Channel Islands Happy Everyday Review

It was built on the idea of bringing the entire Happy family of boards together. An idea that would allow you to be comfortable on all three models (Two Happy, Happy Traveller and Happy Everyday) regardless of the waves you’re surfing. With that out of the way, lets dig into the design aspects of the Happy Everyday.

Outline
The Happy Everyday is a small wave performance board and you’ll find that the plane shape is more generous than the other Happy Models.  

There is more area in the nose, a wider tail block, and the Merrick Hip (a slight bump in the outline, just above the fins). A keen eye will notice that there are similarities to the Curren Red Beauty Model using the hip as a pivot or breaking point in the boards outline  

And there is a straight section in the outline through the middle, all of this helps with planing speed and keeping the speed.  

Rail & Bottom
The foil is full (which means the rail feels a little higher/fuller in your hand), it’s easy to ride and paddle and you’ll find yourself getting into waves easier. And once you’re up on the board it just goes thanks to the increased planing area and the moderate single concave under your front foot (which runs into a double concave between the fins). Speed is key with any board and it’s plentiful with the Happy Everyday  

Rocker
You’re getting a staged rocker, meaning there’s entry, flat and exit (vs the continuous rocker curve you find in most Channel Islands Surfboards). It’s a low entry rocker and is straight in front of the fins and then kicks back where the outline break (the very subtle hip in front of the fins – which be found on the Two Happy as well).  

The flat area of the rocker, the area between your feet, is the area that you’ll feel the most drive off the board. In layman turns when you lay over it on a bottom turn, that’s what you’ll feel pushing you forward. Put your back foot into it though and you’ll notice an increase in looseness and pivoting coming off the rocker due to the amount of curve back there. It makes for a nice balance of driving and pivoting.  

Stats:
Sessions: 12 
Waves: 90 
Top Speed: 36.5km/h (Currumbin Alley) 
Longest Ride: 299m (Snapper Rocks) 
Spots Surfed: Currumbin Alley | Snapper Rocks | Duranbah | T-Street | Upper Trestles | HB Southside | HB Northside

The board likes to be ridden in a more vertical/straight up approach and I’m generally more horizontal and focused on carves. This energy, combined with the bounce of spinetek, had me energized and excited to go surf. The concave was very noticeable after riding the heavily based Vee bottom (and a board that was 8 litres fatter) of the Campbell Bros Alpha Omega. And you really notice how quick you can whip a turn off with concave, the extra lift you get powering through it is addictive and some of my best surfs were out at Duranbah trying a 100 whips/cut downs, etc.  

In an earlier article I mentioned: “Length-wise I’d suggest riding it around the same length as your shortboard, maybe an inch (or two) shorter if you really want to play around with it.”  

Looking back on that statement I can say without any questioning, that you really should get it at least 2 inches shorter, maybe even 3. I grabbed the 5’10, which is the same length as my normal shortboard, and after speaking to Devon Howard from Channel Islands about some of the issues I was having, it became more apparent I should have grabbed a 5’8 instead.  

Why? A lot of excuses could be laid down but the main thing that kept popping up was around the rocker and shorter rail line of the Happy Everyday and my height/stance width. The rocker on a 5’10, while the ‘curve’ is the same, acts differently to how it acts on a 5’8 for me. Shrinking the rail line by two inches will have an impact on how you can surf the board. All of a sudden, my weight distribution, my stance (finding the sweet spot), how I turn, etc all gets thrown out of whack on the 5’10.  

There’s a more expert and in-depth way of explaining it but to keep it simple lets agree that the 5’8 would have suited my surfing better. Some small wave surfs felt like I was pushing water, some bigger wave surfs felt like I couldn’t get the rail over on a turn.  

Fair to say in the early days it was a challenging board to ride or find a bright spark with. Overall, though, once I got the Channel Islands Upright FCS template into it and stayed between 1-3ft then I found some bright sparks, which once you find one or two it became easier to enjoy a board.  

A quick note about the Spinetek, it’s something you can really feel the flex of cutbacks and coming off the bottom. It’s springy feeling, and it almost feels like the board stops for a millisecond before springing you into the next part of the turn…  

You can still rip on it at your normal shortboard length, but you will enjoy the ride a lot more if you shrink it by 2 inches. You’ll enjoy the drive out of it more, you’ll probably go faster and rip through turns easier. And you’ll be happier everyday….   

I tested this with a mate who’s a couple inches taller than me, and the difference in experience we had was noticeable. He was getting around sections, whipping turns and just had better general momentum than I was getting. Another mate who I asked about the board, told me:

“I think it’s particularly good on the backhand and in the pocket. My normal turns feel like Jacko Baker hacks. I’ve been riding it just with the medium CI upright fins and need to try different ones for my forehand and the points. But I feel like it has nice flow, keeps speed well, and keeps your back foot in the right spot to react quickly” Ben Perriera  

Fins are quite personable, so go with the template you’re most used to initially and branch out from there as you become more comfortable with the board. For me my go-to fin template in FCS is the Mayhem Large, I’ve been using that on and off across all my boards since back in the Maroon Colour Option with screw in tabs over a decade ago.  

During testing of the Channel Islands Happy Everyday I also used the Mick Fanning and Channel Island Upright templates, which if you look at the below table of measurements you’ll see that they are very cllse across Base, Depth and Area but there’s a is a solid difference when we look at Sweep Degree (rake) and Foil.   

For those wondering, Sweep is how far the front edge of a fins ‘sweeps’ backwards (or rakes backwards, depending who you ask). Fins with a small sweep (upright) are faster and more responsive then fins with a large sweep (heavily raked backwards) 

The flat foil of the Mayhem is one of the reasons I really enjoy it that fin, it keeps it uncomplicated. That, and I’m a big fan of tri-fins being all the same size, some templates out there have a smaller back fin which can help with loosening up the board a touch. But the Upright, MF and Mayhem templates all have the same size fin across the entire set.  

Initially I started with Mayhems, then used the Mick Fanning template and ended up on the Channel Islands Upright template after talking to the team at Channel Islands about fins, etc and what might best suit the Happy Everyday.   

And for someone who lives and dies by the Mayhem template I can honestly say that the Happy Everyday goes better with the Channel Islands Upright template. I get a more ‘skatey’ feeling and am noticeably moving faster, quicker, once up and riding. But the bigger the surf got the more I wanted a fin that was less skatey. In a similar approach to how I managed this issue with the Christenson Lane Splitter, once the surf got over 3ft I swapped the Uprights out for the Mayhems and got more drive and control. 

Buy the fins:
Mick Fanning FCS Template
Mayhem FCS Template
Channel Island Uprights FCS Template

For the fin enthusiasts out there the specs on those fins are:

Straight up, I wasn’t Happy Everyday riding this board. It posed a few challenges for me and took quite a while before I found some bright spots riding it, but I do love a challenging board and I eventually found some things to love about it.  

If you get a Happy Everyday, there’s two things I’ll mention:
Fins – make sure you get some fin with a more upright (small rake), unless you already run upright ones, as you’ll notice a big difference to the performance of the board.
Length – get your Channel Islands Happy Everyday at least 2 inches shorter than your regular shortboard. Even if this means you’ll have to get a custom and wait a couple extra weeks. It’ll make a huge difference to the enjoyment you get out of it, otherwise you’ll most likely end up with too much foam under you and it’ll feel really boaty.  

Would I buy this board?
Yep, definitely* 

*But I’d get it at 5’8 and probably in a custom PU, so I can play with the width/thickness as the stock dims at 5’8 don’t work for me. And that’s something you’ll have to be aware of when going shopping, stock dims aren’t for everyone. I’d love it if CI came up with some Pro/Bro specs – Pro specs if you want them as is right now, as most models are built off pro surfers. But then that same model in some bro specs, where it’s a little more generous in it’s volume, etc.  

Overall, there was enough opportunity while trying to figure it out to make me think it could be a great addition to my quiver. And that point only got enhanced when I shared the board with mates or asked other friends about their experience. I even got one mate, who is a die-hard performance shortboard enthusiast, to take it for a spin. For me, personally, that was a huge win for the board.  

The Happy Everyday is worth a look if you’re struggling to fill that hole in your quiver for general, every day average surf and your current options aren’t bringing you any excitement.  

The Wins:
*It’s a model that’s full of energy, ready to go.
*Add in a Two Happy & Happy Traveller and you’ve got a solid 3 board quiver.  

The Challenges:
*Stock Dims aren’t for everyone and can make grabbing one of the shelf hard.