I had some pretty specific needs for this board and after chatting at length to Dan, came up with the following:
1. Must paddle fairly well but stability not a big issue
2. Able to handle 4- 10 foot (OH to 3 x time OH +) comfortably
3. Needs to be able to draw out a long bottom turn but still be able to perform tight carves on the face
4. Must handle late drops
5. Must be able to be easily leant over into a bottom turn even on a fat wave face
6. Must be able to sit in the barrel without getting 'flipped'
7. Will be more snap resistant and have a bit of 'weight' in it.
With this in mind Dan has delivered a 9'1” x 27 ¾” x 4 ½” gun.
The tail and nose are quite pulled in and the profile is thinned out considerably on the ends reducing buoyancy in those areas.
The rails are also considerably thinned out particularly at the extremities but also in the middle of the rail line – creating a quite domed deck – which looks sensational IMO.
The rocker is similar to my last gun – ie; slightly more than our small wave boards but spread over a longer rocker line. The bottom is a single concave running into a V tail and the volume has been kept close to the 100 litre mark at approx 105.
Construction wise it has been beefed up, using 2 layers of 6oz plus a complete layer of a large weave carbon on top and bottom with one less layer of 6 oz on the bottom. The finished weight with a heavy style grip, big wave legrope and fins is around 8 – 8.5 kilos.
I have had this SUP for six weeks now and thanks to continuous swells, have had it in a wide range of conditions, mostly in the overhead range, quite a few in the double overhead plus and one in 3-4 x overhead (10 foot). Had it in strong offshore, sideshore and onshore winds – offshore reefs, bombies and point break slabs. One word springs to mind – solid! It feels so sure footed, paddles in easily and never feels like it is NOT gonna come off the bottom, even when its fat. IMO the low volume rails contribute to this as they never feel like they are going to 'catch' as I have felt on other SUPs.
The better the shape waves the harder it flies off the bottom, in fact the drive out of turns is insane. Once you jam the back foot down over the tail kicker it carves around in a lovely tight arc and can mount foam with ease. While it sounds like I am talking it up, this is the best SUP I have had so far and I have only just gotten back on my 8'7” recently on the small days – it is that much fun, even in tiny stuff!
The only thing I would want tweeked at this stage would be the fin position very slightly – probably move 10 - 15mm forward. I am running G3s ATM.
Paddling wise it feels like a rocket compared to my 8'7” and allows you to get in early on the bigger beasts – a definite plus when it is hitting a ledge or in an open ocean type wave. I think its limit is around the 10 – 12 foot mark but we don't really get much bigger than that around here unless you go chasing outer bombies on monster days.
Here's some pics:
Paddles in nicely:
goatman
> 9 months ago, 25 May 2011
