Introducing HammerTech: The New EX1
Sep 04, 2026
For years, the EX1 has been the board that gets people into skimming. It's the entry point — the board riders grab before they know if the sport is going to stick, or the one parents buy for a kid testing the waters.
The new EX1 lineup is built on a completely reformulated construction we're calling HammerTech, named, quite literally, for how we tested it. Instead of guessing at durability specs or citing lab numbers nobody can picture, we sat in the shop and hit the board with a hammer. Repeatedly. On purpose. And it didn't chip or show damage.
The Problem We Had to Fix
The old construction wasn't a bad board. Structurally, it held up fine. But it had a habit of cosmetic chipping and cracking early on. These dings didn't affect how it rode, but they sometimes made a rider's brand-new board look beat up sooner than it should — and on a board built for people just discovering the sport, first impressions matter.
An entry-level board doesn't get a pass on quality just because it's the affordable option. If anything, it's the board that has to earn a rider's trust first.
What HammerTech Changes
The team went back to the construction itself and reworked it from the ground up, testing against the specific failure points that were causing the chipping and cracking. We have also extensively tested it under some heavy footed team riders. The result is a board that performs well and is noticeably tougher against everyday impact — rocks, fins, the occasional bad landing — without giving up the ride characteristics that make the EX1 what it is: an affordable entry-level board with the same classic shapes and rocker characteristics that pros love on our high-end boards.
It's also a genuinely simple thing to demonstrate. Watching someone take a hammer to it is self-explanatory.
Why the EX1 Still Matters
The EX1 was always intended to get people in the door. It's the board that turns a curious first-timer into a skimmer. With HammerTech, the new EX1 is built to stand the test of time, at a price point built for getting started.
The new EX1 with HammerTech construction is available now.
