What a good looking board. I love the Sport Tech finish.
I sometimes SUP with a bloke who rides a Whopper. He seriously makes that board look like a 9'8 x 30".
is the whopper the 10' x 34 .have you tried the element 9'8 x 30 if so how do they compare..i'm interested in the whopper cause i think it would surf like a shortboard version of the fish is this correct stable easier catch fuller beach breaks, and loose on bottom and top turns
More Whopper stuff here
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=53044
I borrowed the Whopper from RPS today and took it down to Flinders for the day. In brief, I like it!
It would be an ideal board for a keen SUP surfer who wants short board agility without the hassles of a too small board. It's plenty stable enough for mucking about on flat water but too slow for any kind of distance paddling. I can see the Whopper being good for Dad to go out for a surf then coming back for the grommets to muck around on in the shallows.
The first thing I noticed picking it up from the shop was that it felt light and easy to carry. Being over a foot shorter than my 11'2" it has a fair bit less swing weight. The handle is perfectly balanced (take note other manufacturers). The board sits nicely on the roof rack without the mega overhang of other boards. The length feels just right.
It felt light to me but at 13 kg I guess it is no super lightweight. I was easily able to carry it from the carpark to the water, using the handle, with not too much strain. Normally I do the shoulder carry.
Paddling out to the break the Whopper feels really slow. I kept looking to see if any seaweed had hooked into my leash. It's not too bad for a surf oriented SUP but you wouldn't want to be hurrying to a break a few km along the coast.
It's a touch more stable than my 11'2" (which is very stable). It's not at all tippy. The claims about being a board that you cannot fall off are exagerated. I managed to fall off several times. I find pushing over white water a little easier on my 11'2". Probably with practice I could handle white water better on the Whopper.
Catching waves the Whopper just loves to drop in. There's hardly any need to paddle. Just get yourself into position. Point towards shore. Pop into surf stance and take the drop. Spinning around to get waves was effortless.
I normally paddle in parallel stance the switch to surf stance before dropping in. On the Whopper I naturally dropped into surf stance when paddling. It just felt right.
I think the Whopper is not so good for chasing waves. The slow paddle speed works against it. I missed several waves that I probably would have caught on my 11'2". I did manage to stroke into a few waves but it was better to sit further in and just drop in.
I think the Whopper would benefit from a smaller paddle (like the Kialoa Methane). It frequently felt like I was digging in hard and pulling but the board was not responding. My paddle felt way too big and long. After each wave it was much easier to paddle gently than trying to rush out for another wave. I got more waves than I could handle anyway. 
On the face of the wave it was nimble and agile. I could whip it around quite nicely and carve better, harder turns than I usually do. I didn't notice any problems with the extra width. I could stroll up to the nose and ride out the flat spots until the next section. The rides were as long as anything I would normally get.
I fell a couple of times at first but once I got the board wired I didn't fall for the rest of the day. I got caught inside a couple of times and it was really easy to lay on the tail of the board and catch the white water then jump to my feet and ride out the wave, edging to the side. I normally do this on my 11'2" but it seemed particularly easy on the Whopper.
Cheers for the pic's
