Note: Shorter than usual post due to playing catch up.
Building the Board
Frisabel was a challenging board. I really upped my airbrush game on this one. Sadly when I was finishing it up I started noticing serious delamination in some areas. A combination of being bummed out from Covid, being swamped from our move, and the home improvement projects that followed, caused me to set this aside for a year.
I’m not entirely sure what caused the delamination. I believe I may have wiped the board down with acetone after sanding out ridges from the lamination laps but I’m not entirely sure. I spent some time tapping the board with a mallet, cutting out and repairing areas of delamination but eventually after taking it for a few rides other areas began to delaminate as well and so the board was retired.
About Fred Beausoleil and Isabel Bibeau
You’ve heard of Brangelina, Beyonz, and your choice of Bennifer but the true portmanteau of romance is Frisabel. When I was a newly minted kiter fresh off my lessons looking to kite past the Jetty season, Fred and Isabel became my first kite friends.
During my first Double Bluff season we carpooled together, they gave me tips, helped me launch, and they kept me out of trouble. They were there for the inaugural voyage of the first board I made and have been a welcome and regular sight on the beach for many years now. I’ll also never forget that they were my first two post Covid hugs!
Thanks Fred and Isabel for your friendship and I hope to see you on the beach for many years to come
The Ride
Frisabel was a great board, it’s a little narrower and the thruster fin configuration makes it much more nimble than my usual quad. The long straight rail helps it rip upwind. I had a ton of fun with it at Jetty and Iverson and was pretty sad when more patches of delamination showed up and I had to retire it. This board did however inspire the Seaborn Sibborn.