A board made for Mikey’s surfing. Photos: YouTube
A few years ago, I ended up in a van in Portugal on the way to Supertubos. There were a handful of surfers crammed in there with me, and we raced down the highway as the sun rose. The forecast was, quite frankly, terrifyingly big for an average surfer like me, but very exciting for a surfer like Mikey February, who sat quietly in the seat behind me. When we arrived at the beach, it was clear from the thunderous echos that it was indeed terrifyingly big. Mikey, generally slow moving and thoughtful with each of those movements, hopped up and down a few times, gave a little hoot, then, with surfboard under arm, sprinted into the water.
It was huge that day, as I said, and even the best had their hearts a-flutter. Mikey, I’m assuming, was no different, but he surfed those huge barrels as though they were knee high little runners. Cool, calm, collected, and riding a surfboard that looked too short, too flat, too wide, and too thick for what was on offer, M Feb cruised his way casually through those waves. It was the first time I’d seen him surf in person, and it has stuck with me. Even if he’s not riding a twin fin, he surfs like someone riding a twin fin. Fast, loose, and on the brink. Britt Merrick of Channel Islands was recently tasked with making Mikey a twin, and it looks just about perfect. It’s called Feb’s Fish.
“Sometimes Mikey’s requests are for original concepts, while others are his new take on a classic design,” the CI team wrote. “The latter was the case when he asked Britt for a traditional fish outline but that it have a contemporary engine (modern bottom contours, rocker, etc.) and finely foiled rails so it could be ridden at the highest performance levels possible.”
Like any good surfboard, there was a lot of thought put into it. Feb’s Fish was tooled and re-tooled and re-tooled again before everyone was happy with it. But that took time and a whole lot of waves.
“During its R&D revisions and refinement, Febs discovered this new fish comfortably covered a wide range of conditions: from dredging tubes in Mainland Mexico, to high lining with ease at Rincon, to effortlessly getting up on rail and hitting tightly arcing turns with full commitment and confidence at places like Jeffrey’s Bay and Morocco,” the CI team continued. “And, of course, it could grovel at the places like Emma Wood. It is now a staple board in his travel quiver and is his go-to design when just cruising at home.”
