Maiden voyage on the 2014 Glide GS 14 footer yesterday... snuck out in the afternoon chop with 3-4 foot southerly swell to catch some waves on my local open beach.
First impressions:
- it's only a little bit heavier than my 2013 glide, but it's hard to ignore that extra kilo or so on my 500m walk to and from the beach. The ledge handle does make picking up the beast a bit easier but it also feels 'sharper' after carrying it for a while.
- yep, it's more stable than my 2013 glide. I was out in pretty messy conditions and it was good. This bodes well for downwinding.
- it is very fast getting onto a wave and carves around quite nicely. I was getting 250m rides across 3 sandbanks and having a ball. I found the board really likes hanging in high on the sucky waves and this may well be the fastest thing I've ever ridden on a wave.
- I did some colossal nosedives, not just a little pearl and fall off, I mean flat out racing down the line and bury the nose 12 inches under sort of stuff. The flat rocker is not to be taken lightly.
- overall, it'll take a little getting used to, but I think I'm really going to like it. Only negative so far is the weight.
The swell just had that brief bit of grunt yesterday, but quickly dropped off. Small and choppier today so didn't even go out. I'm hoping for some small clean waves to experiment with foot positioning, sweet spots, etc. There's some wind predicted for the weekend but it looks a bit unsettled - if I can get over 15 knots in a favourable direction I'll be out there !
