Greetings, Shredderz! Today we are featuring a beautiful and functional hand shaped surfboard, courtesy of Tristan Mausse AKA the man behind Fantastic Acid. Tristan is a French surfboard shaper who is based out of French Basque Country. He shapes stunning displacement hulls under the Fantastic Acid label, and a whole bunch of other shapes, too.

I initially noticed Mausse’s surfboards because, well, they are stunning. Looks might not be everything, but they do have a way of catching people’s attention. The more I learned about Mausse’s approach to shaping, though, the more I began to appreciate the deep influences that Mausse draws upon for his shapes. After all, he’s written a nearly 500 page book that is just about glassing shops, which should give you an idea of his deep love for the craft of surfboard building. It’s also worth mentioning that Mausse is one of the rare shapers who glasses all of his own designs, too.

Fantastic Acid’s surfboards draw upon a wide array of influences. The gallery on the Fantastic Acid site touches on some the references you would expect from someone who has studied surf history: Greenough spoons, Greg Liddle displacement hulls, and various elements plucked from Bob Simmons, Joe Quigg and Pat Curren, just to name a few.

All of this brings me to the board pictured above: a 9’6″ Fantastic Acid Parlementia gun, shaped and glassed by Tristan for personal use. It is named for Parlementia, a famous and beautiful surf spot located in Guéthary, France.

Yes, it is a beautiful surfboard, just like Mausse’s other creations. But what I love most about the Parlementia Gun is the way it combines various historical influences in a functional shape, designed to surf a certain wave in a certain way.

The Parlementia Gun pictured above is actually the second iteration of a design. The first board was a 9’2″ hull, which you can see pictured below.

The original Fantastic Acid Parlementia Hull, also shaped in 2020, measures in at 9’2″. It has a wider tail and a classic flex fin. It is much more of a hull design than a gun.

Mausse updated the design from the 9’2″ hull in a few ways, and came up with the Parlementia Gun. The gun is 9’6″ x 21 3/4″ x 3 3/4″. It has a similar outline to the 9’2″ Parlementia Hull, but has been stretched out four inches to 9’6″. On the bottom, there is a belly in the entry, which transitions to a flat bottom right at the board’s wide point, which is located in the center of the outline. There is some rocker in the nose and a the tail, but it’s intentionally flat throughout the middle section of the board for increased speed and glide. Mausse describes the wave at Parlementia as “fat and slow”, and hence the gun is designed for a steep takeoff, and then for extended turns off the bottom.

As you would expect from a board built for surfing big waves, the Parlementia Gun boasts a substantial glass job: two layers of 6 oz fiberglass on the bottom, and on the top, two layers of 6 oz fiberglass, with an additional layer of 4 oz to finish things off. The final weight is 11 kilograms (24.25 lbs).

Mausse designed the fin alongside frequent collaborator Naje Surfboards, another French shaper. The fin’s template is influenced primarily by the skegs on Tom Blake’s early wooden kookboxes and the fins on Pat Curren’s legendary Sixties guns. Finally, the fin also counts a Wayne Lynch keel fin and some George Greenough fins as additional design inputs.

Yes, there are many details to geek out about when it comes to the Parlementia Gun. But to me, the single best part about this shape is the fact it gets surfed at Parlementia during the big winter storms that bring the Atlantic Ocean to life.

Both action photos you see above were captured by Thomas Lodin, a French photographer. Between Fantastic Acid, Naje Surfboards, Lodin and Permanent Lighting — and I’m sure I’m missing more — there seem to be some fantastic creative surfing projects brewing in Southwest France.

Many thanks to Fantastic Acid and Thomas Lodin for the photos you see in the post. Check out the Fantastic Acid website and the Instagram, and you can see Thomas Lodin’s website here and his Instagram here.