DHD Phoenix Surfboard (Mick Fanning Model)

The Phoenix is a high performance hybrid model developed by Darren Handley (DH), for the everyone's favourite core lord, 3x WSL World Champion Mick Fanning.

This might just be the most electric small wave weapon out there! The Phoenix was designed as a comeback craft for Mick, after he blew out his knee filming for the Stab in The Dark All Stars Project. DH set about to create something that was fun and forgiving, that would froth Mick out on his road to recovery, especially for the ripping smaller Summer conditions.

It's only once you see Mick surf this board, that you begin to understand how truly high performance it really is. The Phoenix's higher volume design will have you thinking it would be best suited to lower level surfers, but as usual anything that carries the DHD mark, has an performance built into it from the inside out.  

The majority of its volume comes from the fuller wider nose, and wide, yet soft thumb tail outline. This gives you plenty of paddle power, and easy entry into smaller weaker waves, as well as giving the board a well planted feel, especially when taking advantage of the plentiful amount of release the Phoenix has off the tail!

A flat bottom shape through the nose entry, coupled with a moderate amount of flip in the nose rocker, gives a smooth catch free feel, even in sloppy conditions. A single concave runs the rest of the way down the board, reaching its deepest in between your feet. It's also at this point that a slight double in introduced, inside the single, this helps the Phoenix roll onto the rail, even with the wider outline in the tail. This is complimented by a compressed amount of curve in the rail line that accelerates past the side fins, further reducing the turning radius, and increasing the agility of the board.

Soft medium rails from the nose to the wide point provide a forgiving feel. This then turns into a unique low apex rail with a tucked edge, this rail will hold, even when pushed hard through the tightest arcs. The bottom of the rail sharpens past the side fins, into a crisp edge around the curve of the wider tail, providing maximum control throughout fins free maneouvres.

If you want to take your surfing in smaller curvier waves up a few notches, whilst boosting your wave count beyond that of a more standard shortboard design, the DHD x MF Phoenix will have a spot in your quiver!

We love this Phoenix with a slightly bigger set of fins than your HP Shortboard, but if you want to spice it up even further in the 1 to 3 foot department, Twins with a stabiliser, such as the Shapers Twuster or MR 2+1s are an ultra fun option!