Shred Stixx Chase Hazen Pro Model

I've had the good fortune to see Chase ride the prototype of this board at several NorCal INT League contests. And at Surf Fest yesterday, we had the opportunity to see Chase and Charley ride it, plus James gave it and go and I did also.

Jerry is one of the founding fathers of wakesurfing, dating back to his youth when he would longboard on rollers coming ashore.

While there are many similarities between surfing and wakesurfing, there are significant differences. Jerry is one of the innovators and he spends considerable time and money on new R&D for behind the boat boards.

Jerry's latest creation is the Chase Hazen Pro Model. Chase won the 2006 World Wakesurfing Championships - Boys Amateur on the first generation of this board.

The first thing you'll notice about this board is the unique outline. A diamond nose and fairly broad tail shape.

Grab rails have been designed into the board. Chase told me that it allowed him to grab longer on his airs.

In this picture of the bottom of the board you'll see where the Vector Suspension System has been installed. It connects all three fin boxes together.

I'm a huge fan of Future's fins, although at the low end fins are probably not much to write home about. NOW, when you start stepping up to these Vector foil fins, IMO, the Future's really start to shine. You can't see from these pictures, but the inside surface of the fin is cupped, helping to generate substantial lift.

In terms of design and component parts, this board is probably the most technically advanced wakesurfer on the market.

We'd all expect Chase to rip it up. Afterall, it is his namesake board. Not to disappoint, Chase showed us how it is to be ridden (additional pictures of Chase, below):

great pics Jeff - thanks for sharing!
looks like a sick board!! Jerry continues to be the pioneer!

btw, who is "Vernor"?

Ok, we KNOW Chase could ride, it but what about other skilled riders. Charley Stevens, MOB Group rider and sponsored by Body Glove riding it backside. I didn't get any decent pictures, but Charley would bring the nose of the board 18 inches up and over the lip and literally in a heartbeat bring it back down the line. Incredibly impressive. There is one picture of Charley on the first generation proptype that I included just because the backside air is sick.

In a different thread Matt was asking about the ability of this board to spin 3's. A quick visual reminder of the depth of the fins on this board:

Those fins are 4.375 deep and if I'm not mistaken the base is the same length. A number of Shred Stixx are shipping with a 3.25 trailer. It's a good balance of drive, while still allowing the tail to be broken loose with strong foot pressure.

Many folks are under the impression that surface 3's on a surstyle board require the elimination of the trailer fin, or shortening of the depth of the fin. As my buddy Dennis likes to say, the surface 3 is about proper technique, not depth of fins.

Here is a sequence of James doing a surface 3 on the SS CH pro. I'm a little questionable on the first picture in this sequence, but the rest are definately in sequence.

Now Jerry was talking smack the other day about bringing my fire retardant suit. The youngsters were all talking about how much drive the thing had, so I had to try it.

I set out at 10.5 MPH - all of the previous pictures and the remainder of Chase were all with the boat speed set at 10.5.

When I got on the board just to cruise, I was NOT impressed. It was just like any other board, so I was a little perplexed. Then I did a quick little turn up the wake and the board LITERALLY exploded on me. I blasted from the back of the pocket forward so fast that I was almost on the swimstep.

The board is very stable and I would almost call it forgiving as a cruiser, albeit pretty small at 4'8" in length. However, start carving turns and you'll run out of wake pretty quickly.

Once I got a quick handle on it, I had the boat speed bumped up to 11.2. This was more at home for me. I could fade all the way back to the very end of the pocket and three turns later I'm slamming on the brakes. Crazy fast. Not like with the Inland Yellow where leaning forward makes the board rip. Instead all of this boards speed seems to be stored in the fins, start carving hard turns and it springs to life.

I think this picture of James gives a very interesting perspective. Notice how far out in the flats he is and how far heeled over he is. This was created with one top turn. It's just a little tough to judge but James is almost two feet out past the side of the boat, and he wasn't TRYING to blast out there. There is no other way to describe it, this board has TONS of drive on tap.

And last but not least assorted pictures of Chase ripping it up.

and one more of James

Hey Matt, didn't mean to ignore your question. Vernor is Jerry's shaper down in the Santa Cruz area. If you read that SS Noserider thread, Vernor shaped that board, too.

In a nutshell, Jerry develops the design, relays that to Vernor who shapes all the prototypes and one off boards. Jerry has a background in shaping and LOTS of polishing , but now just directs the design and sells Oh and what he CALLS R&D - the rest of us call it having fun.

This is pretty common industry practice. Mike Walker, of the Walker Project used to shape for the Kane Garden label, before branching out on his own, completely.

Yes, now I have $500 to spend.

Nice pics Jeff, Sorry I missed you. They moved Surfest up a week this year which fell on my biggest shipping days of the year, the week before the 4th of July. Glad you guys had a chance to ride it. On my way out again this morning. Have another crew of pros from Santa Cruz rolling in. Hope to get pics.

Mmm me like it. Me want this board very much.