Solid as a rock – Snell Bros 8.3ft Widow Maker
South coast waves, although fun and accessible, can be fickle, choppy and generally uninviting (at times). If you ride at any shingle coast spot (in fact any UK location) you’ll need a stick suited to a variety of surf scenarios – step forward the Snell Brothers Widow Maker 8.3ft.
Snell Brothers SUPs are based out of Bognor Regis and therefore Ben and Sam know a thing or two about lacklustre conditions. Their Widow Maker 8.3ft packs a whopping 32″ of width into its compact package. This equates to superior stability in less than ideal waves and the Widow Maker performs well as a ‘slop rocket’.
The Widow Maker’s sweet spot, when paddling straight, is right up front allowing the tail to taper into a diamond shape built for swooping carves. Having dropped in, the rider will discover a loose and progressive turning ability. Being directly above the fins will yield best results in terms of manoeuvring and full power tail squirts.
Fin versatility allows for either quad or thruster FCS set ups – we found quad mode delivered the loosest and most fun ride, the Widow Maker biting slightly more during off the tops with four skegs fitted.
The Widow Maker’s stability and glide ensure early entry into waves – again, a necessity for south coast slop or anywhere with slower swells. Even when thrown at some Atlantic facing juice, these early entry traits and stability are most welcome and pro-actively working the 8.3ft.
Pumping it up to speed, the Widow Maker carves progressively and lip bashing is sharp – froth pushing back against the board’s width, sending the paddler back into the trough, ready for the next hit. The forwards girth and volume distribution mean bigger boned riders will be the ones smacking it most vertically. Lighter weights will find the Widow Maker a confidence inspiring platform when getting to grips with manoeuvre oriented paddle surfing.
CONCLUSION
A super stable shortboard SUP, great for less than ideal conditions, the Snell Brothers 8.3ft Widow Maker is awesome as a big boys (or girls) wave tool. Lighter paddlers will find the Widow Maker a good step down stick and helpful for practicing those surfing fundamentals. Great for full rail carves, especially when set up as a quad fin, the 8.3ft has all round slack wave performance on tap. Check out the Snell Bros website for more high performance custom SUP (and surfboard) options.
Further info: www.sbsboards.com
Price: £890 – with discount code (supmag20%) = £712
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