Tkb Review: 2019 FCD Blunt Surfboard

FCD Blunt Surfboard
Sizes Available: 4’8″, 5’0″, 5’2″, 5’4″
Sizes Tested: 5’0″, 5’2″, 5’4″

FCD Says:

Everyone seems to have a cut-off-nose style board these days, but with our kite-optimized rocker and features, the Blunt is becoming a favorite in all conditions. Carves a very tight radius turn instead of having to ‘fight’ the rocker and fins. The quad fins and concave/4-channel bottom give you edge control and speed to get you upwind faster when it’s light. Overcomes bad current with speed and power and planing area and sticks to your feet in the air during strapless freestyle tricks. Pre-shaped deck depression/grab channels lower your center of gravity and make it feel like your ‘old favorite’ while featuring MARKO composite iFoam for chop-dampening control, flex, maneuverability.

Visit for more info: www.fcdsurfboards.com/blunt

Our Testers Say:

“Very friendly board that flies upwind and is easy to control for a beginner strapless rider.” // Kristin Vincenzo

“Very light, very efficient and holds an edge well. Very fun for strapless airs and soft landings. Confidently holds an edge and drives upwind even in chop at speed with impressive construction that is both remarkably strong and lightweight. It felt like a PU board with the strength of a kiteboard.” // Dray Murray

“With my weight too far back it bounced a bit, but once I shifted onto my front foot it tracked super strong. The toeside edging was wonderful with excellent carving and easy to progress on.” // Chris Myles

Meet Our Testers

Tkb Says:

While we’ve seen the Blunt from afar, this is the first year FCD is pumping out this modern planing hull concept in production numbers. While the board is marketed as a quad, our 5’2” model (pictured) came with five boxes for thruster or quad setup and we tested our boards in quad setup. The Blunt features a single concave fading into a quad concave tail with a lot of bottom channels. We found the Blunt to be a really stable and fun higher volume take on the parallel rails/modern planing hull concept. The Blunt is a fun all-around shape in small surf and wind swell chop, which we found worked good even in underpowered conditions with a fairly efficient rocker. The Blunt tracks really well with a locked in edge as it went through the chop and was smooth and steady with very little rail chatter. It’s a great option for ”˜flippy tricks’ freestyle with its overall light weight which feels really good for doing little pop shuvit airs, yet we also got the sense the construction could take the repeated beatings. The light construction seemed to help with swing weight and helped us cheat the finish of a strapless front roll in the lighter winds. The deck features a gentle concave with subtle rail indents for grabs on airs and helped negotiating our rocky (barnacle-infested) launch. In terms of turning the Blunt liked bigger turns and asked for a good romp on the tail to initiate tight pivotal turns. We could see the Blunt with its straighter rail working in bigger surf, but the full nose you have in FCD’s Shrike model is more optimal for bigger performance surfing. The Blunt in the bigger size offered a little bit more volume than some of the other cutoffs we tested and did a fine job of blending durability with a lightweight feel, with a really efficient feeling in the water and all around easy handling. The Blunt is at the top of our list for travel and all-around freestyle and small surf slashing sessions.