Slater Designs Surfboards Mindcraft

"It is a quest to create something different in a slightly different way that appeals to where I want to go on a wave. Discovering a new feeling under my feet, drawing a new line, or taking a completely different track on a wave is something I never stop dreaming about. Now being able to share and grow that idea with others is what keeps surfing fun for me." , Kelly Slater

Kelly Slater Surfboards, Refined: The Mindcraft Story

The Mindcraft is the product of one of the most ambitious creative partnerships in modern surfboard design. Kelly Slater, the most decorated competitive surfer in history, joined forces with Daniel "Tomo" Thomson, the Australian shaper behind some of the most unconventional high-performance outlines of the past decade. The result is a board that distills Slater's lifelong pursuit of a new line on a wave into a shape that everyday surfers can actually ride.

Where most of the Slater Designs catalog chases a specific niche, the Mindcraft is a broader mission statement: a shortboard that packs serious float and drive into a compact, easy-to-manage package, and that rewards surfers willing to rethink what a high-performance shape can feel like underfoot. This is not a novelty. It is a calculated design built from decades of competitive insight and Tomo's proven geometry principles.

Outline, Rocker, and the Geometry Behind the Speed

The Mindcraft's outline is the first thing you notice. Tomo's signature parallel-rail approach keeps width distributed unusually far toward both the nose and the tail, creating a platform that generates lift and planing speed before most traditional shortboards would even be thinking about it. The pulled-in pintail anchors the tail through the arc of a turn and gives the board its pivot point without sacrificing rail hold at speed.

The rocker is flatter than a conventional performance shortboard, working in concert with the width to keep the board skimming across the surface rather than punching through it. On clean, open-faced waves this translates to a feeling of effortless acceleration. In choppier conditions, the outline's width keeps the board stable enough to generate speed even when the surface is less than perfect.

Bottom Contours and Concave Design

The bottom of the Mindcraft is where Tomo's thinking diverges most sharply from convention. A pronounced single-to-double concave runs through the center and splits toward the tail, channeling water through the fin cluster and converting it into forward drive. The channels work with the board's parallel outline to create a sensation of being locked into a rail turn while still retaining the ability to redirect quickly off the tail.

The result is a board that surfers often describe as feeling "faster than it should" for its length. That is the Mindcraft's central design trick: the geometry does the work that extra length or rocker would normally do in a traditional shape.

Fin Configuration and Drive

The Mindcraft runs a quad fin configuration. Four fins, arranged in a cluster toward the tail, remove the center-fin drag that a thruster setup carries and replace it with pure rail-to-rail drive and acceleration out of turns. The quad setup suits the board's flat-to-mellow rocker well: it helps the Mindcraft stay lively and maneuverable without the center fin pulling in an unwanted direction at speed. The fin boxes accept a standard quad-compatible set, so surfers can tune the feel of the board by experimenting with different fin templates.

Construction: Ibolic

The IWS variants are built in Ibolic, Firewire's performance construction. Ibolic uses a bio-based foam core paired with a parabolic carbon rail band that replaces the traditional wooden stringer. The carbon rail runs the full length of the board and sits exactly where flex and torsion forces are highest during a turn, stiffening the rail without adding dead weight to the center of the board. The deck is finished with a layer of bio-resin fiberglass that keeps the surface responsive to foot pressure. Ibolic boards flex in a specific, controlled way that many surfers find more lively than traditional polyurethane construction, and they are lighter than a comparable PU shape of the same dimensions.

Wave Range and Who Surfs This Board

The Mindcraft is at its best in the waist-high to slightly overhead range, the everyday surf conditions that most shortboarders encounter most of the time. Its flat rocker and parallel outline generate speed and flow in waves that a traditional high-rocker shortboard would struggle with. In better surf, it holds a rail through powerful sections and gives advanced surfers enough control to draw longer, more committed lines.

The board is genuinely accessible to a wide range of ability levels. Intermediate surfers who have outgrown funboards but find conventional shortboards too demanding will find the Mindcraft's extra float and paddle power a real advantage. Advanced surfers who want a performance shape for their local beach break, particularly in smaller or weaker surf, will find it fast and highly maneuverable. Most surfers who switch to the Mindcraft find they can ride it noticeably shorter than their standard shortboard without giving up paddle power or flow, which is part of the design's intent.

Slater Designs at Island Water Sports

Island Water Sports has carried performance surfboards since 1978. Our team surfs South Florida's beach breaks on shapes like this one, so we can speak to how the Mindcraft performs in the kind of soft, fast, knee-to-head-high waves that define surfing in this region. If you want to talk through sizing, wave conditions, or whether the Mindcraft fits where you are in your surfing, call us at 954-427-4929 or stop into the shop.

Use the variant selector on this page to choose your size, and refer to the size guide below for the full published dimensions chart.

Free Shipping, No Minimum for IWS Beach Club Members.

Returns are eligible within 30 days of receiving your order. Return shipping labels are FREE for IWS Beach Club Members. See more