It takes tons of trial and error experimentation for world tour surfers like Conner Coffin to dial in a surfboard quiver they’re confident will result in heat wins. In this Young Wise Tails series, follow Conner to each world championship tour stop—as well as some free surf adventures in between—and gain personal insight into which Channel Islands shape he pulls out of his board bag for that particular break.

Episode 2 takes us to Jeffreys Bay, South Africa—Conner’s favorite event for obvious reasons. His powerful, open face turns, and flowing style that he honed along the right points of Santa Barbara, CA, make J-Bay a good pairing for his approach.

While Conner had multiple models in his bag—such as the Fever, Fred Rubble and Rocket Wide—his board of choice for the J-Bay comp was a prototype he’s been developing with CI shaper Mike Walter. Although not currently a design you’ll find available anywhere, this prototype is now in consideration as the follow up to his Fred Rubble model—a tweak to Conner’s beloved and quite popular design that could become the FR2.

CI works with its teamriders like Conner to test, refine and prove new designs before making them available as part of the board offering. Stay tuned for further info on this prototype’s possible release later this year or early next.

You can find Conner’s OG Fred Rubble model available at local dealers or on cisurfboards.com, and if you don’t see your size in stock please try out our Custom Boardbuilder program to create your perfect surfboard.

Cinematography & Edit by Ryan Perry

Music by The Whole Darn Family, track “Seven Minutes of Funk”

Photos by Ryan Miller & Trevor Moran