between, but still, you can't blame the WSL for trying with this on the cards! At 6'0" / 80kg, Ryan rides the Forget Me Not at 6'2" x 18 7/8" x 2 3/8" x 28.1L. Photo Trevor Moran Joel, perfectly positioned on one of the biggest and (almost!) best waves of the morning. If this thing had stayed open it would've won the heat on its own, but the North Atlantic had other ideas. At 6'0" / 83kg, Parko rides a 6'2" x 18 7/8" x 2 3/8" x 28.5L Monsta 6. Photo Trevor Moran