I am VERY happy with my two Sunova Acid boards. I am 95 kg and I bought a 8'10 and 9'1. The 9'1 is used at big left which is quite a powerful wave and often shoulder to overhead in size, but it always pretty lumpy/choppy and I need the extra stability. The 8'10 is too much work out there for me. I have ridden the 9'1 much more than the 8'10 but I am happiest surfing the 8'10.

The reason for this review is that I have noticed two major differences between the Acid and all my other boards (8'7 Flow, 8'8 and 8'10 Speeds, 8'8 Hokua X32 and 7'10 Minion).

First, I don't have to push my back foot back over the fins, and I don't feel as I am steering it from the tail. Instead I feel I am steering it with my hips/body, that is, if I want to turn I just twist my body and the board smoothly carves where I want to go. I have not experienced that feeling on a SUP before, and I like it!!

Second, I feel as if the board slices across the wave which creates speed and is just a great feeling. I can't quite explain it, but when you turn across the face it seems to slice across the face - it feels very different to me than on my other boards.

Maybe it is all in my imagination, but I like it!

(And as I have said in another post, in good conditions I have felt perfectly fine on my 8'10 115L board and am looking to buy a used 8'7 - don't think I can justify another new one...)

Awesome CSE..Know the feeling bro

Lovin' mine. Took it out this morning in some very nice 3'+ conditions at Manly but due to a .....hangover, I had to swap over to my noserider:-(

Nice !

I'm buying an 8'10 Flow to compliment my 8'10 speeed, I know these are very different boards but in the same length, and maybe some would say go down a size on the Flow, but as the OP points out, I too surf a few locations that will work well with the boards because of the local intricacies of the breaks.

CAN it get vertical .?

sounds like your a happy surfer .enjoy the stoke.

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cantSUPenough said..
I feel as if the board slices across the wave which creates speed and is just a great feeling. I can't quite explain it, but when you turn across the face it seems to slice across the face - it feels very different to me than on my other boards.

Maybe it is all in my imagination, but I like it!

Not your imagination.... the Acid tail creates a "squirt" effect when I do a square turn on a mushy wave....
snap it into a quick turn and it squirts out with a burst of speed.

Top photo is a really mushy wave
You can see that I turned from the tail... and am catching up to the board, after the burst
May not look like much.... but always impressive when I need to create something out of nothing.

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Tardy said..
CAN it get vertical .?

#2 & 3 - semi ....not pretty but then, neither am I... working on old man vertical.

NOT BAD.good buddy.

what..
a great little SUP wave you got there .

I was thinking of the flow 8.10 @130 litre.for me .

A not quite intermediate sup'er, might have a liter/kg ratio of 1.6 or 1.7 or 1.8 or...

STC has ratios of 1.2 - 1.3 on most of the videos, and occasionally higher.

Which boards still perform well at ratios, 1.6 to 1.8? How does the curve look, performance vs. ratio from 1 to 2?

Acid?
Flow?
Speeed?
Skate?
Performance Longboard?

I do mention the Acid... so not a total thread hi-jack, I hope you don't mind CSE

Billekrub asked
"Which boards still perform well at ratios, 1.6 to 1.8? "

Sunova's are basically low liter boards with very foiled rails, so not easy to get to 1.8 ratio and have a good fit.

Some scenarios:
Longest lengths and Max rider weights to your specs
9'4 Acid 136 L
1.8 = 68 kg
1.6 = 75 kg
to light, in my view, for that size Acid

9'6 Flow, 9'5 Speeed and the ONE 159 - 160 L
1.8 = 78 kg
1.6 = 89 kg (best bet)

I loved my 9'5 Speeed, but I felt I gave up too much performance on the 9'2 Flow (see below)

the ONE 9'5 with more intermediate performance... but an awesome board for the comfort crowd!
More stable than the 9'5 Speeed.
I'm a big fan and ride it in some pretty beefy waves.

The 9'6 Flow is probably rock solid, stability wise.
My Flow experience
my 8'10 Flow is a ripper, love it.
my 9'2 Flow was more of a great intermediate board, stable, fast turns easily from the middle...
But I had some resistance when laying down a hard bottom turn.
I imagine the curve continues with the 9'6


The Skate is a very stable board
great for soft and weak waves, so a good choice up to 10' if your conditions match it's design range.
My 9'2 at 148 L is on par with the ONE 9'5 for stability.
The ONE 9'5 is suitable for a wider range of wave conditions.
I frequently take it out when the Skate would not handle the steeper surf.

Longboards are very low liter and narrow till you get into the XL's

Hope that gives you some answers.

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supthecreek said..
I do mention the Acid... so not a total thread hi-jack, I hope you don't mind CSE

No worries at all. This is all good reading.

Just a question CSE - why do you have an 8'8 & 8'10 Speeed - wouldn't they be very similar (& ps please let me know if you want to sell one? )

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SupChickadee said..
Just a question CSE - why do you have an 8'8 & 8'10 Speeed - wouldn't they be very similar (& ps please let me know if you want to sell one? )

Good question.

At the time I really liked the 8'10 speed but didn't like having to get my foot so far back. So I wondered whether the 8'8, being shorter, would therefore me an improvement. A second-hand (just two weeks old) one came up on buy/sell so I grabbed it.

I did like it (it still required back foot pressure) but I was spoiled for choice as I also had the 8'7 Flow. I just sold the Flow (because I have the Acids) so I am not 100% sure when/why I will use either Speed now... I will think about selling them...

I haven't seen you on the water for a while - been getting some waves?

Hey CSE - last weekend was at Wilsons Prom - brilliant weekend, no wind and small clean surf , westcoast weekend before, got out yesterday arvo for a play close to DJ.

I will keep my eyes open for a 2nd hand Sunova - not sure about speed or acid - i'm not convinced the rounded nose is the best choice in the chop we get more often than not, especially after riding my Sunova Style at Flinders. Brilliant on cleaner days, but with chop doesn't seem to cut through it as well as pointier nosed boards.
Would be interested on anyone's feedback?
Cheers

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SupChickadee said..
Hey CSE - last weekend was at Wilsons Prom - brilliant weekend, no wind and small clean surf , westcoast weekend before, got out yesterday arvo for a play close to DJ.

I will keep my eyes open for a 2nd hand Sunova - not sure about speed or acid - i'm not convinced the rounded nose is the best choice in the chop we get more often than not, especially after riding my Sunova Style at Flinders. Brilliant on cleaner days, but with chop doesn't seem to cut through it as well as pointier nosed boards.
Would be interested on anyone's feedback?
Cheers

I agree. As much as I like the speeed for- well - speed down the line. I prefer the pointy nose on my Flow for most of the breaks I surf. Generally choppy sloppy beach breaks.
Experienced the nose catching on a Style and didn't like it but then I'm not the best surfer around.
I also love the way my Flow 8'10 punches through the whitewater due to its thin pointy nose.
The speeed & style are pretty thin in the nose too though.
Its horses for courses but the Flow works for me in most conditions.
Thinking the Acid next maybe.
What size for an intermediate 78kg dude that prefers comfort over performance?

The one thing I can say is, the Speeed nose is very kicked... and the Style is fairly flat, so the Speeed nose is not upset by sticking into chop.... it just rides over it. I found a bigger Speeed to be super stable in all kinds of crap. (9'5) whereas my narrower 8'10 was work. The Flow is more stable, size for size and also works well in chop.

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supthecreek said..
The one thing I can say is, the Speeed nose is very kicked... and the Style is fairly flat, so the Speeed nose is not upset by sticking into chop.... it just rides over it. I found a bigger Speeed to be super stable in all kinds of crap. (9'5) whereas my narrower 8'10 was work. The Flow is more stable, size for size and also works well in chop.

Hey Rick.
What size Acid should I go for considering I'm pretty adept on my Flow 8'10 now?
Is the 2017 model different to the 2106?

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SupChickadee said..
Hey CSE - last weekend was at Wilsons Prom - brilliant weekend, no wind and small clean surf , westcoast weekend before, got out yesterday arvo for a play close to DJ.

I will keep my eyes open for a 2nd hand Sunova - not sure about speed or acid - i'm not convinced the rounded nose is the best choice in the chop we get more often than not, especially after riding my Sunova Style at Flinders. Brilliant on cleaner days, but with chop doesn't seem to cut through it as well as pointier nosed boards.
Would be interested on anyone's feedback?
Cheers

We share all my favorite spots. I had quite a few great days at the Prom this summer.

As you may have read, I was riding my 8'10 Speeed out at big left, with all its lumps and bumps and chop, but I have been really enjoying my 9'1 Acid. Not perfectly stable by any means, but a good compromise. The 8'10 Acid has been great at the prom (clean days) and zappers (but I have not had many sessions at zappers on the Acid).

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xurfxup said..

supthecreek said..
The one thing I can say is, the Speeed nose is very kicked... and the Style is fairly flat, so the Speeed nose is not upset by sticking into chop.... it just rides over it. I found a bigger Speeed to be super stable in all kinds of crap. (9'5) whereas my narrower 8'10 was work. The Flow is more stable, size for size and also works well in chop.

Hey Rick.
What size Acid should I go for considering I'm pretty adept on my Flow 8'10 now?
Is the 2017 model different to the 2106?

My personal thought is that the 9'1" Acid would be the obvious choice from a stability point of view, but I think my 8'10 Acid is slightly more stable (and more fun) than my 8'7 Flow, so you could consider the 8'10 Acid if you want to push things a little.

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cantSUPenough said..

xurfxup said..

supthecreek said..
The one thing I can say is, the Speeed nose is very kicked... and the Style is fairly flat, so the Speeed nose is not upset by sticking into chop.... it just rides over it. I found a bigger Speeed to be super stable in all kinds of crap. (9'5) whereas my narrower 8'10 was work. The Flow is more stable, size for size and also works well in chop.

Hey Rick.
What size Acid should I go for considering I'm pretty adept on my Flow 8'10 now?
Is the 2017 model different to the 2106?

My personal thought is that the 9'1" Acid would be the obvious choice from a stability point of view, but I think my 8'10 Acid is slightly more stable (and more fun) than my 8'7 Flow, so you could consider the 8'10 Acid if you want to push things a little.

Thanks CSE.
I'll try and demo an Acid at the ESS demo day next week if they have one.

ok thanks - something to think about - the flow i think is too wide, 8'10 acid looks like a nice width for westernport and at my weight i think the 9'1 would be extremely comfortable in just about anything. (i'm 65kg but i want the glide, especially in chop). Irony is some days i'm happy with my 8'6 29' and other days i need a 8'10-9' but you don't really know until you are out having a play

The acid doesn't have glide so you might want to reconsider

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Slack said..
The acid doesn't have glide so you might want to reconsider

Agree - it glides like a brick

What about if you are 65 kg on the 9'1"? There are boards with more glide for sure, and at 95 kg my 9'1 does not have much glide, but at 65 kg I would think that a 125L board would have some glide even with that shape and rocker.

I'm no expert and I have had an 8'10" Acid and to my way of thinking if she finds the acid has glide then she is on too big an acid. I am sure there are boards that would suit her better.

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SupChickadee said..
Hey CSE - last weekend was at Wilsons Prom - brilliant weekend, no wind and small clean surf , westcoast weekend before, got out yesterday arvo for a play close to DJ.

I will keep my eyes open for a 2nd hand Sunova - not sure about speed or acid - i'm not convinced the rounded nose is the best choice in the chop we get more often than not, especially after riding my Sunova Style at Flinders. Brilliant on cleaner days, but with chop doesn't seem to cut through it as well as pointier nosed boards.
Would be interested on anyone's feedback?
Cheers

I have a flow 8'4 for sale if interested

ok thanks guys - best i trial them - gets a bit tricky as (imo) ideally you would trial in the conditions they will be used in, which isn't always easy......i do like the dimensions of the acid and know a SUP around 9'x30x4.5 130 odd litres - is a really good board for me in any conditions and easier to get onto waves (i call it glide, maybe wrong terminology), whereas my 8'6 x 29.25 is brilliant in good conditions - but we don't get them often enough here.
trial, trial, trial

So what are we saying, the Flows paddle faster than the acids ??? seems a pretty similar kinda rocker too me just the rails are much thinner ??

What bout on wave which one do we thinks gonna be quicker ??

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MickChard said..
So what are we saying, the Flows paddle faster than the acids ??? seems a pretty similar kinda rocker too me just the rails are much thinner ??

What bout on wave which one do we thinks gonna be quicker ??

I have not tried the Flow, but the acid is supa quick on the wave and as loose as

IMO... the Acid is a MUCH better paddler than the Flow.
Acid is easy to paddle straight, with just proper technique, that also makes it a faster paddler than the Flow.
The difference is the wider outline and wider tail on the Flow.
The Flow picks up waves very easy, because of the wider tail area, so paddle speed isn't super important on Flow.

The Acid pumps really fast down the line and I would say... faster than the Flow.

The Flow is vastly more stable, size for size IMO
I ride an 8'10 Flow in winter gear.... can't do that, without difficulty on my 9'4 Acid

Creek would this mean the following :

For boards of similar length

Order of best paddler (in terms of speed and tracking) at similar length:
1 Insane
2 Acid
3 Flow

Order of ease at catching wave:Insane
1 Acid
2 Flow
3 Insane

Gboots
I have never seen an Insane, but I have to figure it's a good paddler because of length vs width and compact outline.

Although the Acid paddles better than the Flow (less yaw, more speed), the wider tail of the Flow makes it surprisingly easy to pick up waves.
The Flow has almost instant acceleration, because of the wide, flat area between the side bites.
It may actually pick up waves easier than the Acid because of this.

Note:
Because of my age and weight, I am riding the larger end of the sizes.....it's quite possible that at smaller sizes there may be different results.