A surfboard review of the Joystick, Maluku’s new 2+1 mid-length, featuring Luke Dillon and Angus Scotney
Despite certain outdated and inaccurate stereotypes, you don’t have to be middle-aged and going through a midlife crisis to ride a mid-length surfboard. Just look at Luke Dillon and Angus Scotney, the two young and healthy specimens who feature in this episode of the Test Tub, testing and reviewing a new mid-length surfboard by Maluku.
They are joined by Ben Mondy, a long-serving surf journalist now based in the home counties, who proves that if you are middle-aged and going through a midlife crisis, that’s also fine. In fact, the Maluku Joystick may help.
The Joystick is an archetypal egg shape that comes with a 2+1 set-up, which in this case means a longboard fin box, designed to hold a large single fin, flanked by two standard FCS II fin boxes meant for optional “side bite” or “stabiliser” fins (significantly smaller than standard thruster fins). Whether you use these or not is really just a matter of personal preference – the side-bites will add drive and give you more of a normal thruster feel.
The boys took it out for a sesh at the Wave, Bristol, which was running on one of its slopier settings, a decent (albeit unrealistically consistent) impression of high-tide UK beachbreak fare.
If you’re looking for a slightly cruisier down-the-line experience, complemented by turbocharged paddle power and wave-catching ability, a surfboard in the 6’8” to 8’0” range is perfectly sensible and highly recommended. Duck-diving’s slightly more strenuous but you get used to it. It’s also a good shout for those transitioning down from a longboard, and for beginners and intermediates who want something a bit more refined than your bog-standard mini-mal.
