VC4 Development History: Maurice Cole on the Best Design He's Ever Done

The best design work I've ever done." Maurice Cole sits down with the boards that built the VC4 and tells the story behind each one. It starts over 30 years ago with the first reverse vee he shaped for Tom Curren. It was a completely different design from anything Tom had ridden. Tom called him that night to say the board was insane, then turned up the next morning wanting every board in his quiver redone. Around the same time Maurice was shaping for Occy, and the two best surfers in the world couldn't ride each other's boards. That forced him to rethink everything as a designer. Fast forward about 15 years. Ross Clarke-Jones asked for a 5'9" tow board for waves from 8 to 80 feet. Three years of chasing speed led to a deep single concave, and to a board that passed its test on one of the biggest days Maurice has ever seen. Ross then asked why he didn't build a surfboard like it. That became "the pig", and later Maurice's own deep concave shortboard, the fastest board he's ever ridden. The VC4 brings it all together. Heaps of vee up front from the Tom Curren reverse vee, deep concave from the tow boards, and fluted flyers to make it turn. 0:00 A history lesson 0:16 The first reverse vee for Tom Curren 1:02 How the reverse vee works 2:06 The original Tom Curren board 2:21 Occy's board 3:13 Ross Clarke-Jones and the tow board 4:14 The first magic tow board 4:46 The pig 5:23 Maurice's deep concave shortboard 6:09 The VC4 is born See the VC4: www.mauricecole.com/veecon-iv