Don’t Call It “Alternative”

Merrick and Campbell, feeling out the Bonzer.

Last December, during a drizzly afternoon on the North Shore of Oahu, I was playing cards on the porch at Conner and Parker Coffin’s home fronting Off The Wall when I realized the surf had switched on with overhead sets and remarkably thin crowds. The only problem? I hadn’t brought a surfboard.

I asked Parker, who was out of the water and nursing a slightly tweaked ankle, if I could borrow a board. “Of course. But if you wanna surf, you gotta try this thing,” he said, pointing to a purple 5'8" with a bizarre-looking fin setup: four canted-out,