New Addition to the Quiver: Mid Length Glider

Words by Beau Flemister. Filmed and edited by Dave Fox

When you talk about a quiver, normally, you’d imagine a lineup of fairly identical boards in ascending lengths and volumes, standing in a wall rack like a graph of exponential growth. A quiver of Haydenshapes, though? That’s certainly gonna look quite different than that image. 

Whether the hull of the Psychedelic Germ, unmistakable outline of the Hypto Krypto, side-cuts of the Grail, or subtle hips found in his various performance shortboards—a quiver of Haydenshapes is surely design forward, if not aesthetically eclectic—each shape functioning with purpose and intent for all types of waves.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to switch things up now and then and add a shape into the mix that’s both nostalgic and progressive—and, considerably larger than the “normal” HS quiver. Say hello to the new Mid Length Glider. A simply gorgeous mid length, the Glider is made in the original PU construction, with a classic combination of plywood stringered-polyurethane core, laminated with polyester resin. 

“The Mid Length Glider compresses the lines of a typical 9-10ft glider shape into a mid-length genre,” says Hayden Cox. “Paddling fast, the ML Glider will ride sensitively from rail to rail, and allow you to hold fast lines in small and larger waves. I designed the longer sizes in the model range 7'7”-8'7” to ride more true to a glider, and the 6'7”-7'1” to have a more forgiving and curved outline for versatility in smaller conditions.”

The feedback from everyone that’s ridden one has been overwhelmingly positive. It’s a feeling in the ride that’s truly different from a lot of the models in Haydenshapes’ lineup, one that’s somehow very addictive in average surf—up to better quality waves, though, too.

Don’t just take our word for it, though. Hayden made Craig Anderson one of the first and Ando’s been riding the ML Glider here and there. We caught up with Craig and got a quick little interview with him on this new shape and what he loves most about it….

Haydenshapes: Talk to us about the Mid Length Glider that Hayden’s been shaping…what do you enjoy most about it?  

Craig Anderson: I think the thing I enjoy most about the glider is catching a lot of waves. Which is probably fun for me, but probably annoying for anyone I’m surfing with. [laughs] Basically, you can catch anything that moves, so you really get more out of your surf.

Nice. Yeah, we normally just see you on shorter shapes; was that a change getting used to with the Mid-Length?

Oh, absolutely. I’m not used to riding boards of that length so it’s tricky to manoeuvre at first. Walking up and down a board is something that’s kind of foreign to me, and will most likely stay that way [laughs]. But it’s a fun change of pace.

What kind of waves have you loved riding it in?

Anything small and clean, really. It’s just fun staying active in the surf. I’m usually pretty fussy on what waves I’m after on a surf, but riding a big chunk of foam—you can have fun on anything that moves out there.

Were there any particular sessions you rode yours in that really stuck out to you? 

I surfed a fun wave the other day that moved around a lot, so plenty of surfers were missing waves. I could just take all the scraps and enjoy. 

What size is your Glider and what fin setup do you find works?

I ride an 8 footer with my signature 7.8 Futures Single Fin. I don’t really think it matters too much for fin setup, as it’s not the type of board I would try to surf critical waves on. On the Glider, I just get the wave-count up, and trim to the end.