The Huntsman is a new mid length design from Chris Christenson based on the popular mid 70’s San Diego eggs.

The Christenson Huntsman is a fast, down railed, single fin, mid length based on the popular San Diego style egg. The Huntsman can be ridden shorter than Christenson Flat Tracker and C-Bucket, and focuses it’s performance on speed and maneuverability in reefs, points and beach breaks.

Surfer: Trip Forman / Photo: Travis Brown

•Double ender, near symmetrical outline.
•Rounded off beaked nose with foiled out thumb tail.
•Chined bottom rail
•Simple vee to tri plane to vee bottom shape.
•Down rail profile for max speed and down the line projection.
•Single fin

Surfer: Trip Forman / Photo: Travis Brown

The Christenson Huntsman is fast with a ton of range. The extra speed in this model is noticeable compared to most single fins. The down rail design puts an emphasis on added drive and projection out of the turns.

Surfer: Trip Forman / Photo: Jeffrey O'Neil

The near symmetrical outline of this board offers up an elongated sweet spot allowing the surfer a wide choice of stances and positioning on the board. Christenson’s GM, Jon Peck, said “imagine a bit of Michael Peterson influence and surfing style” and this is what the Huntsman has. With the wider, beaked nose, you can slide further forward on this board compared to most, and still be generating speed from that forward position. Tube rides and Cheater 5s are also a blast up there, even on the smaller lengths.

Surfer: Trip Forman / Photo: Travis Brown

We got the chance to surf the Huntsman in a wide range of surf from crumbly thigh high to overhead barrels. The speed, power and drive in this board help it out a lot in small or sectioning surf. The noticeably foiled out tail help it hold in the bigger stuff. It ended up being a great go to single fin that worked in almost anything. Just throw it in the truck and go. The C-Bucket is still better when it’s throttling, and the Flat Tracker’s in its prime high lining or taking off behind the peak, but the Huntsman has a fast flying thing of it’s own that grows on you the more you surf it.

Surfer: Trip Forman / Photo: Lingenfelter

You can ride your Christenson Huntsman shorter than your other mid lengths. For example, Trip’s Huntsman is the same width and thickness as his Flat Tracker, and 4” shorter (7’2 vs. 7’6) and still the Huntsman packs more float and power underfoot. After paddling and surfing it, it’s easy to see and feel where the extra foam is. That rounded off beaked nose carries a good amount of foam forward. The Huntsman also has a much longer parallel outline, meaning it keeps near it’s max width for a much longer portion of the boards length.

Surfer: Trip Forman / Photo: Jeffrey O'Neil

So normally with Christenson’s other mid lengths, you’ll often hear “go longer, they feel way shorter than their length”, on the Huntsman you can go shorter and still have plenty of power and speed (and added maneuverability). So whether it’s riding a 7’0 rather than a 7’6, or an 8’6 rather than a 9’0+, the Huntsman gets it done with speed to burn.

Surfer: Trip Forman / Photo: Travis Brown

The Huntsman can be ridden effectively in surprisingly small surf. We had a great time using this board in the smaller stuff. Conditions where ideally you’d be on a longboard or super groveler. The power underfoot that this board creates keeps you going when the waves are smaller and gutless. It also has a nice roll in the pocket to keep it nimble and open to slight adjustments where other mid lengths might bog and slow down.

Surfer: Trip Forman / Photo: Lingenfelter

Speed is a good thing. You’ll find yourself making sections and getting longer rides than normal. Taking off behind the peak, you’ll need to use a bit more hand in the wave to slow yourself down. In the tube, the width brought further back can be a bit of a handful compared to the Flat Tracker or C-Bucket, but sliding the fin further back keeps it in control, with the speed to get you out.

Surfer: Trip Forman / Photo: Evan Foster

We used the True Ames 7.5” Skip Frye Volan fin on our 7’0 and 7’2. The first few sessions we positioned the fin just forward of center in the box and it was perfect for smaller gutless waves, or for flying down the line where you were already taking off pointing down the line and not coming hard off the bottom. When we took the Huntsman into more powerful surf it spun out when driving hard turns off the bottom or trying to stick late drops. It only took sliding the fin back less than an inch to cure this.

Surfer: Trip Forman / Photo: Travis Brown

You’re looking for a fast, fun mid length that covers a wide range of surf. The Huntsman can be ridden short to spice up the single fin action.