Been searching for a used Sunova Creek for a few months whilst saving money towards buying a new one.
Found a used but near new one for sale this morning but hopes were dashed when it was pick up only, no delivery from Qld to NSW. Which of course isn't easy for the seller.
Oh well. So went out with the missus & daughter for a favourite walk along a local beach walkway before I decided to check out my local surf shop, Natural Necessity which I hadn't visited for quite some time.
I left my wife & daughter checking out the clothing whilst I went upstairs to check the boards.
I didn't really have any hope in finding a Sunova Creek or a Flash & expected just the usual older designs like the Soul, Speeed & Skate.
I found the Sunova boards & as expected there wasn't any coloured boards the same as the typical Creek & Flash. But checked them out anyway as one would. Yep. There were the Speeeds with their channel tails. Hold on! There's one with a pointy nose but same unpainted balsa wood look? Ha! Speeed with a pointy noise I thought.
Then checked the label as the boards were hanging sideways to find out what it was called? CREEK. 8ft 10" x 30.5" x 125 litres. Exactly the size I wanted.
But read the label further & found its price being full retail. Oh well, haven't got enough. So checked out the other boards before coming back to the Creek.
I pulled the board out a bit to look at its deck & low & behold found its heavily discounted price in red texta. Yay! I got enough to buy!
So even got a leg leash for free & a good quality board cover & rail tape at discounted price as well.
My missus, minister of finance agreed for me to withdraw the extra $150. that I didn't have. Must have been because I said the dress looked good that she was trying on. Lol. Or was it she looked good in the dress?
The rail tape was applied by shop staff whilst I had lunch as well.
Not bothered about the colour as its how I like my Sunova boards. And believe the sharks would ignore anything with drift wood colouring anyway. Lol!
So special thanks to the staff of Natural Necessity Surf Shop for their quality service. Rail tape applied, leg leash attached & board bagged for me to take away.
I am one happy chappy.
Now I just have to retrain myself to get off my 1 1/2 years of foilboarding back to paddle surfing.

Well done mate ,great board ,I had 10 days on one in the Maldives ,it will take on any size wave ..i liked it best with FCS 7 sides and 5 FCS rear .
very stable board ,and catches waves real easy .

Nice one! (Personally I prefer the neutral color.)

Thanks Tardy for the recommendation of fins & the wave handling. Exactly what I want it for.
I need it for big surf but will surf it in any conditions. Also to outrun or carve around closing sections. And last of all shred which is rare at my ability. Lol.
cantSUPenough. Yeah, I was very surprised it came in natural colour when I only ever saw the coloured CREEKs.?

Select to expand quote

Seajuice said..
Thanks Tardy for the recommendation of fins & the wave handling. Exactly what I want it for.
I need it for big surf but will surf it in any conditions. Also to outrun or carve around closing sections. And last of all shred which is rare at my ability. Lol.
cantSUPenough. Yeah, I was very surprised it came in natural colour when I only ever saw the coloured CREEKs.?

Would of been a custom order no doubt

SeaJuice you've scored mate!
Ha - what a cracker yarn and how stoked you must've been when you turned it over to see the right dims and price.
You would've been babbling incoherently like a madman for a few minutes there I reckon!
Its an absolutely stunning looking stick mate - no work for you tomorrow eh!?!
Yeeeew!!!

Seajuice, your karma must be strong!
To walk in and find exactly the size you were looking for at a heavily discounted price..... SCORE!

Kent is a super nice guy... please tell him I said hi, next time you are in Natural Necessity. The name says it all.... Necessity!!!

I like the Balsa look on this board and would be stoked to see it in the new TR3 construction as well.

and YES..... smaller pivot style fin in the center!!!!! Absolutely!

MangoDingo: Haaa! was very tempting to miss work but winds predicted to blow anyway.

supthecreek: Gee, you've been everywhere! And yes, I think the surf shop was calling me. Couldn't believe my luck. The only one left.

But anyway I will first get my JP wide body on the water first & then my Sunova Soul to get my paddleboard surfing legs back before comparing the Creek in performance.

Cheers & thanks for your comments guys.

Select to expand quote

Tardy said..
Well done mate ,great board ,I had 10 days on one in the Maldives ,it will take on any size wave ..i liked it best with FCS 7 sides and 5 FCS rear .
very stable board ,and catches waves real easy .

Ran my 9'1 creek with that mix for a while before trying Cdrives and Quobba's. The small quobbas seem perfect for me and havent tried anything else since

Nice fine Seajuice. I'm also on a hunt for sup surf board

Select to expand quote

Seajuice said..
Thanks Tardy for the recommendation of fins & the wave handling. Exactly what I want it for.
I need it for big surf but will surf it in any conditions. Also to outrun or carve around closing sections. And last of all shred which is rare at my ability. Lol.
cantSUPenough. Yeah, I was very surprised it came in natural colour when I only ever saw the coloured CREEKs.?

Cool mate ..the speed tail really takes over on this board ,and if you need to out run sections ,you have the right board
it is quite a wide tail and with the channels it is very grippy ..so that's why the smaller fin works well .I have missed out twice on getting a 8.10 creek... again ...because they keep selling out ..I have to buy a 8.7 placid first ,then it will be the 8.10 creek .then I'm done ...lol ....enjoy ..

Awesome score Seajuice!!! NN is my place of worship most of the time too... Great guys in there.

I have the 9'1 but wish I had gone the 8'10.... Very keen to try out the fin combo you suggest Tardy. I think the board needs it.

Will keep my eyes peeled for you over the summer and see what your thoughts are.....

Finally took the Creek out for its first try.
Waves were small around waist high. About the same as 2 days ago when on my 8ft 3" Soul. So was a good comparison.
First wave was the biggest, shoulder high & was a bit steep. I was a bit late catching it. Had me nearly nose dive & then I slipped off the back as it took off. Well its fast!
With the rest of the waves I was getting the feel of the board.
Because of my mid board stance I had a hard time giving the board a tight turn when I needed to when wanting to get off the wave & sometimes I fell off the side whilst the board went straight. My fault for not getting back on the tail! On my smaller Soul it would turn tighter.
So previous reviews were right about getting closer to the kickpad at the tail to get this board to turn tight. And also to have a small centre fin to assist for easier turning.
But I got this board for my bigger wave board & also for those messy choppy big days so I just may leave the fins as they are for now. And those channels will assist with straight tracking.
So what did I like about this board so far? Its speed seems quicker than my Soul although my Soul is smaller. It was so easy to paddle into a wave. And also loved its stability when the wind blew up around 15 knots. The board was stable in chop coming from all directions.
The nose dive in a late drop is my question & remains to be seen. But it is me that needs to learn to get back more to the tail to overcome this.
So far it has ticked all the boxes that I need it for.

I found my creek loved to nose dive. The stability seems to be slightly forward of the handle which means it nose dives super easily. It took a few sessions for me to stop that habit.

Interesting... when I designed the Creek, I had asked for the same steep nose kick of the Acid.
I tend to step forward off the pad to catch waves on every board, but I have a quick cross step back, as I start to drop in.

I looked at some vids with late drops and found that my back foot is near the side bite as I take a steep drop.
Here are some pics taken from the vids, that show where I am positioned on the board.

My go-to defense on a super late drop is to "tail drop" .... meaning I stomp the tail into the water, raise the nose and "elevator" down through the steep


then set a rail at the bottom


or simply angle the takeoff

Select to expand quote

supthecreek said..
Interesting... when I designed the Creek, I had asked for the same steep nose kick of the Acid.
I tend to step forward off the pad to catch waves on every board, but I have a quick cross step back, as I start to drop in.

I looked at some vids with late drops and found that my back foot is near the side bite as I take a steep drop.
Here are some pics taken from the vids, that show where I am positioned on the board.

My go-to defense on a super late drop is to "tail drop" .... meaning I stomp the tail into the water, raise the nose and "elevator" down through the steep


then set a rail at the bottom


or simply angle the takeoff

Ooooo, STC that is just showing off with those beautiful waves!!!!

I haven't had any trouble with nose diving the creek so yeah, get back on the pad and ride it down.... Good to hear you are enjoying the board Seajuice!!

Select to expand quote

supthecreek said..
Interesting... when I designed the Creek, I had asked for the same steep nose kick of the Acid.
I tend to step forward off the pad to catch waves on every board, but I have a quick cross step back, as I start to drop in.

I looked at some vids with late drops and found that my back foot is near the side bite as I take a steep drop.
Here are some pics taken from the vids, that show where I am positioned on the board.

My go-to defense on a super late drop is to "tail drop" .... meaning I stomp the tail into the water, raise the nose and "elevator" down through the steep


then set a rail at the bottom


or simply angle the takeoff

Looks like you're right on the money in technique STC. That's what I will have to adopt.
I am a little bit improved as I forcefully adopted a surf stance whilst learning foiling so my feet stay in position as I paddle for a wave. Sometimes on foilboard my back foot is a little offset to keep stable in chop but only needs a little step to centre as I pick up the wave.
So just need to either get the same stance further back or do that back step onto the kick pad.
Love how far the nose of your board is above the surface in that first pic. Shows it really works.
Thanks for sharing your technique.