wondering if anyone's taken a 12"6 waterman switchblade or similar boards out in little surf and found it...ok...?
seems to be a lot of them about 'on sale' at the moment for a grand or so....is this cos they're crap?

i'm an 'intermediate' weekend sup idler......unlikely to ever take a sup out in anything over 2 foot, otherwise I'll just surf, but looking for a board that i can tour flat water at a decent pace also. no, obviously nothings gonna meet both those needs perfectly...but this boards specs seem to suggest good width which might make them sweet for some cruisy small wave straight line stuff, no doubt with more spills compared to a surf specific 9foot tri-fin

I'm only 72kegs, look and feel like a drowned rat on a 14footer, so again thinkin a 12'6 is right on the money for my needs. first post on forum so apols if i'm in the wrong spot. cheers

I surf a Switchblade Race quite often in small stuff. It can be done, and it is fun. But I wouldn't say that surfability is its best asset. Most of the raceboards that surf best are those that have rear rails and tails that are more like those you'd find on a surf SUP. The Switchblade tail and rear rails are quite unusual, and while they make it very fast for downwinding and a surprisingly fast flat water board, they don't do much for it's surfing prowess. It sounds like the ideal board for you would be the SIC Bullet 12. But they are very expensive. I really enjoy my Switchblade, but they are fairly heavy, and are technical to ride (maybe the 30" wide one is less so but I've only tried the 28" race version). My board is one of the older Boardworks ones. It is pretty solid and has taken a beating with no problems. More recently though C4 have been using a different factory in China I think, and I'm not sure if the new ones are so durable. So take a good look at the fit and finish before you buy.

Yea, I used to work/ride for waterman, the boards arnt crap.. But does depend once bay construction. If it's the TEC they are almost in breakable but got a bit of weight to them. In the surf they actually surf ok for a race board due to the pulled in tail. But they are known to be quite tippy as the vee to vee rolled bottom. Here's some old pics for ya:

Here's a link to a SB post from a few years ago showing the 12'6 Switchblade in some small waves. Long vid starts off a bit slow but shows how easy that board is in the waves.



www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/Dont-take-a-switchblade-to-the-Alley/

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Tryfan said..
Here's a link to a SB post from a few years ago showing the 12'6 Switchblade in some small waves. Long vid starts off a bit slow but shows how easy that board is in the waves.



www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/Dont-take-a-switchblade-to-the-Alley/

ah that footage is gold mate, look like yr having a blast and that's about the conditions and riding style I had in mind - cheers. i should learn how to search the forums better for this sort of stuff

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Area10 said..
I surf a Switchblade Race quite often in small stuff. It can be done, and it is fun. But I wouldn't say that surfability is its best asset. Most of the raceboards that surf best are those that have rear rails and tails that are more like those you'd find on a surf SUP. The Switchblade tail and rear rails are quite unusual, and while they make it very fast for downwinding and a surprisingly fast flat water board, they don't do much for it's surfing prowess. It sounds like the ideal board for you would be the SIC Bullet 12. But they are very expensive. I really enjoy my Switchblade, but they are fairly heavy, and are technical to ride (maybe the 30" wide one is less so but I've only tried the 28" race version). My board is one of the older Boardworks ones. It is pretty solid and has taken a beating with no problems. More recently though C4 have been using a different factory in China I think, and I'm not sure if the new ones are so durable. So take a good look at the fit and finish before you buy.

thanks bruz, yes they're they're definitely going to find me taking a few more dives than a surf specific short sup, but then I probably do 75% paddling on flat so it's worth the compromise. as for those sic bullets, superb, but....chingching$$....its out of the weekend hobbyists moral price range...my sport n rec CFO has already capped my spending sadly

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pohaku said..
Yea, I used to work/ride for waterman, the boards arnt crap.. But does depend once bay construction. If it's the TEC they are almost in breakable but got a bit of weight to them. In the surf they actually surf ok for a race board due to the pulled in tail. But they are known to be quite tippy as the vee to vee rolled bottom. Here's some old pics for ya:

nice shots mate cheers....a whole armada of switchblades at the surf, enough proof for me! I'll have to check which models are on the ones on sale, one of my interests in them stems from the many about on sale at present...some appear to be 2013 stock clearance for 12-1300$, then there's some ex demos for $1000, not sure if they'll be TEC and if the manufacturing happens in china now as has been suggested might be an issue...no doubt the board will have to take a few shallow break crashes while i deal with the rocker