Greg Liddle is a surfboard builder from California. During the 1960s and 70s he led the way in developing and refining “displacement hulls”, round-bottomed boards that focus on trim and speed to allow surfers to feel the wave rather than try to dominate it. More than fifty years on, the Liddle shapes are recognised as iconic designs, embraced by a school of surfers who prefer to flow and glide with the wave instead of ripping and shredding.

Along with the rounded hull bottoms, the Liddle boards commonly feature a wide point forward of centre, S-deck (in profile, the deck resembles a smooth, elongated letter “S”), increased volume, round tail and knifey, 50/50 rails. They were developed as the perfect vehicle to allow surfers to draw long, flowing lines on the clean, unwinding point waves of Malibu and Rincon, and led to the emergence of the California Soul style of board-riding. Over the years the designs have evolved (especially after Greg relocated to Hawaii in the mid-1980s) and under the careful eye of Michael Saggus have been further refined to suit Australian waves.

We’ve seen two generations of kids raised on back-foot driven, thruster designs, so the displacement hull concept is not for everybody. But for surfers who are prepared to go with the natural flow of these boards, it can open up a whole new dimension of wave-riding pleasure.

Greg Liddle has put the same amount of thought and research into fin designs to bring out the best in his boards. We recommend pairing a Liddle model with the right Liddle fin.

(Note: wave size guides are only an indicator. Performance is limited only by your ability or imagination!)