My friend has a carolina. It is falling apart! Really poorly made.

I have a 2020 SIC RS SF 14x28 which I bought for "flatwater" racing and DW. I bought it because I had bought a 14x24 Ocean Deep Dryft and it was way too unstable for me.
The RS is exceptionally stable to the point that it is the most stable board I own even compared to my Starboard Whopper which is 34"wide.
The dugout is just a touch too shallow but what is there definitely helps make the board as stable as it is. It is a fast board for the amount of rocker it has and the fact that the flat bottom comes right up under the nose. If it had a flatter rocker and a deeper dugout area it would be even better. They dugout the new Atlantis but it has even more rocker , so it will lose out on flatwater speed.
Now those drawbacks are pluses for Downwinding. The nose and rocker make catastrophically burying the nose quite hard to do even for a beginner like me. The wide hivol tail gets push from waves easily , BUT you can't bury it easily to get it to pick up a round lip . That also makes it easier to pearl it on short steep waves.
The stability is a double edged sword though. In sloppy water the lateral primary stability means it stays level with the water even when you need a bit of sloppiness to stay level. I now know why my starboard Waterline has lower primary stability and great secondary as in sidechop it doesent tip you off.
The shop told me I should have bought a 26" instead of the 28" and I should have listened. I think the smaller board would have been stable enough for my flatwater and a little more forgiving in side chop.
Hopefully the next RS will have a less rocker and a deeper dugout.
PS the finish marks very easily and looks old fast. That is a pity as it a beautiful board to start off with.

I've paddled my 2021 NSP Carolina 14x25 some 20 times now. It has been a pleasure on flats and really made me like choppier waters. Going sidewind or upwind the Carolina has a habit of finding a smooth line in beetween waves and feels very lively, yet not unstable at all. Downwinding feels very natural and stepping back feels stable as the dugout is low all the way to the tail. Waves have flooded the dugout maybe 2 times but the water was sucked away quickly and was not a major problem. The convex standing area in the mid board took some time getting used to but I really appreciate standing really low in the dugout. About durability: not a single scratch after some 20 paddles, each time loading and unloading to roofracks etc.