🌊 September Shop Update: New Gear, Board Talk & More

Hey everyone,

Hope you've all been scoring some fun waves lately! Wanted to give you a quick update on what's been happening around the shop...

New Gear Arrivals

First off, we've been unpacking a ton of new gear - it's like Christmas every day over here. You all must have some epic surf trips lined up because the travel bags have been going fast. We've got plenty of coffin bags in stock though - doubles, triples, you name it. If you need a new boardbag for your next adventure, come on by and check 'em out.

We also just got the new FCS repair patches in and I gotta say, these things are a game-changer. They're basically like a super sturdy sticker for your board. Just slap one on your ding, let it cure in the sun for about 10 minutes, then peel the top layer off and boom - good as new. 

Board Talk & Fin Setups

On the board front, I've been riding the Machadocado a ton on the smaller days and it never gets old. Such a fun shape. I've been messing around with some different fin setups in it too. For those smaller, weaker days I really like the T1 fins - they have a nice springy flex pattern that helps generate some speed. Then when the waves have a bit more push, I've been digging the Rasta fins. They're carbon, with a touch of extra rake (nothing too crazy), so they hold really well and predictably through turns.

When the waves get even punchier and more overhead, I've been switching to the Firewire Great White model as a twin, paired with either the new Rasta 2+1 setup or the Rasta Reverse 3/2. Those fin combos in the Great White feel really solid in more critical conditions.

The Neutrino Experience

Speaking of new boards, I recently picked up one of the latest Neutrino models from Daniel Thomson. I went with the 35.8L since I typically ride around 34-35L, but man, it felt like way more volume than I'm used to. Ended up passing it off to a buddy who's about 200lbs and he's loving it.

Our VIP customer Jon Simpson also got a new Neutrino recently and he said it paddles just as well as his mid-lengths - to the point that he's thinking about retiring some of those mid-lengths from his quiver.

That got me thinking... Jon actually recommended I give the 33L Neutrino a shot, even though it's a less volume than my typical 34-35L range. His theory is that with how well the Neutrino paddles and how the foam is distributed, the 33L might end up feeling pretty similar to my usual volume. Might just have to take his advice and try one out.

Anyways, a few more shop notes before I let you go - the web guys have been working hard behind the scenes to keep improving the online store. If you notice anything funky or have ideas for how we can make it better, definitely let us know. We're always stoked to hear your feedback.

I think that covers it for now. As always, thank you guys so much for all the support - it really means a lot. If any of those new boards or gear goodies are calling your name, come on down to the shop and we'll get you all set up!

Plenty alo-ha, David

🏄♀️ Member Spotlight: Megan Abubo

This month we're featuring Megan Abubo, a longtime local surfer who embodies the spirit of Hawaiian surfing. From her early days learning at Waikiki to her current adventures around the islands, Megan's journey reflects the pure joy of wave riding.

Current Setup & Gear Preferences

Q: What board are you currently riding, and what made you choose it?

"I always have my trusty Arakawa's, he's been my shaper for over 25 years. However lately Dave has hooked me up with my favorite, the Seaside and Beyonu 6'8" for the aunty stages in my life. I also love the HHP Harley Ingleby and currently Coco Ho sponsored me with a fun 6'10" mid length from her XOXO brand. Love it."

Q: Have you tried any new surf gear lately? What difference has it made for your sessions?

"Yes I absolutely love the new sunscreen stick from Hawaiian South Shore. It does n't go in my eyes and I have protection all day long, my favorite. Dave also gave me a wetsuit top which is neoprene on the chest, but lycra on the arms, so really good for paddling."

Surfing Philosophy & Approach

Q: What's one thing that has improved your surfing the most?

"When I stopped competing, I decided to just go with the flow, instead of chasing points, hopping, looking like a monkey haha that needed energy. I just started riding different boards. Since I have retired from the tour, I am so experimental, slowed down and working on just feeling the wave and having fun."

Local Spots & Post-Surf Routine

Q: What qualities do you look for in a good surf spot?

"I love 3-5 foot waves either direction, nobody but my friends out. I won't name my spots. Haha I can't deal with crowds anymore."

Q: What's your go-to post-surf spot for food or drinks?

"I absolutely love, love mexican, or japanese food. Sometimes I stop at surf n tacos or No 7 food truck, hit up after a session. If I surf late enough, Haleiwa Joes. My favorite town post surf grinds would be, on a weekend, anywhere with TV's so I can watch football and eat, haha."

Beyond Surfing

Q: Besides surfing, what other water or outdoor activities do you enjoy?

"I love canoe paddling, I don't have time anymore but I have a love for paddling in a wa'a, 6 man canoe outrigger. I love taking my daughter out on the Big Bully board, body surfing, and I enjoy hiking up above aiea heights on a weekend day."

Q: What's one surf skill or spot you're excited to try next?

"I want to attempt to foil board again, I was terrible and never did it again. However, recently some friends convinced me to try it again."

Hawaiian South Shore Connection

Q: What do you value most about your local surf shop experience?

"I love that everyone just talks surf, not trying to sell you anything, they just want to ask you where you been surfing, boards your liking, fins your using, and just real basic. The bond is awesome, nothing like our local surf shops."

Q: Is there anything you wish more surf shops would offer or do?

"Board swaps, days at the beach where you could try new shapes and fins."

Mahalo for being part of our ohana! @megan_abubo

🏄 Product Feature: FCS II Performance Fins

NEW Al Merrick Tri Fin Performance Core XLarge

Al Merrick's 'AM' shaper fin. Raked side fins produce exceptional speed and drive.

Key Features

• Designed for radical, progressive surfing
• Raked side fins for exceptional speed and drive
• Smaller centre fin offers quick release through turns
• Ideal for hollow steep waves and punchy beach breaks

Performance Core Technology

Performance Core (PC) fins use a multi-layered resin transfer molding process. The flex pattern extends progressively from the base through to the tip, helping maintain drive and hold through turns. This versatile fin material is light and responsive.

Shop Al Merrick Fins Browse All FCS II

NEW Christenson Fin Mid Tracker 

Signature midlength fin with an upright template for a balanced blend of maneuverability and hold.

Design Philosophy

Control through smooth transitions with a stiff flex that maintains flow and precision on drawn-out lines. Suits mid-length boards in a wide range of waves.

Shop Christenson Fins See All Fins

⚡ Performance Spotlight

Harley Ingleby MID 6

High-performance midlength with six blended channels. Curved outline and round pin tail for pocketed turns and long open-face arcs.

"Breaking the stereotype that channeled boards only perform in clean waves, the Mid 6 has proven itself in all conditions. The blended channels allow tight radius turns even in choppy or weak surf."

Discover the MID 6 Shop Harley Ingleby

Takayama HALO Center Fin

Innovative 2+1 longboard center fin from Donald Takayama. Enhanced turning radius and maneuverability without losing drive.

Perfect For You If:

• You ride traditional longboards 8'6" and above.
• You want tighter turns on bigger boards.
• You need control plus flow in varied surf.
• You value proven design from a master shaper.

Shop HALO Fins See Longboard Fins

🏄How to Surf Better Part 3 of 9: Hand Placement During the Pop-Up

There are hundreds of different nuances and actions that go into good surfing, but we often spend the majority of our time only thinking about the most glamorous—things like arm placement during cutbacks or where the board sits in the face while riding the barrel. But sometimes the best way to become a better surfer is to start with the simplest, most basic actions.

The Importance of the Pop-Up

The pop-up is something that most people spend very little time (if any) thinking about—and hand placement during a pop-up gets even less attention. But this is actually a very important consideration when you are surfing.

Beginner vs Advanced Technique

Beginners will generally have their hands parallel to each other and the rails when they pop up. This provides a stable platform and enables them to get up easier—something that isn't necessarily a guarantee when you are first learning to surf.

However, at some point you'll eventually progress to the point where pop-ups have become a natural, automatic action. This is when you will want to start thinking about how your pop-up can become more dynamic and contribute to your performance.

Proper Hand Placement

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Another mistake that beginners often make when popping up is to grab their rails with their hands rather than pushing their palms down on the deck of the board. While this is not a critical error—in fact, some people pop up this way even when they become accomplished surfers—it does tend to add a bit of bounce or sway to the board during takeoff, in addition to breaking the water tension on the rails where the hands are overlapping.

Practice on a Longboard

A good way to practice pushing up with your hands on the deck of the board rather than the rails is to go longboarding. On longboards, you have a lot more time to take off on waves, so you can think about what you are doing and practice a bunch of different techniques.

In addition, the slow, stylish approach to longboarding actually makes you want to take off with your palms on the deck, as you are often gliding into waves early and looking for the perfect moment to pop to your feet and stall into a good noseriding section.

🏆 Industry Update: Matt Biolos and ...Lost Win the Shaper Ratings

Now that the world tour has wrapped up with Yago Dora and Molly Picklum taking home the championship cup in Fiji, it's time to look at another competition that happens behind the scenes of the world tour—the unofficial shaper ratings.

The Unofficial Championship

For the past few years, surfboard aficionados have been keeping track of how many athletes on tour ride boards from different shapers, and how well those surfers do in competition—awarding "points" to the shapers for their team riders' performances. This year, as with the past few years, Matt "Mayhem" Biolos from ...Lost has been the standout performer.

He has the most team riders on tour, his riders won events and placed highly more than any other group, and—perhaps most importantly—five of the 10 surfers who flew to Fiji for the WSL finals were on Mayhems.

The Star-Studded Roster

...Lost's stable of pros is pretty impressive, including Griffin and Crosby Colapinto, their close friend Cole Houshmand, Yago Dora, Bettylou Sakura Johnson, former world champion Caroline Marks, and Gabriela Bryan. Many of these team riders have something in common—they live in San Clemente, which is where a large part of the surf industry (including ...Lost) is based.

Finals Day Performance

As you might remember, San Clemente is the town that has hosted the WSL championship event the past four years. This year, Finals Day was held at Cloudbreak, but the lack of home field advantage didn't seem to affect the Mayhem team. Consider the fact that Yago won the world title, Griffin finished second, Caroline Marks came within a heat of winning the title (finishing second), and Gabriela Bryan finished third.

Hawaiian South Shore's ...Lost Connection

Here at Hawaiian South Shore, we have been team Mayhem since day one. We started stocking ...Lost boards nearly 30 years ago, filling our shop with them from the beginning. We've always been able to see the genius in Biolos' creativity, from his 1990s fish-inspired shapes to the modern high-performance shortboards that the world's best are winning world titles on.

The Evolution of Board Design

Biolos started Mayhem/...Lost in the late 1980s, and quickly made a name for himself with his range of faster, friendlier, lower-rocker "hybrid" boards that made surfing fun again. Throughout the 1990s, the majority of people on shortboards were riding the ultra-rockered banana boards that pros were on—but these boards required the surfer to generate their own speed, which meant most everyman wave riders were getting left behind.

Biolos knew that the equation for more fun for the average surfer was lower rocker, more volume, and less length—basically, a fish disguised as a shortboard. The RNF 96 was the answer—a short, stubby, hybrid fish/shortboard that went ballistic under the feet of ...Lost riders like Chris Ward and Cory Lopez.

The RNF 96 Legacy

Virtually all high-performance shortboards sold today look a lot more like the RNF 96 than the super-rockered shortboards most people were putting out in the mid-1990s. In fact, the RNF 96 still remains one of the top-selling board models here at Hawaiian South Shore. It is certainly the best-selling 30-year-old design in our shop!

Continuous Innovation

Even though Noel Salas and many others like him didn't think it was possible to make a better hybrid board than the RNF 96, Biolos and his crew at ...Lost are never satisfied, and set out to do so. They designed the Pisces, which adds a bit more tail and nose rocker (and other high-performance elements) to the RNF 96, resulting in a more performance-geared hybrid that shreds just a bit harder.

Advanced Construction Technology

In addition to being an innovator in board design, Biolos has also been very forward-thinking when it comes to board construction. He has always been open to experimenting with different materials and layups, with some of his most popular including the Black Sheep, Black Dart, and Double Dart.

All three construction types serve as alternatives for those looking to move away from the standard polyurethane blank/resin, and utilize 1.5 EPS blanks and epoxy resin. The Black Sheep uses a full-wrap blend of carbon fiber and fiberglass, providing the flex of PU with the durability of carbon and epoxy.

Regardless of the construction style people choose—from Black Sheep and Black Dart to Double Dart and Lightspeed II—Biolos and his team at ...Lost are making some of the best boards in the industry for the best surfers in the world, as evidenced by their overwhelming presence in the World Surf League Finals Day event.

We remain huge fans of ...Lost here at Hawaiian South Shore, and want to give a huge congratulations to everyone at Mayhem, as well as their stable of world-class athletes.

📸Customer Gallery

Thank you for choosing Hawaiian South Shore! 🌊 We truly appreciate your support and trust in us for all your surfing needs. Whether it’s finding the perfect board, upgrading your gear, or simply being part of our ohana, your loyalty means the world to us. Mahalo for riding this journey with us — we couldn’t do it without you! 🤙

Want to be featured in next month's gallery? Tag us @hwnsouthshore on your next surf adventure!

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