A few years back, the 55 was a core part of our range. With a design intent of speed, lift and accessibility, its parallel rails and surface area created one of the most widely appreciated templates we'd made.

Good design is a process. There is no finish line. Creating, developing, prototyping, testing, redesigning. We try, we learn, we try again. Continuous development, iterative progress. By our nature, this is the process we find ourselves in.

So, we've made some changes to the 55. Added features, taken stuff away. Yeah, there's elements of retro fish design in there, and yes we've taken some heavy inspiration from other boards in our range, but borrowing design features from boards that we know and trust isn't such a bad thing.

You'll have seen those rails before; think Libertine-style sidecuts but with less release, more drive and connection. However, the aggressive release points of the Libertine retract from the New 55's intent of accessibility and straight line speed, so we've softened the rail transition. On a fluid flow level, layers are kept laminar, helping the New 55 to suck water to it's rails. When you're up and riding, you'll feel the drive and effortless connection, drawing you up and down the face, projecting you, your twinnie and your smile down the line.

There's three less fins too (the board below is a 2+1 - ultra versatile). This board is made for keels, twinnies and 2+1 setups - speed, speed and more speed. My personal favourite is the Futures K2 Keel - the rake and surface area completely compliments the New 55. You'll also notice some changes to the tail. You'll notice the diamond is gone, replaced by a subtle curve, meeting the rails behind the sidecuts. We've taken this from the Kingpin, with the intent of making high rotation manouvres feel better, with less resistance in the transition.

The New 55 isn't a new template. It's a developed template, built on the foundations of one of our original designs. The New 55 still has the the same design intent as its original counterpart, but has been stripped back and rebuilt. Three less fins, two more sidecuts, deeper concaves, a flatter rocker and way, way more speed. A fucking exciting board, if you ask me.

We'll be tying the release of the New 55 in with the release of Gen2 across AW Store, in all models. Keep your eyes on our social media for the drop.

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