Chilli Rare Bird
Chilli’s most popular everyday blade features a wide point forward outline with a rounded pintail exit. This design has tons of range and performance, making it perfect for daily use or travel.
Dimensions
From the Shaper
"Proven performance in the small stuff right up to head high barrels."
Chilli Shaper & Founder James Cheal
The REAL Deal
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REAL Review The Chilli Rare Bird is the most popular and best selling board in the Chilli lineup. Chilli says it’s a “small wave board” good for 0-4ft surf, but this nugget has a ton of range beyond just small waves, making it perfect for every day use, travel and more. The wide point forward outline is accessible for intermediates and screams of drive and speed for advanced surfers. The Rare Bird comes standard as a 5-fin and can be ordered in 50-50 EPS/Epoxy or standard PU/Poly constructions.
Tech Specs
•Wide point forward outline
•Rounded Pintail (thumb tail)
•Single to Double Concave Bottom Shape
•50-50 EPS/Epoxy or standard PU/Poly construction
•5-fin convertible set-up, works well both as a thruster and a quad
What We Like
We had the epic opportunity to take a strike mission trip to Las Flores Surf Resort in El Salvador this Summer: Perfect right hand points and a bag full of fresh Chillis. Our quiver consisted of the Pina Colada for small waves, Chilli Peppa for the small to mid range days and the Rare Bird for when the surf was pumping. Chilli writes the Rare Bird up as a “small waveboard”, but looking at the outline, it looked to be worthy of some good surf too. During the trip, the surf started at waist to stomach high then built all the way to double overhead sets, then tapered back off to waist to chest on our last morning. All these days were on right hand points 200 – 300+ yards, perfect for dialing in a new quiver. We broke out the Rare Bird at chest high on the way up and rode it the rest of the trip, all the way down to waist to stomach high inside zippers on the last two days.
The Rare Bird features a wide point forward outline, making it easy to paddle and catch waves on, plus adds a bunch of stability not found on wide point back/narrow nose designs. Pushing the wide point forward also straightens the outline a bit making it nice and drivey for added speed down the line. The rounded pintail shape rolls in and out of turns seamlessly and also holds on juicier waves. Many think of a round pin as a step up tail shape only, but this one has a generous width and curve to it (many also call this tail shape a “thumb tail”), allowing it to retain power and snappy-ness, even on pretty gutless waves.
We really liked this board for the ease of use, performance and range. We took it with us as a better wave board, but it worked all the way down to the smaller stuff too. Coming off a relatively flat East Coast summer of riding grovelers, hybrids and longboards, the Rare Bird was super easy to transition to, not too sensitive or twitchy, just fast, drivey and FUN. Our PU/Poly Rare Bird had FCS2 boxes, so we rode Mick Fanning Large thrusters and then switched the back fins to Performer Medium trailers. for the quad set up. In the long, drawn out points, especially on the bigger days, we liked the quad set up a bit better, but both set ups ripped on this board. 
Insider Info
This board has the appearance of a lot of the WSL pro boards that you’re seeing at longer drawn out waves like Bells, Margaret River or J-Bay, but with more generous dims. The curvier outline of these boards keeps them loose while retaining the max drive forward from the wide point being closer to the nose. The wider widths also keep them loose, playful and most important, powerful in smaller surf too… yea like the surf we all have to ride!
The tailpad we used on this board is the Chilli Classic 3-Piece Traction Pad. We opened it up a touch and it fit the tail shape perfectly.
If you want to find out more info about your personal Chilli board, scan the QR Code on the bottom of the board where you can find dims, volume, materials, etc. Each one of these is unique to each individual board.
The white space suit looking lycra in the smaller wave footage is a Patagonia R0 (R Zero) Men’s Hoody. These are clutch for mid day surfs in the tropics.
The Rip Curl Search GPS Surf Watch used to record wave count, top speed, and longest wave
L to R | Chilli Pina Colada, Chilli Peppa & the Rare Bird Why You Want A Chilli Rare Bird
This board has a ton of range and performance, making it perfect for every day shreds or travel where you can’t take every board in your garage. Whether you’re coming from the shortboard or hybrid camp, the Rare Bird should definitely be on your list.
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