Jayce here, in the Down The Line Boardroom. Just gonna talk you guys through my fresh drop from DHD. Pack of five. Right here we go.

Firstly, we’ve got my standard shortboard, which is my all-rounder. It’s the 3DV, 5’7 x 18 5/8’s x 2 3/16’s, and 24.5L.  It’s PU, which I really like for the winter as it just basically holds better. It feels like you’ve got a bit more ‘girth’ under your feet almost.  When you’re doing some nice racking turns, it holds and if you got any chatter in the face (which is quite often in the winter), it just rides through that easily. I have had this board in epoxy as well, and it goes amazing, but in windy conditions above 2-3ft, I prefer the feel of the PU. But yeah, that’s my standard all-rounder and I absolutely love this model.

Second up, it’s another 3DV. Exactly the same model, but 5’8 this time. 5’8 x 18 ½ x 2 3/16’s and 24.7L.  I will notice that difference that inch, with the feeling of more board under my feet and when doing turns. I’ll feel like I’ll need to push a bit more, but that’s what I need when it’s starting to get bigger. People will laugh when I say that 5’8 is starting to step up a bit. But I’m pretty short, so… I think as well, it’s what I’ve got used to.  

I know I’ll find these a bit funny when I get on them straight off my DHD Phoenix, my small wave summer board. It’ll definitely take a couple of days to get used to it. That’s why I try and encourage people to when they jump on a new board to have at least a few sessions before they decide it’s not for them. I can sometimes go back to boards that thought I hated and go “Oh my God, this is actually magic”. Also worth mentioning that both of these are squash tails, which I really like. It might just be in my head, but I’ve always had better squash tails than anything else, so whether it’s in my head or not – it works for me. 

Moving on then, here we go on #3. It’s a DNA which is a proper step-up for me here. It’s 5’10 x 18 ½ x 2 ¼, and that’s 25L. Not much of a volume increase there, but we’ve got a bit more length. It’s a dagger of a board. And I can imagine this being really good when Porthleven gets up to 6ft. Just gives me that extra bit of knifey-ness to get down the waves and paddle in a bit faster; basically just handle the increased size really. It’ll be interesting to see the differences in the DNA and the 3DV. 

Next board up is another DNA. This one is 6’2, and 26.5L. I very rarely surf boards of this size, but there’s the occasions where you go out, and it’s a big powerful reef that’s pushing 8ft, might be up in Scotland or the North East, or even Porthleven on it’s day. I’m hoping to get a couple of trips further up the country this winter, and this will definitely be coming with me. It’s those areas where you start to need a bigger board purely for paddling, as it means you can just start taking off a bit further. Some of the guys up there are on 6’8s and even 7’0s. You’ll see them flying in from miles out and the shortboarders are all scraping on the inside. Definitely good to have one of these boards in the bag if there’s a decent swell around. It’s still quite a dagger. Almost looks quite old school, when I compare it to what I’ve been riding all summer!  

Finally, we have the only rounded pin in the batch, a big DNA. This one is 6’4 x 18 ½ x 2 3/8’s, and 29.4L. Proper gun for me this one! I think it will be used twice a year haha! But it might be snapped on one of those occasions… as that’s going to be even bigger swell, and I think it’s pretty lightly glassed. So yeah, this will be coming to the Mentawais on my stag do, probably in the bag for the trips to the North East or Scotland, or it might even hit a big swell here in Cornwall! I don’t often order round pins. I think it just gives you an extra hold on the bottom and makes it feel quite smooth throughout the turns. When I was younger, a lot of the kids rode their shortboards as rounded pin. I think you can get away with it down in France and Europe because their waves are so much more powerful. Whereas here, we quite like the weaker waves, that really suit a squash or fish tail. 

Fin choices… OK, so all of these boards are 3-fin, Thruster set up, with FCS2 boxes. I generally just use the Mick Fannings in a size large. I like to stick to that, because I just love them. Every now and then, I might change it up randomly. But these are minor tweaks that I’ll play around with once I’m used to the boards. Not gonna start chopping and changing everything at once. Only caveat, I might try the 6’4 with medium fins, if it feels a little bit stiff, just to loosen it up in the turns a little.  

I’m excited to get these out in the water over the months ahead, thanks to Down The Line and Darren Handley at DHD.