The title of this forum says Board Talk and reviews. If you don't like it give the Red thumb and piss off!

This is the best board I've ever owned. I have still only tried it as a quad, but managed to throw the best backhand spray doing a cutback in 20 years. Stayed out for three hours and caught around 30 waves plus a few obligatory fall offs on a new board. It cut through broken waves easily and caught waves easily as long as I used surfer stance a little more forward than I usually do. My board is the 'Fun Stick' 9'4" x 33" @140 L. I know that two other boards are either sold or about to be. My board weighed 7.5 kg and a similar carbon model was only 5.00kg Brand new I paid $1475.00. There are other types, one called the Potato Chip that is like the L51 Simsup and $1400.00. There is a youtube vid of this semi kook freakin out at how good he's surfing on it. MickMac apparently has bought one and Antho (both Seabreezers) is a bees dick from buying the 8'8"X 32 128L. The build is sensational and the rails are similar to Sparx's cuttle fish design. Mine has a great little Vee down both rails and a slight concave down the centre. Very easy to turn, which freaked out the shipping liner riders, both LB and SUP. The board's super stable, though I think taller riders 6'3" up might need to be careful with longtitudinal balance. 'Stonker' ( the distributor) who make really good boards themselves and are also the dealers for 'Slingshot' SUP and kites will not let you demo the 'Blue Planet' boards. They figure you should be good enough to work out they are good boards. Robert Stehlik from Hawaii designed them and is one of the original legends of the sport. BTW Stonker fix boards incredibly well, they saved a creased JP that I thought was dead. The guys from Stonker are also honest and straightforward and will let you demo their stuff.

I would compare this board to a mixture of the 9'5" Widepoint, 9'2" Allwave and a 9'3" Prowave rolled into one. I have recently ridden a 9'6" Atlantis Vex Pro Fusion. They are also really well made but probably for a lighter surfer even though they have more litreage. I have also heard big wraps on the 'Bam Bam' and 'Halo'. There are plenty of affordable well made boards out there. Don't let yourself get sucked in by a name. But in my IMHO 'Blue Planet' is an amazing product that will probably go up in price quickly because they're good and advanced in their R&D. Hopefully Mr Stehlik will do the right thing and keep the customers he'll definitely get from this shipment of amazing and and highly affordable boards. The retailer in Victoria is 'Stonker' I have nothing to do with them, but will if they want!? BTW the handles are amazing!!!!! Some photos that don't really do the boards justice.

Glad to hear you like the board Leroy! You are right with the sales - we've sold three in 2 days. Awesome boards and good value!

Leroy13, I've been singing their praises for a while now after having a similar experience to your own, well made and well designed boards at very good prices.

Your board is obviously one of the boards fresh from their latest shipment as it is sporting the latest paint job and looks to be what they are now referring to as they're "Hawaiian Performer" construction which is a bamboo/carbon hybrid construction.

For anyone interested in demoing the local importer Blue Planet SUP Australia will have boards available for demo at the Merimbula Classic and Rob Stehlik is also making the trip from Hawaii and will be on hand to answer any questions.

Below is a picture of the wife's new Wave Guru in their brushed carbon finish, I was really surprised at how thin the rails were for such a large board and how well it paddles, Rob has really done his homework on his designs.

Hey Leroy, you are spot on about the Blue Planet boards. These boards are a top quality product at a great price. What attracted me to them was the super fine rails and the fact that they are thinner throughout. My "potato chip" 8'6" x 32" is only 3.75 inches thick, with the bulk of the volume under the feet, and thinned right down at the rails. I read about the Potato Chip online (thanks Murray for telling me about it) and before it arrived I thought that the dimensions would make it ok for choppy cross shore days, thinking it probably would feel really "boaty" (compared to my current board 8'4x28") but be ok for a paddle on a crap day. Well it is a lot of fun on a crappy day and a whole barrel of fun on a good day. Normally on a big wide board I can't bury the rail, they are just too thick. Not on this board, it slices through the water beautifully and turns off the tail on a dime. And sooo stable. Exceptional glide for a board of this length as it has very little rocker, which is how I like it. Step up on to the nose and it accelerates, doesn't bog down and start pushing too much water. Enough crap from me. Get into Stonker if you're anywhere near Torquay and see one for yourself, or find your local stockist. I was going to hire one for a demo with the thought of possibly purchasing but as soon as I saw them I bought one, and wished I could by a couple more of the other models. I have zero affiliation with Blue Planet or Stonker, just happy to spread the word that you don't need three and a half grand to get a great board under your feet.

I agree with you almost word for word. The dimensions of the board are the only difference in what you wrote and I would've. The fact you had bought one swung me cause it confirmed they were as good as quality as they look. best gut feeling I've had. Can you believe the weight and how good the handle is?

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SUPHIREAUS said..
Leroy13, I've been singing their praises for a while now after having a similar experience to your own, well made and well designed boards at very good prices.

Your board is obviously one of the boards fresh from their latest shipment as it is sporting the latest paint job and looks to be what they are now referring to as they're "Hawaiian Performer" construction which is a bamboo/carbon hybrid construction.

For anyone interested in demoing the local importer Blue Planet SUP Australia will have boards available for demo at the Merimbula Classic and Rob Stehlik is also making the trip from Hawaii and will be on hand to answer any questions.

Below is a picture of the wife's new Wave Guru in their brushed carbon finish, I was really surprised at how thin the rails were for such a large board and how well it paddles, Rob has really done his homework on his designs.

Great boards. The one you have there looks amazing. To all none owners try one. They really are amazing and different colour ranges coupled with carbon models. If you are the guy that organised the shipment you are a good, good man.

Leroy....I love your style my friend!
So glad to hear your Blue Planet stoke.
I have always respected Robert and the Blue Planet team.... real SUPers, with real products.

I am probably going to buy one of the Blue Planet handles to replace the finger "slot" on my 12'6 Starboard Cruiser.

Hey, STC! I would've thought you would have had a 'Potato Chip' to complement your 'Berger'. The handles are awesome especially for the windy days.
Much Mahalo Kahuna Keep ripping as an inspiration to us all. Lastly how many boards do you now own or is that too personal a question no disrespect meant.

Great looking board Leroy.. Now go a shorten that leash string or your rail saver is going to be no where near your rail..

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DavidJohn said..
Great looking board Leroy.. Now go a shorten that leash string or your rail saver is going to be no where near your rail..

Good observational skills there DJ, I'm hoping he does the same as me and pulls the rope back out so it's half the length and doubled up. That way it stops the rope wearing as fast by pinching on itself.
Nice board Leroy and great to see your back enjoying the stoke.

Yeah, I can see a repair job coming back here in no time Leroy unless you shorten your string!

Hey Leroy,

I pulled the trigger on the 8'6" X 32" X 3.75 Potato Chip. I saw Mickmac down the beach today just before the maiden voyage and he is really stoked with his new PC. Anyway I went out in virtually flat conditions (1 foot) with some crosswind to see if the Potato Chip would float my 90 kgs. Amazingly it did it with ease.

I was blown away by the glide and tracking of such a small board. It caught the gigantic one foot sets with ease and it was so easy to turn It was ridiculous. The most impressive feature of the board however is its speed...It flies!

I cant wait to give the PC a bash in some decent waves. All it needs if some new futures quads to complete what appears to be a truly amazing board.

Am I stoked with the 8'6"....S**t yeah!!!!

pictures to follow

Got a bit carried away with the photos!!!
Thanks Murray and Alex for your excellent assistance

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DavidJohn said..
Great looking board Leroy.. Now go a shorten that leash string or your rail saver is going to be no where near your rail..

Hi Murray and DJ. Thanks for your concern . I know both of you don't surf much, I do. I have an O&E Leg rope that has a very short looped plug string with a plastic piece that allows you to thread that second string through the second plug and then the longer string. You then slip the Velcro through both leash strings creating a horseshoe type of loop which is connected to both plugs. It means that the pressure is distributed between both the leash plugs and the rope then pulls from the middle of the semi circle loop that you have created. After 49 years of surfing I've had never had such a problem ever. Guess I'm really lucky. I'll definitely come and see you Murray to get it fixed if it happens. PS. Prior to these new plugs and leashes check out what Mick said and Antho's set up. PPS Don't fall off !

"After 49 years of surfing I've had never had such problem ever. "

What problem is that Leroy?

I've had marital, mental, physical, psychological and sociological problems, but I ain't never had any issues with the leash string chopping into a board even when that's what we were using as leg ropes attached through holes in our fins (we called them skegs years ago) in those days and we used a sock tied around our foot. Forgive me if I somehow took yours and Murray's advice out of context. I'm sorry if I did DJ and didn't mean to offend you.

That potato chip looks very tasty (sorry couldn't resist) be good for those small fat days

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micksmith said..
That potato chip looks very tasty (sorry couldn't resist) be good for those small fat days

You gotta have a Berger with that Mick. Huge apologies for that to all Sunova owners

$1475 is that the full retail or did you get a deal?

$1450 for the potato chip is full retail. Much more reasonable pricing many than other brands and can't fault the design or quality of the board.

The hybrid construction on these boards is awesome but if you want a full carbon version of the potato chip they can be had for $2,150 retail, and has the same finish as the green 11'0 Wave Guru above, although they're no longer available in that specific green, as MickMc said very reasonable pricing.

Weight Diff between the hybrid & full carbon constructions ?

As Leroy said in relation to his 9'4 Funstick above "My board weighed 7.5 kg and a similar carbon model was only 5.00kg", not sure on other models, as like other manufacturers they don't advertise weights.

these look sweet.

Any idea if they are available in New Zealand?

The potato chip I have is about 8kg so I guess the carbon would be 2 or 3 kg lighter.

I just found this post. Thank you so much for the great feedback and photos!
You guys are lucky to already have the 2016 models available, we don't even have the 2016 boards for sale in our Honolulu shop yet. The Funstick and Potato Chip boards are great and I recently got to test the new 8'2 x 32" Allgood model and loved it, photo below, it's kind of a hybrid of the Funstick and Potato Chip shapes.

Like SUPHIREAUS said, I will be at the Merimbula Classic and am looking forward to meeting fellow paddlers.

I also wanted to let everyone know about our new Kai Zen paddle that will be available early 2016. We are currently running a Kickstarter campaign where you can get $150 (Early Bird special, there are still a few of these left), or $100 off the US retail price by backing the project before the production run starts. I will have samples of these at the Merimbula Classic, so you are welcome to test the 88 and 98 sized blades and soft and stiff shaft options. I'm super stoked about this paddle and think it is as good or better as the best paddles on the market.

Here is the link to our Kickstarter campaign:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/rstehlik/kai-zen-high-performance-stand-up-paddle-by-blue-p

and the extended video:











Aloha,
Robert Stehlik

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brusier said..
these look sweet.

Any idea if they are available in New Zealand?

Sorry, we don't have a distributor in NZ yet but you could get one air shipped from Hawaii or from our Australian distributor: www.blueplanetsup.com.au/

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Antho said..
The potato chip I have is about 8kg so I guess the carbon would be 2 or 3 kg lighter.

I reckon you'd be about right, the 11'0 Wave Guru is 10.4kg in full carbon and more impressively my other recent purchase the Dark Horse 14'0 was only 11.8kg,

Loving this board at the moment, up until two weeks ago I was only paddling their bump rider downwind board, but it hasn't got a look in since this arrived

Really nice looking board.

Can't wait to try these!

Speed to burn now! yeeewww.