WATCH KOLDO ILLUMBE IN 'ROOTS'
posted on Thursday, November 16, 2023
Few ever reach such level of comfort in the tube. Koldo Illumbe - a Bali-based surfer with diverse family roots, with his dad hailing from the Basque Country and his mom from Java - is only 17-year-old. His new part ‘ROOTS’ is a full five minutes of A-clips from this year in Indo. It culminates 10 months of filming across Indonesia, where Koldo and filmmaker Kylian Castells experienced both successes and setbacks, but most importantly, they had a blast exploring new places and sharing their journey.
"Projects of chasing good surf with Kylian makes us feel alive", Koldo wrote. "We failed on some calls but scored on others. It is what it is and here is ROOTS, a 5 min edit of some memorable rides around Indonesia that make us proud of what we did".
Watch now.
CURIOUS WHAT KOLDO WAS RIDING?
"The Shortie is a new shortboard by James 'Chilli' Cheal. As described by Jack Robbo from the 2021 Stab In The Dark, "this board is easy to ride. You don't have to think, you just jump on it and surf." Chilli's new performance driver packs high-performance surfing into a forgiving shortboard that caters to intermediate and advanced surfers. The Shortie was refined throughout 2021 with Adriano de Souza (and Chilli team riders) during his final year on the WSL championship tour, and James saw it a fit for this year's Stab In The Dark with Jack Robinson. James had "user friendly" mixed with "high performance" in his brief. He went to work combining a balanced rocker from nose to tail (creating a wide generous sweet spot), a moderate single concave (speed generating with drive), and a semi-rounded pin tail (control in the pocket at high speed). This created a forgiving performance shortie that is easy for surfers to jump on and immediately gel with (the most challenging part of Stab In The Dark, no second chances!). The generous sweet spot is the product of a unique extra bit of foam designed into the stringer line, making it an excellent paddler. You may notice the thickness in the dimensions compared to the length and width seems a bit high, but this strategic design concept creates a board that allows you to surf without thinking too much. The thickness is balanced out by a medium performance rail, allowing full control when surfed in critical parts of the wave. The Shortie fits into the Chilli range as a good wave driver for 3-6 feet. Choose your volume and this is the board for your next surf trip overseas, a great winter board, or your board for when it's pumping at home." - Chilli
Shop the SHORTIE here.
"The Churro got an upgrade! Packed with small-wave performance features, the Churro 2 is the ultimate daily driver to dominate in conditions from two-foot slop to five-foot pumping surf. Focused on creating a performance surfboard that is super user-friendly in everyday conditions, James took all his favourite features from the original board (fast and forgiving) and spiced them up a bit further, landing on what he considers an essential all-around shortboard that connects all the dots. From beach break junk to long point breaks and everything in between, this board will bring you the stoke!
OUTLINE: The outline has been pulled in slightly at the nose and tail around the 12' mark (losing the hip and shoulder) from the original Churro, making the Churro 2 even faster, smoother and easier-transitioning from rail-to-rail. The wide point is relatively neutral, resulting a 'massive' sweet spot paired with neat round-square tail that provides enough width to carry through slower sections of the wave.
ROCKER: Like the original the rocker is very forgiving, featuring a moderate entry, flattish middle, with a moderate exit through the tail for unlimited down-the-line speed. The bottom contour combines a single to very slight double concave through the fins, keeping the Churro 2 incredibly user-friendly in all conditions.
Through the Project Black R&D stage James has found that a neutral fin template (not too upright and not too raked) compliments this model's speed, flow and response. In FCS 2 the Performer template, and in FUTURES the F6 template, works incredibly well; just select your size to fit." - Chilli
Shop the Churro 2 here.
"The BV2 is made for summer. This is a new model developed from the popular Black Vulture. The BV2 sits in the Summer board category and is designed with more speed, more performance than the original. With smaller, weaker waves in mind when designing this board, James Cheal has blended features from the original Black Vulture to create a speed generating board with a generous sweet spot. Let's break it down:
OUTLINE: a full nose for paddle power and speed in flat/fat surf. The middle section is curvey (nice rail line to turn from) with the wide point slightly more forward than a regular board. Through the tail, James removed the semi flyer from the original Black Vulture and in doing so, added a straighter rail line into the swallow that gives this board hold and control through turns.
ROCKER: The board has a flat-medium entry and a flat-medium tail exit. It has slightly less rocker in the tail than the original Black Vulture which has given the BV2 a speed generating bottom.
CONTOURS: Bottom contour is single concave from the nose down to the bottom 1/3 of the board. It then goes into a very slight double concave that runs out through the tail behind the fins. A balanced and forgiving bottom.
PERFORMANCE: Through the R & D of this model, the Black Vulture already had great attributes. Performance matched with a friendly forgiving outline. The BV2 is noticeably faster. To handle that speed James removed the semi flyer which gives that tail the hold and drive that is necessary. When testing with the team it was popular when surfed with a Twin + stabiliser setup. The tail having a straighter outline into a swallow complements the 2 + 1 fin template giving it unmatched control and release when needed. A regular thruster fin setup also works great giving you more hold through turns and allowing you to get vertical in the pocket." - Chilli
Shop the BV2 here.
