This is Rob Machado’s most versatile hybrid shape, designed to create speed in weak waves and control speed in good waves. Photo: Firewire
Rob Machado has a new surfboard out, and it looks exactly like something we’ve come to expect. The Machadocado is, as the name implies, inspired by the shape of the avocado. It’s a strange-looking hybrid of a fish and a standard shortboard made for smaller waves like a lot of California surfers ride.
Machado can surf just about any kind of surfboard he wants. Technically, any one of us can, too, but Rob Machado will surf any kind of surfboard he wants a hell of a lot better than any one of us. He’s one of the most stylish surfers ever to ride a wave, but with all that prowess and the freedom that comes with being one of the most recognizable freesurfers on the planet comes a definite slant towards surfboards that compliment the kind of surfing he does. He’s deeply involved with surfboard designs that bear his name, and his most recent offering is no different.
A little bit wider and thicker than a standard shortboard, the Machadocado is made to provide stability and grovel-ability. The thinned out tail and the way the volume is distributed throughout the shape, however, lends itself to control in rounder, steeper waves and the ability, should you possess it, to hammer out quick-wraps and generate speed when you need it.
“Inspired by the shape of his favorite fruit, Rob Machado outlined the Machadocado with generous width for its length, taking proportional inspiration from an avocado – his favorite breakfast at home where he makes avocado toast for his family on the weekends,” the Firewire team explains. “The magic in this fruit-inspired outline is the way that the generous width creates speed while the larger fin template close to the rail enables control, working in alignment with a perfectly thinned out foil.”
This particular shape has been boiling around in Machado’s head for nearly 15 years. “Tthe Machadocado was designed with weak waves in mind for easy speed creation when small waves aren’t helping, Firewire continues. “Drawing from a deep history of performance surfing, Rob designed the thickness distribution from nose to tail in meticulous detail, ensuring the board can hold in the pocket without sacrificing the ability to create speed in flat sections.”
Rob’s been on a mission in recent years to develop surfboards made more for the everyday surfer in everyday waves. And as he ages, his priorities are reflected in the surfboards he’s helping design.
“Less boards in the van means more kids in the van, and my son and his crew have been ruling the beach this summer and I’ve only had one board with me,” he says. “The Machadocado is fun every day.”
The video you see here is a few raw sessions filmed at Seaside Reef in Cardiff, Calif. Rob is riding a stock 5’2″ and bounces back and forth between a twin keel fin set up and a 2+1 that was designed specifically for the Machadocado.
