Pyzel White Tiger Dark Arts 5'8 x 20 x 2 ⅝ Surfboard

The very first one was a side project board for John John Florence, who rarely rides "fun" boards, just sticks to pure performance. It sat in his garage for maybe a year, and in the meantime I made a few for his little brother Ivan. It was the perfect design to fit Ivan's surf/skate style and soon he was telling us how much he loved it and sending us clips of him doing big carves and boosting airs on it. Finally JJF pulled his 5'6" out and was immediately having a blast on it too. Now its one of John's favorite boards to ride whenever he has some time off from the tour and just wants to play around with something different.

Here's the basic info on what makes the White Tiger go- It has a clean but stubby outline, with a very full nose and wide squash tail. There is no hip and the wide point is 1 ½" forward of the center. The tail measurement is just slightly wider than the nose.

The thickness is also concentrated forward, with a beak-nose design that helps keep the volume up under the chest area for better paddle power.

The bottom rocker is even and flowing, flat throughout the board and designed to get up on top of the water quickly, which lets you build and carry speed with ease.

The bottom has a single/double concave running through the front 2/3s of the board which transitions into a pronounced vee/double concave in the last 1/3 through the fins and off the end of the tail. The single/double concave give the board lots of lift (think speed) while helping to let the wider design transition from rail to rail with ease. The vee running off the tail also helps the board tip over onto the rail at speed and lets you turn it up into the lip with ease.

It has a relatively flat deck that blends out into tapered rails. This keeps a lot of volume in the board while still keeping it sensitive through turns and easy to pump down the line without feeling too boaty for its volume.

Pyzel would recommend you ride the White Tiger anywhere from 2-5" shorter than your regular shortboard depending on your surfing ability, and ½ to 1" wider and add a bit more volume than you normally ride. (JJF and Ivan both ride 5'6" White Tigers and their normal boards are 6'0").

Dark Arts construction boards are hand shaped stringer-less EPS blanks which are vacuum bagged completely wrapped in Carbon Fiber with 4oz fiberglass cloth under it on the deck. This method creates a unique combination of flex, ultra light-weight and durability that is unlike any other construction you will find. The Pyzel team riders have boards that have barely dented on the decks after dozens of sessions and countless airs!

The finished boards look like something from the future, beautiful black carbon with a flat matte finish, and the light weight will blow your mind when you pick one up. Dark Arts craftsmanship is next level and we are stoked to work with them to see the progression of the boards as we move forward together.

An entirely unique riding/looking construction, Dark Arts seems well suited to most of our models and is especially great for adding some spice to your surfing in slower and weaker waves.

Faster
Carbon Fiber is fast reacting and creates spring, unlike traditional fiber-glass cloth. The result of this natural rebound is speed.

Stronger
Hand crafted, vacuum bagged, carbon fiber cloth, over 2lb EPS stringer-less foam, for optimum, flex, weight and durability. Dark Arts continues to redefine the limits for how surfboards are shaped and constructed.

Lighter
We aim to make a surfboard that feels good under your arm and our process has created a product that sits in the lighter category of most constructions available on the market. We're not just focused on writing a new chapter - this is an entirely different book.

The Dark Arts Mission
Dark Arts collaborates with notable surfboard shapers from around the world. Set on continuing to revolutionize how surfboards are crafted, our offerings are among the lightest and strongest models available, and excel in speed and durability. Their commitment to producing high-performance surfboards comes with the opportunity to reimagine their life expectancy. They believe that the board you ride today should be the board you ride tomorrow.