ive had a few training sessions and a couple of lower wind dw ers on the 24 now

for me the 26" was rock solid. stand back behind the handle and enjoy the surfing style dw.


20 dw runs and not a single fall

ran the board with stock fin pushed right forward.


the 24" is less stable then the 26 there is no doubt.

what has worked for me is a eric terrien fin 20 back from the front and ocean stuff another twenty mm back again.

I marked the box for the 2 positions.

some testing in the ck mouth I found the best feet position was feet jammed against the recess rails. sort of lines you up over the chimes

I was thinking the 24 could be a bit tricky out side but it has proved to be well behave and predicable. it certainly picks up the bumps and it feel like your sliding along.

in less then 15 knts south I average 5.13 and today in just over 10 knts averaged 5.38 in a ese swell. that sort of side on at the gold coast

the relevance of these numbers are that im 20 seconds plus pace faster in similar conditions on any other board ive owned or paddled and im still coming back from an operation.

these times are averages from the whole run. not a few hand picked besties. always a big difference there

sure this board isn't for everyone but its easier then a lot of wider boards ive been on and including the ace.

the board is like a dog that's been locked up all day and then let out. it loves to run which might be why it has surprised me with the handling today I was expected the side swell to make the board real tricky but it just never happened

another factor is the paddlers weight. this type of board I believe you dw from the back- usualyl about a foot from the handle for me and I guess if your too heavy for the board the volume , which isn't high, wouldnt be able to support you.

its not the type of board where you stand in the middle and stay there and steer the board with your hips. if you do that you will find both boards stiff.
get back and it surfing all good

the 26" is a better fit for the heavier paddler but don't be bummed- its a excellent board in its own right

so the 24" is a lighter paddlers board imo.


I so dig these maliko designs

Let's have a 28 version Naish.

Agree with slab..28" for the big boys.
Lacey..what is the main stand out difference between the Molokai compared with the javelin ?
I can see the nose is different ..so that could be an advantage in the swell.
what are the stand out differences ?
Tardy.

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Tardy said..
Agree with slab..28" for the big boys.
Lacey..what is the main stand out difference between the Molokai compared with the javelin ?
I can see the nose is different ..so that could be an advantage in the swell.
what are the stand out differences ?
Tardy.

Yes, big boys who want to DW on these would prefer a wee bit more width.

My guess is that there's a fair bit more rocker in the Maliko.

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Tardy said...
Agree with slab..28" for the big boys.
Lacey..what is the main stand out difference between the Molokai compared with the javelin ?
I can see the nose is different ..so that could be an advantage in the swell.
what are the stand out differences ?
Tardy.

Never tried one. But have the new 14x24 coming. Ill use that for my 20 k sunday easy training

Sorry my spelling was out ..javelin carbon to the Maliko..LE.

DJ has both, the Makiko 26 being moved on due to stability. I am sure he said the Maliko has more rocker than it looks.

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Slab said...
DJ has both, the Makiko 26 being moved on due to stability. I am sure he said the Maliko has more rocker than it looks.

It has. Ive done a lot of speed testing etc and from where I reckon is best to stand im told there is roughly a foot of board out of the water at the front

So its fast and only 13 ft of that 14 board is in rhe water.

I must be totally out of touch because the 26" is so stable for me. Table top

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laceys lane said..

Slab said...
DJ has both, the Makiko 26 being moved on due to stability. I am sure he said the Maliko has more rocker than it looks.

It has. Ive done a lot of speed testing etc and from where I reckon is best to stand im told there is roughly a foot of board out of the water at the front

So its fast and only 13 ft of that 14 board is in rhe water.

I must be totally out of touch because the 26" is so stable for me. Table top

I guess it depends on your level of skill and where you downwind. Here are three pictures that illustrate the typical conditions I face. I don't see many other people posting pictures or videos of conditions like these.

The first picture is one that a friend took of me and a paddle buddy downwinding just after a winter snowstorm. It is about 35 knots, 2C air, 4C water, the beach is covered in snow and the bumps are around head high. The friend who took the picture has annotated it with his opinion on our mission.

The next three pictures are of Steve West downwinding the Mistral Open Ocean 14, just along the coast from where the first picture was taken. The conditions are smaller, and it looks maybe to be summertime, but they are better pictures perhaps for showing close up how the conditions are are for us.

Each paddler has to decide for themselves what features in a board are going to make it safe and fun for them in their local conditions. Falling is not fun, isn't safe, and means that your friends have to stop and wait for you, thus spoiling their enjoyment. It would be a shame if the only people who could enjoy downwinding were small elite paddlers because stable and suitable boards are not available for the average paddler who can only get on the water once or twice a week (maybe less).

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In those temperatures I would be sitting next to the fireplace.
Your tougher than me.

I have a f16 for anything unruly

If your out in those conditions regularly you are only going to ever have a limited number of boards that suit.
I doubt the maliko is one of them

That's true Dedication To the sport ..good on ya.
I thought I went out in some wild stuff..
What board do you use area 10 .?

I agree with Lacey that the Maliko favours lighter riders (obviously). I took the 24" out two days ago in 35kn and in the first half of our run which is generally pretty lined up I was as comfortable and as quick (but not quicker) as I would be on the 26". Conditions have been very consistent here with wind every day for 2 weeks 20-30kn and with 25-35 the last 3 days so comparing boards is pretty reliable.

Second half of our run we suffer a little backwash and here I got a little more stuck with the 24" - I'm not falling off but I just somehow can't get into all of the (fewer) opportunities that are there. Overall I'm quicker on the 26" and I put it down to my weight - 86-88kg. My gut feel is that the cut-off weight is 80-85kg for the 24" on downwinds - in flatwater I'm fast on the 24".

I hear everyones call for a big guy Maliko but the 29" Glide really is that already - the rocker is very similar and it rides very similarly, yes the nose is more piercing and rails a fraction softer up front but the differences are mainly cosmetic - I use the 29" as my rental/tuition dwd board and even big units handle it perfectly and get plenty of runs on their first outing.

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PeterP said...
I agree with Lacey that the Maliko favours lighter riders (obviously). I took the 24" out two days ago in 35kn and in the first half of our run which is generally pretty lined up I was as comfortable and as quick (but not quicker) as I would be on the 26". Conditions have been very consistent here with wind every day for 2 weeks 20-30kn and with 25-35 the last 3 days so comparing boards is pretty reliable.

Second half of our run we suffer a little backwash and here I got a little more stuck with the 24" - I'm not falling off but I just somehow can't get into all of the (fewer) opportunities that are there. Overall I'm quicker on the 26" and I put it down to my weight - 86-88kg. My gut feel is that the cut-off weight is 80-85kg for the 24" on downwinds - in flatwater I'm fast on the 24".

I hear everyones call for a big guy Maliko but the 29" Glide really is that already - the rocker is very similar and it rides very similarly, yes the nose is more piercing and rails a fraction softer up front but the differences are mainly cosmetic - I use the 29" as my rental/tuition dwd board and even big units handle it perfectly and get plenty of runs on their first outing.

Im 73 kgs. I still have a few paddle checks here and there, but yes over all
Im a lot quicker then on the 26.

the big factor for me with the maliko's is what Im calling the 'saving' factor.
You get some boards where if you lose it a bit your off where for me the big sweet spot of the malikos allow you to make some great recoveries rather then going into the drink.

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laceys lane said..
In those temperatures I would be sitting next to the fireplace.
Your tougher than me.

I have a f16 for anything unruly

If your out in those conditions regularly you are only going to ever have a limited number of boards that suit.
I doubt the maliko is one of them

Thanks for this. When I have posted previously about how difficult my typical conditions are, and that most non-elite people round here as a consequence want a nice stable board, I've largely got comments from you to the effect that I am a useless git who needs to man up. This might be true. But at least this is a much more encouraging post from you. Maybe I should have posted these pictures earlier. A picture is worth a 1000 words and all that.

Mind you, I had a bit of a revelation this week. I had a go on a DW board built by Grey Paddleboards. It is I think 14ft x 26.25" wide. Conditions were wind-blown (22-32 knots variable) groundswell (1.5 metres at 15 secs) breaking over varied sandbanks, and over a strong outgoing tide with some serious rips in places. It looked a bit like the pictures of Steve West DWing above, but a bit bigger. Normally at this spot I'd struggle with balance on a 26" wide board. But in fact I did a couple of runs and never fell. On the first run, over a 0.5 mile section I averaged 7.9 mph which is very good for me, against the tide, at this spot. The board was absolutely marvellous in these conditions - and was built for them. Very easy to surf and control indeed, no matter how confused it got. I think it was the board that Charlie is riding in the video below.

You'd have to ask Charlie Grey what the secret of this board is. But one thing I noticed was how much *lower* volume it is than the other downwind boards I have paddled. A lot less. (It also had quite a bit of rocker.) So I'm thinking that, counter-intuitively perhaps, in the kinds of hell confused cross-chop mess I DW in, low rails and waterline can improve stability much more than I'd imagined, and allow me to happily DW a board narrower than I'd ever thought possible. Or maybe it's some other special design sauce that Charlie uses... Anyway, the difference was quite dramatic. It all adds to the sense for me that like surf SUPs, different DW boards very much suit different conditions. So in discussions about boards we need always to be particularly careful and accurate in describing the conditions in which we are making our observations, as well as our own abilities. I'm really not sure how much, for instance, Jeremy Rigg's experiences on a board built for Maliko is going to inform me about my likely experiences with the same board in the conditions I DW in.

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Area10 said..
...one thing I noticed was how much *lower* volume it is than the other downwind boards I have paddled. A lot less. (It also had quite a bit of rocker.) So I'm thinking that, counter-intuitively perhaps, in the kinds of hell confused cross-chop mess I DW in, low rails and waterline can improve stability much more than I'd imagined, and allow me to happily DW a board narrower than I'd ever thought possible. ...

I’ve tried a [prototype] DW board with low volume and thin rails. In gnarly, crossed up conditions, it board rules. Waves aren’t slapping against a vertical sidewalls. Also having a bit of water over a rail has a stabilising effect - as Bert Burger, Sunova, explains in some of his board videos. Makes big, messy, conditions ridable.

Back to main topic: the JavMaliko seems to be a bit more thinned out like that than the Jav.

Would love to try both a JavMaliko and a CGrey.

The Maliko's are a bit thinner than the Jav, but they also have deeper concaves, sharper rails further forward, slightly lower rocker (more board/rail in the water) and the semi-spoon nose provides more parallel outline - all contributing to a much higher level of stability. The 24" feels more planted than the old 26" Jav.....

We've had killer conditions here in CT for weeks on end and I broke my personal best time on our Milnerton - Big Bay run on Saturday by one minute and shaved another two minutes off yesterday - it's been epic! Average speed over 10km was 14.67km/h or 4.05min/km (6.06min/mile)....and some of the other guys were faster! Tom King averaged 16km/h on the Millers run on the same day! Ivan van Vuuren was 3 minutes quicker than me on his new Signature proto-type......I'm amazed at how different the boards look and how a skilled rider can make virtually anything work.

For some reason the unlimiteds are still to be ridden by the top guys so we still don't really know whats possible here - I reckon they will be even faster and then we are really not that far off the surfskis...Toms 42.45 on the Millers run (on a 14') is 5 minutes off Dawid Mockes surfski record set on Saturday.

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Area10 said...

laceys lane said..
In those temperatures I would be sitting next to the fireplace.
Your tougher than me.

I have a f16 for anything unruly

If your out in those conditions regularly you are only going to ever have a limited number of boards that suit.
I doubt the maliko is one of them

Thanks for this. When I have posted previously about how difficult my typical conditions are, and that most non-elite people round here as a consequence want a nice stable board, I've largely got comments from you to the effect that I am a useless git who needs to man up. This might be true. But at least this is a much more encouraging post from you. Maybe I should have posted these pictures earlier. A picture is worth a 1000 words and all that.

Mind you, I had a bit of a revelation this week. I had a go on a DW board built by Grey Paddleboards. It is I think 14ft x 26.25" wide. Conditions were wind-blown (22-32 knots variable) groundswell (1.5 metres at 15 secs) breaking over varied sandbanks, and over a strong outgoing tide with some serious rips in places. It looked a bit like the pictures of Steve West DWing above, but a bit bigger. Normally at this spot I'd struggle with balance on a 26" wide board. But in fact I did a couple of runs and never fell. On the first run, over a 0.5 mile section I averaged 7.9 mph which is very good for me, against the tide, at this spot. The board was absolutely marvellous in these conditions - and was built for them. Very easy to surf and control indeed, no matter how confused it got. I think it was the board that Charlie is riding in the video below.

You'd have to ask Charlie Grey what the secret of this board is. But one thing I noticed was how much *lower* volume it is than the other downwind boards I have paddled. A lot less. (It also had quite a bit of rocker.) So I'm thinking that, counter-intuitively perhaps, in the kinds of hell confused cross-chop mess I DW in, low rails and waterline can improve stability much more than I'd imagined, and allow me to happily DW a board narrower than I'd ever thought possible. Or maybe it's some other special design sauce that Charlie uses... Anyway, the difference was quite dramatic. It all adds to the sense for me that like surf SUPs, different DW boards very much suit different conditions. So in discussions about boards we need always to be particularly careful and accurate in describing the conditions in which we are making our observations, as well as our own abilities. I'm really not sure how much, for instance, Jeremy Rigg's experiences on a board built for Maliko is going to inform me about my likely experiences with the same board in the conditions I DW in.

The f16 up in moreton bay loved the shallower, the rougher and winder it got.
Im not sure over a certain width you are going to gain a lot in your conditions.

Ij fact an overly wide board could be just as much a hindrance as a too skinny .
Board thinkness. Rail shapes and a rockered board are the keys but im not sure of what type of rocker. Its the amount of tail rocker I think for control. I know its easier to surf race boards that have a tail kick

Area10
You shall forthwith be known as "two nutters"...

area 10. ive had time to watch your vid.

in that vid it doesn't look any different to the moreton bay run. the two days we did. the swells would have be a bit bigger I think.

except it looks bloody cold.

no wonder you don't want to fall in.


I would cry I think