Hope you all can help me with the best decision. I saw a similar thread but was hoping for more feedback.
I'll be surfing in crap west Florida waves. I have other boards so now I am buying either the 9'2" of the 9'6" allwave. Will use the board for the most desperate days with onshore wind chop calf/waist/ to maybe chest high. Don't get enough surf so want a stable board that will do well in these small choppy crappy conditions. It's wind chop so the waves can be just a few seconds apart. Decent glide will help get into waves.
I'm 5"8" 75kg in my 50's and can't stand on one foot sober
My other boards for the better days are.
10' x 30" Starboard Noserider candy
10'3" X 29" pro blue touch (just picked it up used)
10'6" X 30" starboard Drive AST (which I may sell)
Had a demo Starboard 9'5" X 32" widepoint which I just sold.(maybe I should'n of)

Hi Mate,
I only took the sport up last year and have never surfed before that. I do a lot of flat water river training on a fanatic flat water 14". I am 95kilos and own a 9"2 Allwave and absolutely love it, it is plenty stable enough and has lots of volume. I would look at both the 9'2 or the 8'10 for your weight and experience. Cheers.

Hi firesurf, if your going to use the allwave for the mushiest, crappiest conditions, then i suggest you get the 9.6. While its a big board for heavier guys on better waves, it is super stable and with the centre fin set forward its about as loose as a 9.6 board can be. The 9.2 is a much better fit to your weight in clean conditions, but your question was which of the allwaves goes best on mushy garbage waves. The answer is the one with the highest volume and most glide. Im 106 kg and i can surf 6 inch ripples on the allwave 9.6. I use this board to teach my neices to surf because it is so stable and easy to turn and i ride it well overhead on those rare occasions that we get a good clean big swell. If the question was which of these boards was best for clean 2 to 4 foot swell for a 75 kg surfer then the answer would be the 9.2 or the 8.10. But for what you want ro do with it you will love the big 9.6 allwave.

I agree 100% with sameh
Buy the 9'6....and you will probably sell the rest
except maybe the noserider... always good to have lying around

Hey Firesurf,

The Allwave doesn't need glide to get onto a wave, you can catch a wave almost from a standstill by one or two good strokes as the tail lifts. One or two strokes before the wave lifts the tail is all that is needed.

Trying to build up speed on an Allwave before the wave is a waste of energy, by the sound of the waves you have, you'll have no issue catching the most meager of bumps on either board. Therefore it will come down to stability and bouyancy. The 9'6" is only 1/2" wider than the 9'2" so stability is similar. Bouyancy is an additional (and IMHO unnecessary 15 litres). I'd personally go with the 9'2" at your weight. I am 90 kilos and ride an Allwave 9'2" and find it a "cake walk" as far as stability goes.

Either board will be great but I think you'll appreciate the liveliness of the 9'2".

DM

I agree with all of the above. They go well in crap but are excellent in better waves dependent on ability. The 9'2" is brilliant as is the 9'6". At your weight the smaller board is the go.

Sounds like both the 9'6" and the 9'2" would be stable enough. I'm leaning toward the 9'2" for the fact that I should be able to throw it around on the wave better. Thanks everyone for the help -

Got the Fanatic 9'2" Allwave. Nice pad

I just picked up a 9'2 from Ocean Addicts at Maroochydore. I'm 6'3 and 100kg. I went out for my first go (I have been in a river once before over 2 years ago) in 1 foot surf and 20 knot gusty offshores.

The board is SUPER stable. I had no problem standing up and cruising out. My biggest issue was the wind blowing my paddle around : ) and my timing catching waves....either too far out, or getting clipped from behind... nothing to do with the board.

My 2 cents worth is that unless your MUCH heavier than 100kg the 9'2 will be fine. if you have some SUP experience....I'd be looking at the 8'10.

The surf was not big enough to get some powered turns going (....possibly cause I'm a SUP newbie) but the board seemed quite easy to turn of the back foot....but it seemed very crucial to get your foot on the tail pad.

All in All(wave) Im really appreciative for the good advice I received from Ocean Addicts that steered me to an 9'2 and not the 9'6. Cheers Marcel and Luke.

firesurf
Welcome to the Allwave fanatic's
Your 2013 looks great! Thanks for the pics.

I noticed you have the center fin all the way forward... good call.
It really loosens the board up and I have not run into a wave that made me move it back yet.

Enjoy!!!

Leroy
Nice to see your profile picture is now on your Allwave

Some day I'll get a picture so I can update as well...

quick allwave question. i read either here or over on the zone that the mana and the allwave are enough alike that if you've got one, no need to look at the other, because the riding and paddling experience will be extremely similar.
do you all concur?

Looking forward to getting it wet. Right now we have a Red Tide here on Florida West Coast. Crap makes me sick! Surf report for Florida east coast looks good early next week so hope to try it then.

Linter
I pretty much doubt it... I have never ridden a Mana.... but I've watched lots of them and read a lot about them. I think they are light years apart.

Plus the Allwave is much tougher than the Mana....IMO
hundreds of hours on it... not 1 scratch, dimple, paddle mark, ding or crack.... looks brand new.

PM me... I'll bring both to linterland. I'd be happy to let you try either my 9'6 or 9'10 Allwave.

Select to expand quote

linter said...
quick allwave question. i read either here or over on the zone that the mana and the allwave are enough alike that if you've got one, no need to look at the other, because the riding and paddling experience will be extremely similar.
do you all concur?

At the upper end I've paddled both the 10' Mana and 9'10 Allwave. IMO the Allwave is WAAAY more stable (despite having a little less length and volume), tracks and glides better and turns easier off the tail. If you put the two side-by-side you'd see different deck shape, rail profile, tail, plan form, hull shape and rocker line...they're very different boards.

thanks for the responses. i hope to try StC's 9-6 some time this week. i need a second board, one that's better in beach break than my longboard-type SUP, and maybe this will be it!

After riding my new 9'2" allwave 160L on several waist to headhigh swells, I'm thinking I may be too light @ 75 kg to really get the performance I was hoping for. I enjoyed riding it, but I feel like I have to drive it really hard to get it moving and that with rails so thick I'm floating up on top of the water and it's a struggle to paddle over the white water.

I suppose I still don't know what I'm looking for in a board and at this point a bit frustrated. I surfed a friend's 9'5" Naish Hokua for a while the other day and really liked it. Considering trading in the allwave and $ for a 9'5" Hokua or possibly a SB pocket rocket or something similar. Just taking a few gulps of air before I do
Looking for opinions -

Firesurf,
Maybe you should try the Fanatic Pro models.
Can someone tell me what is the major difference having the center fin all the way forward or back in Allwaves.

I've been using my aw 9-2 for a summer now and managed to get 4 surf sessions in total crap waves in Sweden. also paddling it around for fun when my boy is on his naish keiki 9-0. have a Bark competitor 12-6 too.
80 kgs, 50 + and decent shape.

got to try a Naish mana 10-6,5 the other day for a good while and back to back with aw. the naish has same volume but longer and much thinner rails, more rocker in tail and of course longer. given my impressions from that session I preferred the Naish, even tho it was less stable at a stand still. moving it was same stability. better glide and speed in mushy waves, easier to get back outside due to better glide and less yaw. still turned as easy as aw.

viatormundi, My understanding is with the fin forward, the board is looser on the wave.

I did have a fun session on the 9'2" Allwave since my last post. This board has a great shape and really is a blast in the surf. Rode it for 2 1/2 hours in waist to chest with light offshore wind before the wind picked up side shore and then switched to my 10' Starboard Noserider 166L for another 1 1/2 hr which I had a blast on too.
I just don't want to give an impression that the 9'2" isn't fun.. becuse it is -

9'2" allwave pros : lots of float which means tons of stability which means long sessions without getting tired, board could handle a much larger experienced rider, easy to turn quickly and catch waves, paddles quick enough to chase the peaks, makes the wave drop ins easy without nose diving, when driving up and down wave face it's easy to push the board from left to right due to the short lenght and fish tail, the thruster fin set creates more speed as you drive the board up and down the wave, very durable board, great traction pad, attractive colors, all in all an excellent board and a blast to ride. also priced below other quality boards

Cons (for me): @ 74kg am a bit light for the 160L in such a short board fat railed board... no quad fin option thruster only... Short on the cons long on the pros..

Always looking for the next board is becoming an obsession. For next board will look at less volume maybe 130L - 140L. Don't want to work too hard as will hit the double nickel this spring.

Follow up review.... I have had my 9'2 a month or so now and had many good sessions. It's a great easy paddling stable board for heavy weights ( I'm 100kg). I just spent a week in bali on a JL kwad 9'7 and found them similar in stability and paddlebility :) I think the jimmy does turn a little better on bigger waves.. When u jump on the tail of the all wave it seems to turn well but really kill board speed, where the jimmy kept some more momentum. . . Could b bali swell strength ... Hard to say.

I just bought a race board so I think i will head to a pro wave soon as I got the all wav as a compromise to begin with.

Still a great do all board worth buying. I'd say no bigger than 9'2 if you under the tonne.

Quick follow up.... finally got around to moving the centre fin forward in box.... massive improvement! Had a clean / foot session then, and could get the board to turn ok without paddle assist.

move em forward if you havent already!

I owned a Naish Mana 9'5, 31, 4'7/8. Manged to snap it at local break approx head height, not sure if I altogether trust them for critical take offs as this is a point which hits a ledge and throws. I had no problems getting in early and manouvering on a steep fast face, but wow bloody thing should not have snapped, all I can think of is I was getting quite a bit of bounce up, and a board will only take so much