Few thoughts on this board and making transitions in both outline and volume, now that I'm almost 2.5 months in. I yapped earlier on here about going from a 110 L 29.5" wide JL WW to a Blurr V2 100L 28" wide. I'm 40 y.o. (yikes!) about 80-82 kg right now with a 5/4 and booties- so my L/kg ranges from like 1.15-1.25 depending on my weight that day and if you add in a soaked wetsuit.

Catching waves: I struggled my first couple of sessions to get in earlier with the V2, but it was just because I was so distracted with balancing; I was timid so I couldn't get those waves that you have to paddle hard and lean in for. I was also catching my heel rail and burying my nose some, but getting front foot closer to stringer helped, thanks Colas for posts on this. I'm not getting in crazy early like my friend on 9' longboard, but I wasn't doing that on my last 8' board so not a change for me. My wave count is probably down 10% or so just cause I'm less stable overall, so I might get bucked before a set and miss out.

Paddling around/stability: I've had a flatter learning curve on this than I did dropping 30L+ to the JL WW. When I did that bigger drop, it was really punishing first 1-2 sessions, then got easier fast. Dropping to V2 was manageable right away, but with fits of falling. I'm getting more comfortable every session, but it's a slower progress. Sometimes I fall a lot and I surely look like a serious kook, but I love how every session I'm progressing, even if the waves don't come through. The bummer is that I have to reign it in more in terms of conditions I go out in--not in the sense of waiting for glassy conditions, but not going out if the waves are near my comfort zone for size and there is also a lot of current or strong offshore wind. I'd step up to JL board for these days, except there's fewer surfable days in winter so I feel like I need to go out on V2 every time to keep breaking it in.

Surfing: Insanely fun to surf the V2, it's so quick and responsive. I may be different than most on here in that I don't have a surfing background, I haven't done all the turns on a much smaller prone board already. This board does change the way I surf and has helped me improve (just like the JL before it). Bottom turns, top turns, and cuttbacks are just more fun and intuitive. I usually do a Hail Mary top turn at end of wave where I just try to dig rail and throw as much spray as possible (several shot glasses at least!), but don't even try to ride away. That turn comes around a lot easier on this board, I usually ride away now. Maybe it's a weird placebo effect or just that the arch pad helps me find the tail better, or that I've had another 2 months of practice, i think it's the board size/outline/rails though.

One difference between boards - I can't pump the V2 as well as the JL when going down line, perhaps cause tail width. But I think I may actually be better at generating speed cause of how easily the V2 carves and the feedback it gives you in terms of bogging tail -- the board just sort of tells you what to do more than the JL did, JL more forgiving which is good if you don't wanna blow it but maybe not as good for learning some stuff. Extension/compression feel more intuitive on V2, when you nail it you get a turbo boost and when you don't you really hit the brakes.

Last thing - I think I mentioned this earlier. I thought this was gonna be my bigger/steeper board for good waves only. I don't like this board as much in really small or mushy waves, but to me it feels great as long as it's about waist high. It will be my go-to board.

I do hope that I get to the stability i felt on the JL WW - I use this board in the same way: rarely sit between sets or prone paddle back out, roam around among peaks, but I'm sort of on the verge of falling much of the time.

Hopefully my rambling helpful for anyone thinking about this sort of board transition, cheers

Good to read about your progression!

Thanks for the review. The board sounds like fun!

Thanks for your review! It is great that you have gone to the effort!

As I have said in other posts, I have a Blurr V2 8'5 121L but if my weight is much over 93-94 kg (which it is now ) it just becomes too unstable. The fantastic ride on the wave is undone with the frustration of missing waves and bobbling/falling in the chop/swell.

I love my 8'7 Placid now, but if I dropped the kegs, I would get back on the V2.

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cantSUPenough said..
Thanks for your review! It is great that you have gone to the effort!

As I have said in other posts, I have a Blurr V2 8'5 121L but if my weight is much over 93-94 kg (which it is now ) it just becomes too unstable. The fantastic ride on the wave is undone with the frustration of missing waves and bobbling/falling in the chop/swell.

I love my 8'7 Placid now, but if I dropped the kegs, I would get back on the V2.

CSE get on the V2 Flow, best board ive owned to date.

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cantSUPenough said..
Thanks for your review! It is great that you have gone to the effort!

As I have said in other posts, I have a Blurr V2 8'5 121L but if my weight is much over 93-94 kg (which it is now ) it just becomes too unstable. The fantastic ride on the wave is undone with the frustration of missing waves and bobbling/falling in the chop/swell.

I love my 8'7 Placid now, but if I dropped the kegs, I would get back on the V2.

Best of luck getting back to your Blurr! I had a couple of really frustrating sessions fighting current and offshore wind (which really throws off my balance paddling), was thinking of going back to 110L board but then had a couple super fun sessions in cleaner conditions. If nothing else the bobbling and falling in helps me keep weight stable despite my winter increase in snack/beer consumption.

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bomberdave said..

cantSUPenough said..
Thanks for your review! It is great that you have gone to the effort!

As I have said in other posts, I have a Blurr V2 8'5 121L but if my weight is much over 93-94 kg (which it is now ) it just becomes too unstable. The fantastic ride on the wave is undone with the frustration of missing waves and bobbling/falling in the chop/swell.

I love my 8'7 Placid now, but if I dropped the kegs, I would get back on the V2.

CSE get on the V2 Flow, best board ive owned to date.

What size did you get? I have ridden one (8'8" 126L) a couple of times, but the conditions were so clean, and the surf so small, that it was not a fair test. It was fun, seemed a bit tippy perhaps, and it seemed pretty fast, but it was not a real test.

Have been having a serious look at the Blurr V2 8'2 but with no Australian distributor it makes it awfully hard and prohibitively expensive to get one imported from the US.

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ghost4man said..
Have been having a serious look at the Blurr V2 8'2 but with no Australian distributor it makes it awfully hard and prohibitively expensive to get one imported from the US.

Isnt there a guy in WA that imports them????

here tis... www.infinitysup.com.au/

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bomberdave said..

cantSUPenough said..
Thanks for your review! It is great that you have gone to the effort!

As I have said in other posts, I have a Blurr V2 8'5 121L but if my weight is much over 93-94 kg (which it is now ) it just becomes too unstable. The fantastic ride on the wave is undone with the frustration of missing waves and bobbling/falling in the chop/swell.

I love my 8'7 Placid now, but if I dropped the kegs, I would get back on the V2.

CSE get on the V2 Flow, best board ive owned to date.

I've got a flow, 8'4" 111.6 ltr at 83 kg, in late 50's, it's a great board very stable, nice sharp rails that give it hold and drive like a traditional surfboard. Would recommend, build quality looks good so far. I believe with the step rails it's going to be similar to an 8'2" v2 blur, which has them too, I have one on order, but there's a very long waiting time. Hoping just shaving off a little on volume and dims will improve things even more without sacrificing stability too much?

As Dave said, I have also tried a Flow V2. Mine is 8'8 126L and I am 100kg (and just turned 60!!!). It is too early to give a full report, but after half-a-dozen sessions, I am very impressed. Given my inflated weight, the 8'5 Blurr V2 is too small, but I feel the Flow V2 has a similar fast, light, maneuverable feel. I am pleased with its stability. It is not as stable as the 8'7 Placid, but stability has not been an issue - yet. The Placid now feels like it has the brakes on - at the moment, the Flow is my "go-to" board.

Placids ,always feel like the hand brake is on IMO, worst sup I have ever surfed ! FLAME SUIT ON !

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justaddwater said..
Placids ,always feel like the hand brake is on IMO, worst sup I have ever surfed ! FLAME SUIT ON !

When I first bought it I did not like it at all. Perhaps it was because I put C-Drive fins on, but then I got to like it - it was my favorite thanks to its stability and manouverability. I was mostly surfing it in larger ocean facing powerful reef waves, but I did surf it on beach breaks as well. I never really liked it when it was small. But when you try a board like the Flow V2 (or Blurr V2) you are reminded that you are missing out on the speed. But I have not yet had the Flow out on the bigger, more powerful waves (where the conditions are often pretty wonky - lots of water moving around, lots of waves coming from every direction (it seems) so I am reserving my judgement.

For me the Blurr V2 feels fast two different ways - feel more comfortable holding a high line on decent waves, maybe cause the board is narrower and has thinner rails than others I've been on. Second, has a nimble carve-y feel that makes it great for generating your own speed own a variety of waves

Honestly im amazed by my blurr v2....not only the shape but the construction...its so hard yet soft if i make any sense....now i agree with previous comments...the wave you ride brings out the best out of the board or not..but this is valid for all shapes and all brands i guess...i would buy another infinity board any time...im a believer...i had many boards from many brands ( jp australia,gong,naish,starboard,sunova,smik,f-one, fanatic etc...) only two impressed me in term of construction and i mean durability with a flex/surf feeling, sunova and infinity....not saying the other brands are a bad shape...but too rigid..off course not aware of all brands or recent releases but that is my humble opinon...

I completely agree with your comments about the qualities of construction and differentiation of both Sunova and Infinity.

1 fox,not sure what you mean re sunova and infinity if it's build quality there is no comparison ,IMO.

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justaddwater said..
1 fox,not sure what you mean re sunova and infinity if it's build quality there is no comparison ,IMO.

Around here, it's almost impossible to try the gear before you buy it. You have to make your bets.
My experience relates to owned: Starboard, Jimmy Lewis, Naish, Sunova, Gong and Infinity.

What I mean is Sunova and Infinity are on another level.
Infinity feels so light and robust.
Sunova feels like Sunova. Awesome flex, good quality, not too much weight.

The other brands lag.
For instance, I recently bought a Starboard blue carbon Longsup. Out of the box feels premium, but it's such a deception: Zero flex.

Since Kinetics boards are usually reliable, I've made my bets once again, now for a Kalama. I'm expecting the construction to be almost as good as infinity and the shape to be better than the new deal. (My new deal 10x27 also proved to be a bad option: bad volume distribution. It just worked in juicy conditions).

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1fox said..

justaddwater said..
1 fox,not sure what you mean re sunova and infinity if it's build quality there is no comparison ,IMO.

Around here, it's almost impossible to try the gear before you buy it. You have to make your bets.
My experience relates to owned: Starboard, Jimmy Lewis, Naish, Sunova, Gong and Infinity.

What I mean is Sunova and Infinity are on another level.
Infinity feels so light and robust.
Sunova feels like Sunova. Awesome flex, good quality, not too much weight.

The other brands lag.
For instance, I recently bought a Starboard blue carbon Longsup. Out of the box feels premium, but it's such a deception: Zero flex.

Since Kinetics boards are usually reliable, I've made my bets once again, now for a Kalama. I'm expecting the construction to be almost as good as infinity and the shape to be better than the new deal. (My new deal 10x27 also proved to be a bad option: bad volume distribution. It just worked in juicy conditions).

100% spot on !!!

Thanks 1fox,I get what you mean ,but for me it all changed when Sunova went to tr3 construction,a similar flex but inferior durability,and no longer value for money IMO. I totally agree with your kinetic comments and taking a chance on the Kalama's,good luck,and I look forward to a report when you get one .

I've just ordered an 8'2" blur V2 109 L, expensive exercise. Without an Australian importer.But just love them as an all round performance sup.
My 8'5" 30,5 with, 121 L is now for sale on seabreeze, if anyone's keen, suits up to 105 kg depending on your sup skills.

I would love that size as a step up from my 8x28 to deal with moving water on bigger days. Saw a custom 8-4x29 for sale used in US but just a bit too far away from me.

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Nerdburger said..
I've just ordered an 8'2" blur V2 109 L, expensive exercise. Without an Australian importer.But just love them as an all round performance sup.
My 8'5" 30,5 with, 121 L is now for sale on seabreeze, if anyone's keen, suits up to 105 kg depending on your sup skills.

I have the 8.2 V2 and Flow 8.4. I've recently put keel twin fins on the Flow and it's improved the performance of the Flow so much it's hard to say what's the better board now.

The Flow has a fuller outline right? Friend has the Casey one but it's 9'+ so hard to compare.

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Daveb27 said..

Nerdburger said..
I've just ordered an 8'2" blur V2 109 L, expensive exercise. Without an Australian importer.But just love them as an all round performance sup.
My 8'5" 30,5 with, 121 L is now for sale on seabreeze, if anyone's keen, suits up to 105 kg depending on your sup skills.

I have the 8.2 V2 and Flow 8.4. I've recently put keel twin fins on the Flow and it's improved the performance of the Flow so much it's hard to say what's the better board now.

Which keel fins are they?

Interested to hear how they changed the Flow as I have the same board and love changing fins over.

Cheers
Waz

Picked up a bargain 8'x28" 100 litre Blurr v2 and took for first outing yesterday! At 86kg plus full 5mm hooded suit etc was wondering if bitten off more than I could chew but although a little wobbly managed to paddle it across a small rivermouth to a local break and successfully navigate through the lineup and caught some waves so well happy. Board feels great off the bottom, picks up waves earlier than expected and the first top turn just came around sweet! Fast, smooth and lively, feels superb under foot and the step rail definitely helped lock in some extra stability once worked out where the sweet spot was for paddling. The waves were a bit lumpy light cross shore about shoulder high and a bit of a rip running so a good test. I can see it's going to be an absolute belter in cleaner stuff can't wait to get to know it, decided this will be my last push in trying to get comfortable on lower volume boards and definitely feels like the perfect board for the job.

You're brave riding the 8x28 at 86 kg:)That sounds perfect for clean conditions but tough otherwise. Look forward to hearing how it goes for you in clean surf. cheers