The Pocket Rocket is Kolohe Andino's signature model. He has been shaping boards for Kolohe since he was a child. Every two to three years, he works on Kolohe's board designs to help him surf the way he wants to surf. In the 2014 season, he achieved his best result to date, placing in the top 10 of the WCT.
Kolohe started the 2015 season off right, winning the 6-star Australian Open. But then the WCT started, and he struggled to heat up and wasn't satisfied with his surfing. So he changed his board design to help him surf the way he wanted and get high scores.
Kolohe rides a Driver and a Sub-Driver. What he wanted from this board was a little different. We considered the Whiplash, which Taj and many other pro surfers ride, but Kolohe needs more speed for big airs and hard turns. So we lowered the rocker on the Whiplash a little and changed the outline.
The prototype for this model was codenamed WGL. I let Kolohe ride it and he loved it. Last year, Kolohe went to France for the WCT, but he hadn't done very well up until then. So I gave him a board with the same concept as WLG and named it the "POCKET ROCKET."
While not as rockery as the Whiplash, the rocker was slightly stronger than Kolohe's usual Driver or Sub-Buggy. Riding this board, Kolohe won multiple times in France, even beating Kelly Slater. He continued riding the Pocket Rocket in Portugal, scoring 10 points and placing highly.
Both Kolohe and I love the name "POCKET ROCKET." Designed with feedback from world-class rider Kolohe Andino, the board Kolohe chose to ride on the world stage, we want everyone to experience it. That's the 2016 new model, "POCKET ROCKET."
https://vimeo.com/162517216
