Yikes... I'm falling behind! (11 hours of surf in 3 days)
Sunova's are freeking good boards, and the choices get daunting... but that's
not a bad thing.
Since I have ridden most, I will attempt to make it even more confusing!
many words are necessary, because the overlap has to be discussed
Disclaimer: I am old and large, so take these observations with that in mind.
Tiggerferret:
I wrote that last post, to answer a request from CTS67, for clarification of the following statement that Tino made:
"
there are still great reasons why someone should still opt for a Skate rather then a speeed sometimes".
I wasn't recommending one over the other, simply pointing out the difference's between the 2 shapes.
They really are very different, and both really good boards, but a less experienced surfer would have to ride a 9'5 Speeed to get the same ease as the 8'8 SkateXL IMO.
My attempt to sort the shapes out:
All the below statements are
my opinions, based on
my experience...hopefully this will help folks who can't demo all of them:
Performance boards"
Acid (very tippy size for size) smallest I ride is 9'4
Flow (most stable, size for size) smallest I ride is 8'7
Speeed (ridden at the same size as your traditional shape) smallest I ride is 8'10
Intermediate boards
Soul (tippy in smaller sizes) smallest I ride is 8'11
Skate (stable in smaller sizes) never ridden one
SkateXL (very stable in smaller sizes) super comfortable on the 8'8, I could easily go 8'2
Some of the shapes are "easier" than others, in terms of balance at length
Parsing out the subtle difference's between shapes is hard enough if you have ridden them all.... but I imagine it is confusing if you have to pick on the numbers alone.
MY take, base on boards I have ridden:
The Acid is flat out, the highest performance in the line... even at a larger size
The Flow is a really snappy, shortboard ride
if you stay at your lower limits...
biggest I recommend for performance is 8'10, at that size the
width at sidebites becomes manageable IMO
I believe the curve changes at the 9'2 Flow.... then I feel it falls short in "high performance" and becomes a great intermediate board with a ton of qualities that even a smaller surfer would benefit from (super stable, wide tail for easy wave pick up, fast, turn from the middle....)
The Speeed is a ride unto itself... the secret sauce in the tail gives the sweetest tight carves, when ridden on the tail, and a more drawn out "longboardy" lines when ridden forward. That may change when you get down to the "Jacy" sizes, because the Speed gets so narrow that it probably eliminates the "longboard" feel.
The Speeed handles all conditions and size waves with ease.
The Soul is a solid performer that is tippier than the Flow, size for size, but lacks the snappiness of the Flow.
It is a very easy board to surf with no surprises.... it surfs like you would surf on anything, without any learning curve.
The Soul is a perfect board for any surfer who wants predictable performance but doesn't push the performance envelope.
I had some great sessions on the 8'11 Soul this spring and the 9'5 Soul last winter.
The Soul looks more like a surfboard than any of the other boards
The Skate and XL line is a very stable, fun board with a ton of capabilities.
Even though it has more width than my 9'2 Flow, I didn't experience any issues turning the Skate on a rail.
*************************
Today, I had the very great pleasure to ride the 8'7 Flow for the 1st time.
This morning, I porked out at 109 kg... being the fat bastard that I am at the moment
The surf was very clean, and waist high, with good shape.
I jumped on the 8'7 Flow (120 L) for a few waves ( I expected to roll over and sink)
I am very happy to report that, what I have said about the Flow all along
is true:
"you can ride a smaller Flow than any of the other performance shapes"
The 8'7 Flow was much easier than I expected for my portlyness
I was able to paddle the 8'7 fine and caught a fair amount of waves on it.
The 8'7 Flow feels like an entirely different board than the 9'2 Flow.
(note: my 8'10 Speeed and 9'5 Speeed share all the
exact same surfing qualities regardless of length... just adjusted for more size and stability)
The 8'7 Flow was super loose and snappy. It didn't feel like a potato chip. Nice drive and speed.
I traded my 9'2 Flow... but I'd be happy as hell to have an 8'7 Flow (1st, I better lose a few kgs)
Supmaori
Since your PMs were all in regard to the Speeed, I didn't want to add any confusion to your choice
this should muddy up the decision
:
You will get more performance from the Flow than the Speeed, and will be able to go 1 size smaller without issue.
They are 2
very different boards, and honestly, they each have a place in the quiver.
The Flow will deliver more shortboard performance and the Speeed will handle anything you throw at it.
Since you have such nice down the line waves with size, it all depends how
you want to ride them.
Flow... lots of pumping and vertical snaps, more aggressive surfing. More yaw on the long paddle out.
Speeed... great bottom turn, long Speed turns down the line and tight carving cutbacks. Solid feel in bigger waves with the kicked nose for security on late drops.
Just get
both of them
obijohn said
"Curious as to why you ordered the Skate rather than the Shroom, or was it just that you ordered the Skate before trying the Shroom?"
The Shroom just fell in my lap...
It is a cool board that can be ridden stupid short with ease.
My sessions on it tell me that is a wicked fun board in 1-3' waves
Very snappy turns, even at low speed, carves, goes vertical, very quick.....
but
The bigger waves I rode where very tricky
At speed, the wide boxy shape requires deliberate riding.
I would drop straight out into the flats to scrub off speed before I could lay down a turn.
It carried great speed out of the turns and would rocket up the face, but overall I surfed it in pieces instead of the nice flow it has in small waves.
Any of the performance boards would have been easy in the bigger waves, but the Shroom rides were piecemeal
I think it's a great board for the intended purpose... ripping in small or gutless waves....then it is a blast!
I think the Skate has more overall capabilities than the Shroom, but I need more time on both to parse that out.
Supmaori
> 9 months ago, 11 Jun 2016
