Here's What the World's Best Loggers Are Riding on the World Longboard Tour

What board would you make for the surfer who is chasing down your World Title? That’s the question reigning WSL Longboard World Champion Kai Sallas has had to answer, making boards for world number two and fellow Hawaiian Kaniela Stewart, who pushed Sallas to a decider heat finish at Malibu in 2023.

One of the unique things about the

World Longboard Tour (WLT) is that many of the surfers on tour also make surfboards for themselves and others on tour. Kai Sallas, with the ultimate promo of his boards winning a World Title with his own design under his feet, also makes boards for multiple WLT event winner Kelis Kaleopa’a and recent Mexi Logfest champion Keani Canullo.

Related: Meet the World Champ Who Makes Longboards For Future World Champs

Sallas is far from being the only one. On the men’s side of the draw, world number three Ben “Skindog” Skinner out of the UK also has his own board company, with his Double Scoop model being picked up by half of the British longboard community after he dropped multiple nine-point rides in El Salvador on the WSL broadcast last year. Newly qualified compatriot Emily Currie also has this model under her feet along with Australian Bells Beach event wildcard Clint Guest who opted for the Double Scoop for his start at Bells. Guest sent Skindog to the elimination round in the second heat of the opening day of competition.

Out of Byron, Kai Ellice-Flint is also riding his own shape - a hand designed and shaped Wide Glide model, made under his label Higher State Surfboards. Bells event wildcard, Sydney’s Max Weston, also arrived at the event riding one of Kai’s Higher State boards. South Africa’s Sam Christianson is also riding one of his own designs and new tour recruit Michael Van Hohenstein out of Hawaii is on his own boards too.

Across the tour, Michael Takayama’s boards out of California are the most represented. In 2019, Michael’s boards brought a revolutionary shape to the tour – an outline with a super wide tail with a lot of lift. This design, quickly emulated by longboard shapers everywhere, meant a new type of noseriding became normal; the perch through multiple sections it allowed changed the expectation on tour. Over the last few years, this new standard of noseriding has been used to design boards to make these kinds of nose rides possible but also allow surfers to maximize their ability to put their boards on rail.

With the addition of powerful rights like Bells and El Salvador to the roster, pin tails have also become essential to the quivers of the world’s best loggers. French surfer Zoé Grospiron has opted for a 9’2” pin tail for the season opener at Bells, made by Phil Grace who is part-time Hossegor based, part-time Australia based and has frequented Bells since the 1970s. Out of Japan, Natsumi Taoka has taken a similar approach, traveling with her go-to pintails that have also seen her through heats in El Salvador.

Portuguese shaper Lufi is also well represented on tour, with 2023 Bells runner-up Alice Lemoigne linking the top section of Rincon through to the Bowl in the final last year while perched over the nose. The display was a showcase of Lemoigne’s development into one of the best noseriders on tour in recent seasons. Out of the Philippines, Rogelio “JR” Esquievel also rides a Lufi, with the Filipino exploding onto the tour in 2023 - finishing with a third at Huntington in his first WLT event and going on to qualify for the finals at Malibu.

The nature of the WLT, with its lesser prize money and fewer athletes with full-ride sponsorship than those on the 'CT, means that surfers are commonly required to make a living through other means. Also, the extended careers that longboarders tend to have (Kai Sallas won his Title at 42) means the surfer-shaper combination that was once common on the shortboard World Tour is still alive in longboarding. Being on tour with your shaper could certainly have its perks, even if they’re standing between you and a World Title.

Related: 2024 WSL Longboard World Tour Stacked With Talent This Year