Hey I've been doing a few downwinders lately on my Naish nalu 10.65 it's heaps fun but I think a board made for downwinders might make it a bit easier and faster. Average conditions here are 15 knot winds maybe 1.5m seas and at the moment doing round 14km. Any advice welcome cheers, Tom

After using a 10'6'' you will be amazed how much better a 14' DW board is... How heavy are you.

DJ

That fluctuates haha but bout 73kg at the moment, 5 foot 8

At your weight you don't need the new 29" wide Naish Glide or 30" wide Coreban Dart but they would be nice stable boards for you.

So the current 27" wide Glide would be perfect.. IMO.

There's plenty of other good DW boards available now like the Allstar Starboard, Falcon Fanatic and the new NSP/DC's to name just a few.

Check with your local sup shop and see if they have any you can demo.

DJ

DJ, I'm just narrowuing the field on a DW board, there's a few Starboard 2013 bargains about but mostly in the 12 ft range, now me being 85 kg am I better holding out for a 14 ft version ?

Phil

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Rossall said..

DJ, I'm just narrowuing the field on a DW board, there's a few Starboard 2013 bargains about but mostly in the 12 ft range, now me being 85 kg am I better holding out for a 14 ft version ?

Phil

I would say yes.. Defiantly.. There's a big difference between a 12'6" and 14' for open water and downwinding..

The 12'6" boards are do'able but much harder IMO... even at 85kg.

DJ

The new Falcon is a weapon DW.

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skebstebamal said..

The new Falcon is a weapon DW.

"Yes it is"

If your going to get into downwinding go the 14 footer. There is no need to go 12'6. Have more fun and make it easier.
Plenty of 2nd hand boards getting around as the punters gear up with the newer models

Yeah there's a couple of DC14 knocking about Perth on Seabreeze and no doubt a handfull of Fanatic and Starboards will be traded in over the coming weeks.

Phil

Thanks DJ 27" sounds quite narrow I'm used to 30" wide nalu does the extra volume and speed of the board help with the stability?

Tommy, I am a really really lazy paddler and my surf SUP is a Starby Widepoint (so 32 inches wide and nice and stable and fat), my Fanatic 14 footer is 27.5 and I was so surprised at how stable it actually is. This doesn't mean you wont go for a swim every so often (well if your like me quite regularly) but they are really super stable for something that looks so narrow and gunny. I would suggest that you keep your buying to either this years model or last years model, I found that before that they were kinda unstable. This is just the opinion of an old fat man though

32" wide is that the new quintrex?

Thanks for the advice mate

So far been lookin at Naish glide, bic race tec, sunnyking ocean pro, but open to suggestions as I'm still fairly new to sup and completely new to down wind racing/exploring

Whereabouts in QLD are you based?
There's plenty of paddlers and/or shops on both the Gold and Sunshine Coasts who would be more than happy to offer you demos of a wide range of boards to find something that suits.

For primarily downwind paddling, I'd definitely recommend a 14' over a 12'6" - easier to link runs together and builds and maintains speed faster = more fun!!!

At 73kg, you not really going to be pushing the weight limit on any of the production 14's (based in floatation), so it will come down to how comfortable you feel on the water, whether you just want to cruise or want to go as fast as you can, and how much you want to challenge yourself.

In general, I'd say for your weight (and assuming you're reasonably fit from regularly paddling 14km on a 10'6.5"), most boards:

- over 30" wide will feel like a boat (might be ok if you want to take the dog or kids along for a ride);

- 28" to 30" wide will be nice and stable for cruising but unlikely to offer much of a challenge and won't go quite as quick - but if you regularly encounter a lot of side chop (i.e. more side chop than actual downwind runs) then might be ok;

- 26" to 28" wide should be comfortable downwind in the long run, but may take a little bit of time to get used to (especially when you're new to sup and downwinding) - but probably your best bet for a combination of speed, stability, ease of use and learning to downwind.

- under 26" wide can go fast... really fast, but only if you can stay on the board!!! Something this narrow would be challenging to learn on - its do-able for crossover athletes or if you've got great balance and are confident in your ocean skills - but for most people starting out, a narrow board would cause more frustration than its worth, and it's not going to be faster if you're spending more time in the water than on the board. If you're already paddle fit, want to race and think you could be mixing it with the top of the field within 6 months, then taking the challenge may pay off, but otherwise you'll probably have more fun on something a bit wider.

I haven't tried a bic or sunny king, so can't comment on them, but a Naish glide (as you mentioned) would meet your needs. Would also recommend looking at a 2013 Starboard AllStar 14x26" or 27.5", or if you can find a secondhand one, a 2012 Starboard Coast Runner would be a great option - it's 28" wide and has the stability to match, but can still go really fast is very user friendly. Alternatively a SIC 14 Bullet could be worth considering too.

My favourite board in the conditions you've described is definitely my 14'x23.5" Starboard Ace. If you wanted to challenge yourself and keen to go as fast as you can, you could also consider the 25" Ace, but it's not really a beginners board so you would need to be prepared for a much steeper learning curve than on the other boards above, and you could encounter a bit of frustration before reaping the benefits... but once you get it dialled in, the Ace is awesome.

If you want a board for downwind, it's hard to best a specialist downwind board. They also make good ocean touring or fitness boards. There aren't that many proper downwind boards (most are flatwater/downwind compromises like the Starboard All Star or Fanatic Falcon). A few of the dedicated DW boards are: Jimmy Lewis M14, SIC Bullet, Walk on Water GSR, Coreban Dart. The 2013 Naish Glide is probably the most DW oriented of the dual-purpose boards (flat water plus DW), if you want some flatwater race capability as well. The 2014 Glide should be good for people starting out in DW. The handling of the dedicated DW boards will feel very familiar to you if you are used to surf SUPs. The more canoe-shaped race boards like the Falcon and All Star will feel a bit different and they tend to roll a bit: They can be fast but you need to be very skilled to tackle big DW conditions on a typical hybrid race board. If you are happy with the stability of your current surf SUP, you will have no problem with any of the DW boards I've mentioned. Go for something fairly stable when you are starting out. DW is a whole set of new skills to learn and it is miserable if you are constantly falling.

I'm in Mackay which is central/north Queensland, of the roughly dozen down winders I've done ive had wind comin from bout 45 degrees behind me every time but once I had proper down wind conditions. So yeah maybe the 28-30" would suit me. Naish glide seems to get a lot of great reviews might b hard to go past a one of those. With a longer board does the nose submarine much? I find my nalus nose constantly underwater when the swells get up a bit but If I go back too far I lose speed so try to find a bit of a compromise.

Downwinding is a bit like open water longboard surfing in that you have to be constantly moving your feet. The dedicated downwind boards are designed with rocker to enable you to avoid pearling without losing much speed. The hybrid boards tend to rely on significant nose volume to prevent it. Either way, you will find it easier to keep the nose up, get on a plane, and mantain speed on a longer board, once you learn how to use it. If you have a loyalty to the Naish brand then for 2014 they've probably brought out an excellent model for you in the new 29" wide board. It's gonna seem massive to you at first but within a short time you get used to it, and after a while even a 14ft board can feel a bit small when you are out in big conditions a long way from shore.

I look Foward to the day when a 14 foot board feels small I'd love to get some decent swells here we r protected by reef here but I'm sure I'll have alot of fun anyways, well mate I'm pretty convinced, thanks for the advice and hopefully won't b long till I'll b falling off my new board