It seems Kelly Slater is always drawing lots of attention in the surf world, but even more so in the last year.

Ever since he broke out that odd looking stub nose board at last years Pipe Masters it has been a big surprise as to what type of stick he’ll show up with at the next Dream Tour event.

Just recently, Channel Islands unveiled some photos of the 9-time World Champions latest experiment.  It’s called the Manta Ray and it’s definitely likely to have many surfboard shapers scratching their heads.

This latest shape Slater’s experimenting with is inspired by the hydrodynamic qualities of a manta ray as well as some innovative shapes taken from a wake-skate video.

According to Channel Island’s Travis Lee, the board is basically a combination of Slater’s Tangent and Wizard Sleeve models, but with one obvious exception: the nose is hacked off about six inches and sculpted into the shape of a manta ray, making for another very short, and very strange looking shape.

I guess the big question for the rest of the surf world is how is this thing going to work?  Well it seems most of Kelly’s shapes have been a hit or a miss.  And if you’re wondering if this latest shape will be available for a custom order, contact cisurfboards.com.

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