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Julian Wilson’s STAB In the Dark Winner, the DHD DX1 Review! Eleven ‘Magic Boards’, Julian Wilson as judge, logos stripped away, thrusters only…
You’ve heard the premise of the awesome Stab in the Dark contest, now Compare Surfboards takes Jack Freestone’s signature DHD DX1 model into the water for experience by the common man (Julian Wilson is no mere mortal…).
Make no mistake, this is a true high performance shape for a high performance surfer in good, powerful waves. With the right skilled surfer + good wave combo, the DX1 is capable of great things.
Hope you enjoy this surfboard review of the 2015 STAB In the Dark Winner, DHD DX1.
All the best,
Benny
Have a question? Wondering if the DHD Surfboards DX1 is right for you? Let’s talk about it in the comments…
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Pluses
+ This board lights up in waves with push!
+ A true high performance shortboard for the competent surfer
+ STAB in the Dark Winning board!
Minuses
– This is not a board for beginners or novices and not for your average, everyday waves! Leave this one experienced surfers and bigger, better conditions
Craig Rides
The DHD Surfboards DX1 at 5’10 x 19 1/8 x 2 7/16 at 28.3L. Starting with his staple Futures AM2’s, Craig felt these were too much for the DHD DX1 and he moved to the Futures Fins Rusty Blackstix [Shop the Futures Fins Rusty Blackstix…].
Best Wave Type
Head high to well overhead, punchy, hollow, fast! This board will love hollow, fast Indonesia reefs, punchy Nicaragua / Costa Rica beach breaks, high performance Australia point breaks…
Features
- A well balanced high performance shortboard
- Single concave that deepens through the belly of the outline
- Tight, precision squash (rounded square) tail
- Smooth, full flat to medium rocker
Compare To
- Channel Islands Fred Stubble Surfboard Review: a high performance shortboard intended for smaller waves
- Pukas The Game Surfboard Review: a true punchy, hollow beach break board
- SUPERBrand Siamese Palm Viper by Dion Agius surfboard review: high performance, high volume board for airs, turns, barrels and anything else you can throw at it
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Video Summary
Hey, my name is Craig and today I’m doing a review of the DHD DX1, Jack Freestone for CompareSurfboards.com.
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This is my DHD DX1. The original DX1 was one of the performance models from DHD. It was slightly narrower and thinner, a little bit longer. They came out recently with this model, which they’ve called Jack Freestone’s cut. It’s a little bit thicker, a little bit wider and you can ride a little bit shorter. The one I’m riding is 5’10 x 19 1/8 x 2 7/16, which comes at just over 28L, at 28.3L.
The DX1 has a pretty gentle rocker throughout the board. Not too much nose lift, not too aggressive and nice tail lift, nothing kind of too aggressive. Through the bottom it just has a single concave, which I think really you can’t feel too much surf but supposedly just comes in quite gentle and gets a bit deeper as it goes through the fins.
When I saw the DX1, the Jack Freestone model, I was quite excited about it. Looking at the outline, I thought it would have been quite a forgiving performance surfboard, like a performance surfboard maybe for most conditions.
“Upon riding the board, it actually is a performance surfboard which demands performance waves.”
I took it out the first few surfs in some pretty weak surf, not a lot of push in it. I wasn’t really getting the board at first. I was pretty frothy on riding it. I wasn’t quite connecting with the board, but getting it in some better conditions the board definitely had a lot of get up and go.
Recently, Stab put together a thing called Stab in the Dark, where they had Julian Wilson ride, I think, 11 different boards. He didn’t know the shaper of each board. DHD won the competition and supposedly the board that was announced as a winner was a slightly thinned out board, a version of this for Julian. I think his specs were 6’0 x 19 x 2 3/8 which came out at about 28.5L, so very similar literage but just a slightly longer version.
I’ve had this recently in some fairly good surf. Just recently we surfed some pretty solid left waves, just quite hollow. The board felt pretty good. Having that little bit of extra push in the waves,
“having some solid waves the board definitely lit up!”
With the fins, I normally ride the Futures Al Merrick AM2’s, which is a large Al Merrick template. In this board, it actually felt a little bit finny, the AM’s felt a little bit too big. I had a few surfs and I persisted with them because that’s definitely the fin that I put in everything. I can feel how a board will go because I know that fin quite well. I put these Futures Fins Rusty Blackstix [Shop the Futures Fins Rusty Blackstix…] in, which is, the large template. I haven’t really ridden much of the Blackstix in the last few years, but the board felt, it gave it a lot more lift, a lot more go, and it felt … I think it’s a tad smaller than the AM template, especially in the base and it’s got a different foil. It felt a lot better and it’s definitely the fin I’ve enjoyed with riding this board.
[Shop the Futures Rusty Blackstix…]
The DHD DX1, I think, it’s for most wave conditions but probably leans towards more your better conditions, your better waves. Maybe kind of 2 ft. plus, I don’t think it’s really the thing for little grovelly conditions, but everyone to their own.
This DX1, I think this leans more towards the intermediate to advanced surfer. It’s not that forgiving of a board. It’s definitely a performance short board, like I said earlier, for performance waves. If you are looking for a board to maybe take on a trip with some better waves or just when you are in a season when you get better waves at home this is definitely the board for it. I think some of the waves, because it is Jack Freestone’s signature pro-model board, I think some of the waves that he surfs around home, like D-bah but especially Snapper, I’d love to take this board out on a good day at Snapper. I think that would be what it was made for, like a hollower running wave with a lot of push and a lot of speed, I think the thing would absolutely light up. That would probably be ideal conditions for it. Well that is my review of the DHD DX1 Jack Freestone which has recently won the Stab in the Dark award. Hopefully you can check it out and get it going on it, it’s definitely a good board. Thanks for watching.
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Stock Standard Dimensions & Volume
Standard DHD Surfboards DX1 Dimensions & Volumes available at the DHD Surfboards website
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I ride the DX1 JF at 5'9" stock dims and this board feels really great. I weigh 145 lbs and surf multiple times a week. I've ridden it in 2 foot slop but goes best in shoulder high and above. Super fast and drivey board due to the single concave. Very loose in the pocket. I use Future AM1 fins for all conditions with this board and they work well during turns and provide sufficient hold in steeper waves.