In 2015 Dan Mann was asked to shape Kelly Slater a board for the first time.
“I knew immediately what I wanted to make him. I saw it all in my head immediately, from the bottom contour to the tail template. The way the volume would distribute through the width, the whole shape. It might actually be the most intuitive design I’ve ever done, probably because I’ve spent so many years both watching Kelly surf, and shaping boards. As crazy as it sounds I was certain it would work for him. The odd thing was, after sending him the board in 2015, I never heard from Kelly about how the board went, and I sort of just moved on to other stuff. Then one afternoon in 2017 I got this stream of text messages one day about how Kelly was blowing up at Trestles on my board. It totally caught me off guard. Just text messages and phone calls flying in from everyone. I sorted through everyone’s messages and learned that Kelly’s good friend from Florida who was in town at the time had grabbed the board from Kelly’s shed where it had sat un-surfed for two years. He surfed it and then told Kelly that Kelly would love it based on having known Kelly his whole life, and having a good idea about what boards he likes and doesn’t like, based on all the times the two of them had swapped boards before.” – Dan Mann
Wave Type
Like the majority of traditional shortboard shapes, the FRK is designed for high-performance surfing in critical waves, in up to 6′ surf. It loves anything punchy or bowly with some power. Recommended in 2-6′ surf, skewing towards average to epic conditions.
Board Features
This is the shape Dan Mann designed when asked to shape Kelly Slater a board for the first time. Featuring traditional shortboard outline with medium entry and exit rocker, medium to low performance rails, and a double concave running through the back half of the board, resulting in the perfect craft for high-performance surfing. Best paired with Kelly’s KS1 fin template.
