Alongside its brother (Faded 2.0 regular) we have designed, tested and delivered a heavy water Step-Up version. With feedback from team, we grew the Faded 2.0 in length, lowered the rail, pulled in the tail and kept the width to a minimum. You can pull this board out when the swell charts are looking extra punchy, the period is longer and your thinking about that 8ft heavy water leg rope that rarely gets used. Jay Davies rides this board in the raw West Oz swell (also Hawaii) in sizes from 6'4 to 7'0 and approves. Need a Step-Up? This is your board.
OUTLINE: The Faded 2.0 Step-Up has a slightly fuller nose and holds some foam under the chest for paddle power. The bottom 2/3 of the board are a simple smooth fast outline into a Pin tail.
ROCKER: The board has a flat-medium entry, and a smooth medium tail rocker. This compliments the double concave and vee bottom contour. In essence, its fast with a lot of control in tight situations
CONTOURS: Bottom contour is single concave from 12 inches down to middle of the board, a slight double concave from the midpoint runs down into a vee out through the tail. This gives the board hold and drive when you're in hollow, fast waves where control is necessary.
RAIL: Low rail. Good for holding a line in fast, hollow waves.
WAVE HEIGHT: 6 - 12 foot.
SURFER SKILL LEVEL: Advanced.
FINS: Comes as a 5-fin set-up. Fin Recommendations: Control comes to mind with a board like this, so these are the fins we recommend:
Thruster - FCS II Carver Template
Quad - FCS II Carver Template quad Rear
Thruster - FUTURES JJF template
Quad - FUTURES QD4 template
PERFORMANCE: When designing the Step-Up version of this board we had heavy water in mind. To trust your equipment in these conditions you want the following attributes packed into one board.
The top 1/3 has a full-ish outline and is packed with volume, combine this with a flat entry rocker and you'll find chipping into heavy waves a breeze. Whether the waves are fast and hollow, or big and chunky, this board has the ability to paddle into it (insanity not included).
Through the middle section the board mellows out with a single concave, straight outline and low rail bite give this board both speed, and bite to hold a line.
The back-third of the board is where the control and most importantly hold is generated. The double concave into a vee out the tail gives this board a simple rail-to-rail transition and also helps the board hold a line when youre racing across the face, drawing a controlled bottom turn, or knifing directly under the lip into the pit.
All in all, this board is a paddle machine at the front matched with a pin tail to hold in the rear.
