About MOS
Mighty Otter got started with the need for making a difference. Different shapes available as standard, for a very diverse group of surfers. New lines to be explored, a different approach to Surfing and Rapid Surfing – fit for normal people. Captured in surfboard designs allowing us to develop our surfing and rapid surfing skills based on our European surfing culture’s reality. Which is a bit schizzi in its given state and in order to be provocative, since it wants to sell high performance surfing and surfboard designs, while us – the surfers – are lacking the (surfboard design) experience to be able surf in a high performance style and manner. Or even if so, want something different and fun every once in a while, expanding our horizon in regards of surfing and ourselves.
We don’t train everyday in and outside the water. Most of us haven’t been raised on single fins, to suck up rail-surfing and line management from an early age. We don’t differ between a bunch of different carves, because we all surfed Twinnies in the 80ies. We don’t really know the advantages of super low volume shapes – because we haven’t surfed high volume outlines a ton. On these few good days we have, hitting the lip is an ultimate goal. But the everyday surf ain’t that good and other things need to be learnt first. We consider this to be the fun to be had while surfing. Hence we started to work on a very diverse quiver to offer, make the full surfing experience available on waves and rapids alike and encourage you to take advantage of it.
Board Designs & Shaping
All of our shapes are developed based on personal interest, need and want and in community with our surfing and rapid surfing friends. Don’t be scared, the ideas connected to these shapes are always inspired by classic surfing with a little bit of alternative sprinkled on. All of our shapes are tested in the ocean and on rapids. We believe surfing rapids helps us to get things top notch since rapids allow us to intensify our testing time – actually standing on board. Hence we gained a lot of experience on how to handle a touch more foam in a shorter outline in the past – with rockers adjusted for drive and concaves for ease in handling and needed release and agility. This constant feedback complements the experience of our shapers in Spain and allows us to progress our ideas and to make them fit for surfing oceanic waves and rapids alike. Trust us, there is a German style method to this madness working with general base principals and scaling rules and ratios to adjustment for specific situations and needs. It is totally rocket science built on hydrodynamics and stupid behavior of fluids over bend objects. We even took footage of it… all for the fun of it!
Board ConstructionS & Add ons
| For starters, there are a few things to care about when looking at construction. Overall, we tried to keep it simple here, yet added the specific needs of Rapid Surfers to our offer. As PU construction still represents the global standard, all descriptions are based on comparisons with PU. Flex: The overall bend in shape when adding pressure over length or lateral. Spring: The capacity of a core construction to return to its original state after being flexed. Buoyancy: The natural flotation of a foam core material based on its density per kg. Durability: The resistance to breaking, foot wells, pressure dings and everyday wear off. Ding resistance: The glassing’s capacity to deal with pinches and shocks through hitting rocks and walls. Plug strength: The fin plugs resistance to shocks or heavy usage. PU Construction – the world’s standard A polyurethane foam core with a wooden stringer. Glassed in 4-4/4 cloth and Polyester resin. Most likely still the standard you will find in most surf shops on the planet. Standard PU core construction is used as a benchmark for weight judgement of all other constructions available. Use Polyester or Epoxy resin for ding repair. Flex is natural, medium-strong spring, buoyancy standard, durability good, ding resistance average, plug strength standard. RPU Construction – Rapid PU A polyurethane foam core with a wooden stringer. Glassed in 6-4/4 cloth with an extra ding resistant volan frame covering rails and part of the deck. Box saver for increased shock and break resistance of fin boxes included. Slightly heavier in weight than PU. Use Polyester and Epoxy resin only for ding repair. Flex is natural stiff, medium-strong spring, buoyancy standard, durability extended, ding resistance better, plug strength increased. EPS RRFLEX Construction – high Performance, super low weight An expanded styrofoam core with carbon rod layups for super dynamic flex design and durability increase. Glassed in a 4-4/4 and epoxy resin (super sap). Lighter in weight than PU. Use Epoxy resin only for ding repair! Flex is natural dynamic, strong spring, buoyancy increased, durability extended, ding resistance better, plug strength standard. Rapid EPS RRFlex Construction – Shockproof high performance An expanded styrofoam core with carbon layups for flex design and durability increase. Glassed in a 6-4/4 cloth with an extra S-Glass layer and more ding resistant Epoxy resin (super sap). Box saver for increased shock and break resistance of fin boxes included. Lighter in weight than PU. Use Epoxy resin only for ding repair! Flex is natural dynamic, strong spring, buoyancy slightly increased, durability good, ding resistance increased, plug strength increased. Box Saver An additional, extra strong foam bed around the plugs topped with reinforcing carbon patches to prevent plugs from breaking. Mostly used by rapid surfers to save them time working their fin plugs post session. Will help heavy footed surfers to protect twin plugs from extra large fin paddle leverage. Carbon Layups Carbon patches on the deck to prevent fin plugs punching through due to repeated heavy usage. Will slightly increase the stiffness of the tail yet add another two years to using the board. Step Up Glassing Reads 6-4/6 technically, means that a 6oz layer of glass replaces 1 4oz deck layer while the ship layer is 1 6 ounce layer of cloth. Increases durability by approximately 30 percent. Adds weight that will add stability to your bigger wave experience. |
social responsibility
All our boards are made in Europe by people who actually surf. We pay our suppliers the prices they ask for and support their improvement of workforce health protection. We do not apply large scale buying practices and do not intend to grow in a way allowing or asking to do so. We absolutely detest today’s sell-out culture and it’s terrible impact on socio-economical cohesion. Hence we neglect over-production and a low price sales-driven approach. If you find sth. heavily reduced from MOS, it really is an occasion you should use but certainly not a standard to be expected.
Sustainability
In today’s standard Surfboards still are a dirty business. Anybody who tells you a different story basically tells you rubbish. Any board produced has considerable CO2 footprint associated. Any material cut or applied is a potential threat to workers and the environment. We are aware of this and are in constant exchange with our suppliers to provide practical and affordable approaches to sustainability. However, we fully admit that we are part of a dirty industry and net-zero is a far-away country.
Our best answer to all sustainability questions is selling boards (PU / EPS) that provide a positive surfing experience and a specific adorable identity. All in hopes that these properties turn our shapes into something of long lasting value, which keeps them (shapes) in use for an extended amount of time by a large number of people.
More on MOS logo & graphic design
More on the MOS Team