AQSS Bronze Whaler 9'4 review: a single fin log for small waves
Updated 2026-09-20
The AQSS Bronze Whaler is a 9'4 stock single fin log, a four-stringer, traditional-style build designed by two-time world longboard champion Beau Young, and its whole job is to catch waves nothing else in the quiver will.
What it is and why I bought it
I picked this one up secondhand in a shop, at about half the price of a similar American-style log, with a little shop damage that I repaired at home. It is 9'4 x 23 x 3, a four-stringer log with a relaxed rocker, pinched rails and a diamond tail. Four stringers is the most I have in any board, which is a big part of why it is so heavy. I run a Wax Head 10 inch fin from FCS in the box, a fin you can pop in without a screw and a good match for a big, chunky board like this.
How it surfed
The bottom is supposedly a mild single concave running into a vee, though it rides almost dead flat. It paddles well and glides into waves easily, which is the entire point of having it in the quiver: on days when my local break is only ankle high or one foot, this is the board that still gets me into a wave. It is also genuinely heavy, both to carry down to the water and to turn once I am on a wave, so it stays in the bag once conditions get past about a foot. Ridden in four to five foot surf, it becomes hard work, the kind of size that really needs a strong, experienced longboard rider to handle it, and I would rather duck dive a shorter board than wrestle this one in anything with real size.
Who it suits and who it does not
A heavy, flat-rockered single fin log like this suits someone who wants a dedicated small-day board, something to paddle into the smallest, weakest waves when nothing shorter will catch them. It is not a board for anyone chasing turns or speed, and it is genuinely the hardest board in my quiver to travel with, given the weight and length.
Questions people ask
Who designed the Bronze Whaler?
Beau Young, a two-time world longboard champion.
What fin runs on the Bronze Whaler?
A Wax Head 10 inch fin from FCS, which pops into the box without a screw.
Why keep such a heavy board in the quiver?
Because it paddles into the smallest, weakest waves when shorter boards cannot, even though it is heavy to carry and heavy to turn once conditions have any real size.
This one is still in the rack; more on where it fits sits on the quiver hub. For other single fins in the record, see the Keyo Cheetah and the Wayne Lynch Involvement. For how volume relates to which board to paddle, see surfboard volume explained.