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Could this be the perfect balance between performance and wave catching ability in tiny surf? Very sensitive and nimble under foot, welcome to the brand new Lost Puddle Jumper.
Since hearing Lost Surfboards founder, Matt Biolos, talk about his ‘go to’ small wave board [See Matt talk about it here…] – the brand new Lost Puddle Jumper – I have been dying to try this thing.
The promise of a board that strikes the right balance between wave catching ability & speed generation in tiny to small surf while still feeling lively, precise and maneuverable has yet to be fully realised…until now. This board nails it. It paddles like a beast, handles bigger waves and steep drops and feels fast, precise and nimble through turns. This is the Lost Puddle Jumper review. I hope you enjoy it!
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Pluses
+ Despite the wider outline, the nose and thin, tuned tail make the Puddle Jumper feel ultra sensitive and nimble under foot
+ Could be the perfect balance between performance and wave catching ability/speed generation in tiny to small surf
+ Glide, floats, dances across the wave face – it’s a beautiful feeling ride
+ Intended for smaller surf but works in a variety of wave types – easily handles tiny, weak surf but overhead barrels are no challenge for the Lost Puddle Jumper, too
Minuses
– I found that I could not ride this Puddle Jumper like other oblong, fat, groveler type boards. It requires a performance approach and won’t feel as forgiving as other boards in it’s class
– Because of the sensitive nose and tail, I was challenged surfing it in more average conditions. It handles it but prefers a clean face (don’t we all…)
Benny Rides
The Lost Puddle Jumper at 5’11 x 21 5/8 x 2 7/8 @ 42.4L’s of volume. I started surfing my Puddle Jumper with the new and improved Futures EA Blackstix 3.0 thruster fins [Shop now…] and, because of the thin, tuned tail, these were great for extra hold and drive. Then I added the Futures QD2 quad trailers [Shop now…] to the back and this thing frickin’ came alive! I like quads! Standard Lost Puddle Jumper dimensions and volume at the bottom of this page.
Best Wave Type
Knee high to just overhead, flat faced to hollow. It will handle mushy, average conditions but much prefers a clean lined up face (don’t we all…)
Features
- Based off of the Bottom Feeder outline [See Bottom Feeder review…] but with a reversed bottom contour and rocker curves
- Concave bottom transitions to a vee through the tail for modern performance
- Straight rail line plus vee tail combo provide extra hold and control
- Wide outline makes for easy wave catching ability and down the line speed and stability
Compare To
- Haydenshapes Love Buzz Review: a different looking outline to the Puddle Jumper but a similar fast and furious ride in smaller surf
- Panda Surfboards Bear Essentials Review: similarly fast and nimble tiny to small wave board
- Bing Surfboards Dharma Review: a long time favourite modern performance fish, the Dharma covers a similar wave range but with a more cruisy feel
Lost Puddle Jumper – Deck
Video Summary
Hey, welcome to Benny’s Boardroom!
I’m haven’t been this excited to do a review in quite some time. I have in front of me the BRAND NEW Lost Puddle Jumper. If you’ve been watching the show for a little while, you’ll know that Matt Biolos, founder and co-owner of Lost Surfboards, very kindly walked us through his entire ‘go to’ quiver, the Puddle Jumper being his small wave board [See Matt talk about it here…]. He reckons it is the best small wave board he has ever ridden, which is a very big call for guy who has been surfing for as long as he has as much experience in shaping as he does.
Lost Puddle Jumper – Deck
I was very excited to ride his board and there have been so many people who have asked me about it – this is probably the most requested board I can think of for review, ever. It had a lot of expectation built into it. I hope that I do a justice because it really is a spectacular little small wave board.
The first thing I’ll say about this Lost Puddle Jumper and this is what I think differentiates the Puddle Jumper from other boards, other small wave boards, even by Lost but by other manufacturers as well, is that whenever you are dealing with a really wide, groveler-ish outline, something that’s really intended for small, small, small waves. I usually feel like there is a trade-off that you are making between performance and wave catching and down line speed ability.
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This board, I think, balances those two contradictory aspects better than anything I’ve ever seen. You look at the outline: the outline is big, it does look like wider, smaller wave board outline. It does have a fair amount of thickness throughout, although you can see the foil is pretty even, it’s got a good distribution of foam throughout – I’ll just call this out very quickly, one thing that I noticed right away is how thin and sensitive that tail is – so while it does have a lot of foam kind of throughout the rest of foil, the tail is actually really narrow and thin.
Lost Puddle Jumper – Tail Profile
Lost Puddle Jumper – Tail Profile
Lost Puddle Jumper – Tail Profile
I’ll put pictures specifically of the tail on the website (above here!). It has quite an interesting shape. Overall, this board I think is – and I don’t want to regurgitate what Biolos said – but it’s one of the best small wave boards I’ve ridden. It just gets up and gets going like those groveler type boards where
“It accelerates instantly but also feels really sensitive.”
I was surfing it last weekend at a beach break up to coast from Sydney in really good, clean, lined up, shoulder high to a very occasional head high waves. There were smaller sets coming through as well but these waves were breaking really quickly and I would take off – even on my forehand – I’d take off and I’d see a section that I didn’t think I would make it around. With a lot of other small wave boards, I don’t know if it would have made it around but this Puddle Jumper was able to push me fast enough to get around those tricky sections but still was precise enough so I could then make a hard bottom turn, get back up on top of the wave and then point down the line and go. I had plenty of speed to do whatever I wanted at that point.
Lost Puddle Jumper – Bottom
Some of the better waves I had over the weekend were on my back hand – you know that I like lefts – but some of the better waves I had were going right. They were really fast but evenly paced and I took off and I just did three of the best backhand turns I have done in a row in a while. I don’t know that I would been able to do that with, for example, the Lost RV [See the RV review…], which is a great small wave groveler or the Bottom Feeder [See Bottom Feeder review…] or many other groveler boards out there like the Cab Sav by Nick Blair [See the Cab Sav review…]. There are many great shapes out that that I like to categorise in the same arena as this Puddle Jumper, but this one really, really clicked with me.
Now the other nice thing about it is it handles size better than most boards I’ve surfed with this big wide outline. I have taken out in overhead surf and again, it’s so sensitive. It’s really feels like you’re riding a pointy nose performance, small wave hybrid; a more performance small wave shortboard.
“This Lost Puddle Jumper really blows me away.”
There are a few design aspects that are very different about this board in contrast to a couple of those Lost Surfboards I just mentioned. The Bottom Feeder, the RV, the whole domesticated class of boards that Lost makes have a very specific bottom contour and they’re meant to be kind of fun, flowy riding small wave boards. This has a concave running the length of the board, which then vees off at the tail. More of an all rounder bottom contour of choice and I think that probably helps it to perform the way it does. While it does have this wider outline, again, that bottom contour I think does very much help this board to perform.
Lost Puddle Jumper – Rocker
Lost Puddle Jumper – Rocker
We’ve talked about the wide outline, we’ve talked about the clever distribution of foam and the rails are nice medium rails. They are a little bit more full but never feel bulky or catchy. The nose is just as tight as I would like it to be to be able to get in and plane across flatter sections but it’s not so wide that it ever gets in your way. Again, if I’m thinking about how close you could get to having just a pure tiny wave groveler that gets up quickly, it catches everything but at the same time performs like small wave hybrid. I am taking the Lost V3 Rocket [See the V3 Rocket review…] or the Love Buzz by Haydenshapes [See the Love Buzz review…]. I think this Puddle jumper really nails it.
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Again, I think to hear Matt Biolos say that this is the best small wave board he’s ridden is a pretty big call. I’m getting close to making the same call. This is a pretty special little board. That is the Lost Puddle jumper. For all of you out there that had asked about this, I hope that this helps you to make a decision on whether or not you’re going to go and get this board. I think that you won’t be disappointed if you do. In contrast to some of the other boards we have discussed, just the feeling of liveliness and the ability to swing it around and put it into any place that you want, it’s just not like anything else I’ve really ridden.
Lost Puddle Jumper – Bottom
I was riding it as a quad set up. I did try it first as a 3-fin thruster, using the newFutures EA Blackstix 3.0 thruster fins, which I absolutely love the new EA Blackstix. I have a couple sets now. I have the big F8 Blackstix and I have these medium ones as well. I tried this first as a truster and it worked great as a thruster. In bigger, more punchy surf, I would probably surf this more as a thruster but in this case I put these Futures QD2 quad trailers in and it just feels amazing with that fin setup. That is the Lost Puddle Jumper, a fantastic little addition to the Lost small wave repertoire.
Please let me know what you think of the board. Hit like if you like this review and of course hit subscribe so you don’t miss anything else that’s coming up. Thank you so much for watching. I hope you enjoy the show and I will see you next week.
OUTRO: Get a Lost Puddle Jumper, Grasshopper, you will not be disappointed.
Stock Standard Dimensions & Volume
Standard Lost Surfboards Puddle Jumper dimensions and volumes from the Lost Surfboards website
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Just bought a 5’7 Puddle jumper. I’m 60 years old 160lbd and heading fir the easy paddle and slow and stuffy hybrid. The PJ flies like no other!!It paddles well and surfs like a smooth flat stone skipping across the water unimpeded. . It was like I was riding a bicycle with the handbrake on for years and finally let it go!!