Based off 2025 World Champion Yago Dora’s Lowers-winning 6’0 Round Pin surfboard. In celebration of Yago’s freshly minted World Title, we are “early releasing” his Round Pin tail version of the all-new FORMULA-1, for Fall ’25. The Formula-1 was originally an older model, made popular by Julian Wilson 15 years ago. We completely updated it and recently brought it back to life, testing under the feet of Cole Houshmand and 2025 World Champ Yago Dora, among others. It all started with a team day down at Lowers, filming all the boys riding a collection of vintage team rider boards pulled from the attic, for our still-unreleased “USED” edit. Among the collection (ranging from the ’80s–2010s), a pair of Julian Wilson’s F1 boards from 2010 and 2011 were hits, inspiring me to… “Look back, in order to see forward.” We searched out the original “AKU” file from Julian’s magic Lowers “Clown” board and overlapped it on top of a current Driver 3.0 team board, incorporating many of the original’s design aspects and curves, melding the two together, to create something completely new. At first, we developed a squash tail version, similar to the old Julian board and got it under the feet of Cole Houshmand and other local team riders, with electric responses. Cole rode his first one to great success in multiple WSL events— El Salvador, Lowers, and finally winning the WCT event in Brazil. Feeling onto something, we made a handful of Round Pin tails leading up to the Lowers CT event. We gave one of the first F-1 Round Pin versions to Yago mid-event, just a couple of nights before Finals Day at Lowers. He tried it that night and was so impressed, he switched to a brand-new board, riding it in the Semi-Finals and Final—winning our home event on this design. A prototype test F-1 Round Pin. In relation to the Driver 3.0... In general, the new F1 is more “set back,” in both outline and rail-line rocker, than the Driver 3.0. The nose is a bit narrower at 12” and 24”, with the wide point a bit further back and more hip in the outline. It’s got more outline and rail-line curve between the feet through the tail, which is wider 12” up (under the rear foot) with more curve and pulled in from there. A more defined “pin” in the last few inches than the Driver 3.0’s “round” tail, for added bite and connectivity. The F-1 features a fairly thick centerline, with a “vee” deck tapering to rails that are a bit more full and forgiving. A bit more nose rocker ahead of the front foot and a touch less tail rocker, but with more concave between the feet and through the tail. Noticeably deeper single concave, with purposeful double concave all the way through the rear fin, lending speed and lift. The deep concave creates a more pronounced rail-line curve under the rear foot and through the fins, for precise, tight-radius turns. The tail block is thinner with boxy rails for grip and hold. The overall feeling is a combination of instant speed, lively lift and very fast, driving turns that initiate from the front foot, with a precise, sharp finish under the back foot. The stock/standard files for the Fall ’25 early release are all based off (and scaled from) Yago’s Lowers-winning board 6’0 x 19” x 2.50” at 29.75 liters. In Spring ’26, we will be releasing the Squash Tail, based exactly off (and scaled from) Cole’s magic Brazil WCT-winning board.
