"This is About Getting Tubed" - Refraction Magazine

Word is spreading! Refraction Magazine's Spencer Higgs caught up with us at the most recent Surf Expo. In his latest article, "This is About Getting Tubed", he lays out exactly what's to love about getting off your stand-up, why bodysurfers are growing in numbers, and how the boards and culture Slyde have been building have been gaining such a following:

"My eyes and mind suddenly wide open, I grew more and more curious about handboarding/bodysurfing/handplaning—whatever you choose to call it—and found that Slyde is a far cry from the standard handboards. Much larger than the standard plane, each model (with the exception of their seriously avant-garde shapes) resembles a surfboard. This is no accident, it’s physics: a bigger handboard increases the surface area of your hand, giving you more lift and more speed. Speaking of hands, Slyde employs the hand of four talented shapers, Donald Brink, Jason Hoffman, Tim Patterson, and Marius Jaubert, whose surfboards are highly reputed throughout Orange County. With surfboard-shaping precision, epoxy construction, and applied hydrodynamics, Steve and his team of shapers design and produce these handboards, the best you’re likely to come across. Holding one in your hand you feel the sharpness of the rails, the curve of rocker and concave, and it’s clear: these are to wave riding what metal is to mosh pits." - Spencer Higgs, Refraction Magazine