Board review for The Swallow by Radica Surfboards.
My aim is to review boards for the average knockabout surfer (or ‘kook’ like me), without all the technical terms and manoeuvres.
I was scrolling through Instagram one day and Radica’s ‘The Swallow’ popped up in my feed. It looked like a really fun shape for a soft board and I knew that they were based in Kiama so I decided to message Radica to see if I could take one for a spin and they said yes.
‘The Swallow’ is a soft board made of a soft EPE deck and plastic performance fins. Allowing less risk of injury and more reward with fun waves. This makes it perfect for a crowded line up where you still want to rip or if you are still a beginner finding your feet on a smaller board.
The dimensions of ‘The Swallow’ are 6’ x 21 3/4” x 3 1/4” (length x width x thickness) at 49 litres. This is plenty of foam to be able to sit deep in the line up and have your pick of the waves.
This makes it the perfect size to throw in the car, for a sneaky before or after work surf knowing you could have fun in any conditions. ‘The Swallow’ is a fun length with plenty of float that gives you the option to move your feet around, I managed to hang five multiple times with ease which usually I would struggle with.
The only complaint was that a couple of times my back foot slipped off. So I put a tail pad on the board which made it look sick and helped with my back foot. This also gave me something to drive off to generate more speed and assist with duck diving.
‘The Swallow’ comes with a universal style fin box. This gives you the option to change out the plastic fins for something different. I swapped the fins over to some FCS performance fins and personally, I thought it took some of the fun out of it. I think if you are going to buy a board like this, the flexi fins adds to the skater, snappy fun.
If you are an adult beginner it may be slightly too small to learn on. I would suggest that ’The Swallow’ caters more for a grom learning to surf or more of a fun board for shredders that want a bit of variety in the quiver.
‘The Swallow’ made that much of an impression with me I ended up buying it! As if I didn’t have enough boards already. It kinda reminded me to relax and have fun with my surfing, sometimes I can get all caught up in my head, over thinking my surf. It was good to just go with the flow and have fun with it.
I just found it is definitely value for money and an alternative board to what’s in my collection already. Plus, it’s always good to support the small local start up.
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To buy this board or boards similar to this, click the link here and have a look at the amazing range from Global Surf Industries.
This board is a steal at $389 which includes fins!
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