Up in the lip, the board prefers these wicked layback slashes than a typical off the lip. This is because the rail line is long, which is why the board is so fast. Yet to break the fluid motion of the long straighter rail line, the board likes a continuous motion layback, pivoting off the vee bottom contour and the diamond tail.
This board is a speed machine; however, it’s not, and never will be, for contest surfers who surf top to bottom, top to bottom, top to bottom...three to the beach. You can go to the bottom, and then towards the top, but the board, because it’s so flat, doesn’t want to pivot at the bottom of the trough and catapult vertically to the lip. Rather, this board wants to drawn a smooth continuous line from the bottom towards the lip, at about 75 degrees, instead of 90 degrees straight up. At the lip, as stated above, a surfer will use the heavy “V” bottom in the tail to tilt from the toe side rail, which is engaged going up to the lip, to the heel side rail, carving a layback smasher slash to transfer directions back down the wave.
Some people will also call SVM's a “barrel board.” Again, when a board paddles very well and gets into waves early, a surfer can charge harder and with less fear.
Fowler, a prolific surfboard designer, continues to evolve their design into what he calls “The Family of Stoke”, including a “Tri Plane Hull version, “The Chubby Stubby,” “MiniMAX,” a refined Aussie V Bottom named “V8”, and other surprises to come.
Overall, this board, which is the design concoction of two hometown locals, Randell Rostoker and Bruce Fowler, is surfed and celebrated around the world. From Santa Barbra to Japan, and over to Europe and Australia, the S-T-O-K-E for the Stoker V Machine resinates from 6 yr olds just learning to surf, to the best surfers in the water, to the older veterans who are 60 plus and aren’t looking to slow down, but rather, SPEED UP. As Fowler ends all his emails, “Enjoy the S-T-O-K-E.!”