BillaBoat

If you didn’t see the video last week from our shred session out on Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway near Satellite Beach, be sure to check it out right here. If you did and just want a little more info on one of the most badass boats in the industry, read along.

The industry as a whole was first introduced to the Nautique 230 Coastal Edition Billabong boat back at Surf Expo in September. What really made it stand apart from anything ever seen before was the silver and blue metal flake graphics and especially the use of EVA foam (cut and colored to look like teak decking) on the swim step and throughout the floors. Basically, this boat just looked insane. According to its caretaker, Billabong rep and longtime Byerly board shaper Scott Bouchard, it needed to look as good, if not better, than the custom Byerly edition Nautique 210 boats. After we saw it on the water a little bit ago, even with the cloudy conditions, all we can say is that we want one. Badly.

We headed out with team Nautique and Billabong riders Shawn Watson and Danny Harf to ride the Billabong boat in the element it was built for: salt water. The sky was cloudy, but the water was calm. Despite the winter-like temperatures of the Atlantic Ocean waters, both Danny and Shawn were stoked to be out shredding. Anytime you get to hang out with those guys and watch them ride, it’s a good day. The extra treat for all of us was getting to hang out with Scott and check out some of the prototypes he’s working on for 2012 board shapes. Obviously, there aren’t any photos of those guys, but trust me when I tell you there’s gonna be some interesting stuff in the future. For now though, the Billabong boat takes the cake and we’re sure we’ll be be seeing a lot more of this boat throughout the season.