Channel Islands - Sampler Flexbar

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FLEX & FEEL		BUOYANCE
DURABILITY		LOW CHATTER/VIBRATION
LIGHTWEIGHT		ECO-FRIENDLY
INNOVATION		PRICE POINT/VALUE

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Take your good wave game to conditions that are not. The Sampler was developed with Dane Reynolds to be that step-down board you ride a little shorter and wider in smaller or weaker surf while not sacrificing performance. It fits in your quiver between something fishy like a High 5 or Pod Mod and your normal shortboard.

Loosely based off the Dumpster Diver,it has flat, racy entry and center rocker,with ample curve out the tail for tight transitions and airs. A generous single concave runs the whole length of the board, with a slight double within the single between the fins, and just a little vee to provide kick off the tail. The outline is full but sleek in the front half, with an exaggerated and slightly forward of normal Merrick hip, and a wide old-school squash tail.

This episode is about Channel Islands new surfboard technology called "FlexBar." The Flexbar construction will be available in 3 different CI models the Pod Mod, Sampler, and the Black & White. Noel chose the Sampler for this review because it is his favorite small wave board.

The Sampler is a signature model by Dane Reynolds for small waves. Britt Merrick and Dane have been working on a few models lately and this is one of them for 2015/2016.

Surf Show and Tell head up to Channel Islands surfboards in Carpentaria to catch up with Britt Merrick to get his thoughts and comments on the Sampler. Britt speaks about the board and we captured a few waves of him surfing to show what he describes.

We had Aaron Smith who is in charge of product development at CI break down the construction of the Flexbar for us. CI used one of Parker Coffin's board cut in half so we could get a peak inside the Flexbar and see how it functions.

This review has it all from 3D animation in the beginning (courtesy of CI) to a interview with the shaper Britt Merrick and the construction break of the new Flexbar technology with Aaron Smith.

Sit back and enjoy this informative review on a new INNOVATIVE surfboard technology that is UNLIKE anything else in the surfing world.

Here is what the CI website has to say about the new Flexbar technology:

Flexbar Technology
Introducing patented Flexbar technology by Channel Islands. Flex, rebound, and resonance all play a role in how your board works. Harnessing and controlling these will take board performance to the next level. The Flexbar optimizes the energy and spring derived from both longitudinal and torsional tail flex in your surfboard by refining and focusing these forces under the back foot. Utilizing a combination of alternating foam densities and fiberglass through the entire board, Flexbar finally allows the surfer to feel and use the energy in your board through maneuvers.
Another major component of Flexbar technology is composite sandwich foam running from center to the apex of the rail. This acts as the main base for the Flexbar and allows the board to flex without losing any of the board’s overall longitude and torsional strength. This also lowers the vibration (resonance) which is often identified as a negative in eps cores, the result is a smoother feeling ride in all conditions, but while retaining the added buoyancy of EPS.

By using state of the art manufacturing processes combined with the best available epoxy resins and EPS foam cores, we have found that the durability of the each board built with Flexbar technology has been greater than a PU/PE using the same glassing layup.