INTRODUCTION
The new Cortex continues to offer the same stunning performance in everyday windswell conditions as the previous versions. For the 2021 version we have kept all main shape details except for an updated nose shape. In certain high power top turns when you bury the whole rail, the new nose offers a smoother feel. But for most situations, the new nose mainly offers a smoother look.
The Cortex will totally change the way you look at an average day. With an extremely short length and a narrow outline with diamond tail configuration, it delivers the best onshore conditions. Combined with a very fast rocker, Cortex is extremely agile and tight turning even when the surf is on. The parallel outline and smooth rail flow keep you in complete control during quick rail to rail transitions. Optimized for both sideshore and onshore real world conditions Cortex delivers snappy turns and quick reactions in the traditional windswell zones and can also be tuned to slice and dice in more side offshore down the line environments. The Cortex may be a new school short board, but it has a long history. The rocker, spiral v and concave profile has its roots in the original Simmer Freewave board.
When Kai Katchadourian needed a dedicated board for Peahi, aka Jaws, the controlled but still turny freewave shape was chosen to form the basis for the control that such a board requires. Freewave was a great hit and the dependable bottom shape has since been used in a variety of shapes in our prototype process. The most exciting of those designs became Cortex where the fast and controlled bottom, based on a progressive rocker flow and double concave v bottom, is combined with a parallell outline and smooth rails. This creates a board that is an awesome performer for real world conditions where it delivers snappy turns and quick reactions. Kai's original spiral V-bottom heritage still shines through on rail stability and general control through rough conditions, yet Cortex and it's short length and aggressive stance has changed the game forever in how you attack a wave.
The mechanics of this shape is a combination of several design choices; The fast and controlled bottom combined with a sleek, low entry outline provides excellent flow, especially in slower waves. The wide rounded nose allows the board to fit in tighter parts of shorter trough waves while still allowing a long enough rail line for solid full rail carves. The shortened diamond tail and accelerated v-angle frees the board up quickly for enhanced shorter turns and ultra quick rail-to-rail performance. The parallell outline converges into the tail area under foot providing ample lift for early planing and lots of pop for aerials and jumps. Cortex can easily adapt to different turning angles. With the stance set as far back as possible, the inner angled rear section adds grip in top turns, and extra torque in tight bottom turns. In addition, a pulled back mast track gives the rider the choice of freeing up the board even more by placing the mast in the rear of the box, or to stabilize it for longer turns or jump oriented sailing by placing the mast foot slightly further forward.Cortex comes standard with five carbon slotboxes for quad fin, tri fin or twin fin setup.
Hot-Coat Finish
All G5 boards feature a hot-coat paint finish. This process combines the colour pigment with the outer layer of a hard epoxy gel coat, this improves the board colour longevity, making it almost impossible to stratch off, it produces an extremely UV-resistant coating that ensures the boards colour resists fading in strong sunlight, all of this whilst saving weight by replacing the base coat paint, and two layers of top coat paint
The Electric Flex Technology
Our layup, construction, and reinforcement are all placed in where user needs and they all work in together to create the optimal stiffness to weight ration. The construction moves with you, rather and against you, which makes the board feel more lively in every movement. We call this technology Electric Flex. For our wave boards we use 45 degree carbon layup for maximum the strength and flex and for our flatwater boards we use 30 degree carbon layup for more vertical strength. Basically, flex and stiffness where its needed. The main features of the construction is the PVC Sandwich stringer. This is the spine of the board which absorbs and distributes the force from impacts throughout the boards entire construction. This eliminates unnecessary breakage as stress is shared between the entire hull, creating a much more durable construction. The stringer also helps to maintain the rocker curve during manoeuvres.
Standard fin setup // TRI
Alternative fin setup // QUAD or TWIN