A Rusty Keg Review

Wider than your average performance board, The Keg has extra foam where it matters with extra lift in the nose and tail rocker to keep things responsive. The foil of the rails rounds up quite a bit in the middle to maintain that thickness too. It’s a little deceptive, because the nose is quite refined, but under the chest it’s, well, keg-like.

The bottom curve runs a deep single concave right through the board to generate some lift while whipping down the line like a long-haired larrikin. The tail is a wide-ish rounded square, aka the tradesman’s tail, because it gets the job done reliably without fuss. 

In short, stout but loose  – a bit like Wade Carmichael on the beers (and in the surf).

Rusty listed the range of this board from 2-6ft+. I was a little skeptical of that call, since usually a high-performance shortboard is perfect in 3-4ft but starts to get sluggish in waist high waves, or you have to nurse things as the swell lifts.

This chunky punk gobbled up everything like a beast. In 2ft lefts (my personal kryptonite) the thing swung like a guillotine blade while keeping its speed. In well-overhead waves it held its own too, pushing back and rising to the challenge of the extra grunt. There weren’t really any conditions I tested it in where it felt average. Truly lived up to its name of an ‘all-rounder’.

If I had to choose a single best option it would be 4-5ft rights, but that’s simply because it’s my personal dream zone.  

Overall Best Conditions:
Seriously, anything from waist high up to double overhead. Beyond that it does get shaky.

In a word: wow. Speed, power, flow. If I was looking to match the WSL criteria to a board, the Rusty Keg would be high excellent every time.

It did take me about half a surf to get used to The Keg, because my current shortboard template runs on a narrower swallow tail. Having the wide rounded square felt a touch stiff at first. I had to settle in and feed my rail into turns a little more than usual. After that adjustment, the thing just went. Good release off the top if you hit it hard, plenty of juice through man carves, enough zip to get around tricky sections.

Airs? No idea. Like Wade, I go to the sky about as often as a chubby penguin. For the meat and potatoes aspects of surfing though, this bad body was mum’s Sunday Roast.

The best all-round performance board I’ve ever ridden off the shelf. Big call, but The Keg is that good. Custom options from a shaper you’re familiar with could well go better, but man it’s hard to pass up something you can just grab and go. For someone like me who’s got a few extra kilos on the frame than when I was 18 (or 30 for that matter) it’s bloody spot on.

I imagine if you’re a whippet or are gifted with the metabolism of a hummingbird this mightn’t be your go to. But, the general tradesman (or woman), would tap this get and get their froth on 9 times out of 10. Definite recommend.

The Wins:
*Great balance of volume and turnabilty
*Goes in just about anything
*They spray options are rad.

The Challenges:
*You’ll get addicted and neglect the rest of your quiver

If you’re not quite sold on The Keg from Rusty Surfboards but are interested in getting a new short-board some alternatives include the Happy Everyday from Channel Islands or the Little Wings from Mayhem or even take a look at the Cafe Racer from Christenson if you want to mix it up a touch.