Hi yabbin I have a Drifter which I have kited with heaps and have surfed twice. I am 85 kg and 6ft2in tall - Itermediate/Advanced surfer and kitesurfer. As you say it's a good all round board which I find very responsive to kite input. I ride the board strapless. The board has a flatter rocker which takes a bit of getting used to at first riding on a different part of the wave. This is far outweighed by the benefits that you get being better speed in smaller waves and riding in mushy 2-3ft swell as we often do. In conditions where I used to get bogged down on my Resin8, this board really excels. When it gets really big and windy I prefer the 6ft1 Resin8 with foot straps. I normally paddle surf a 6ft4 board so when I took it out for a surf I was a bit sceptical if I would be able to paddle it at all. It paddles better than a lot of 6ft1 boards that I have ridden and gets up and going really quickly. In my opinion it's a must as an addition to any quiver. One of the most fun boards I have ridden.

im a lazy kiter and even lazier paddler! 83kgs - intermediate kiter and surfer. typically i ride a 6ft board for kite and surf but i have just finished a board with my local shaper that is 5'10" and wider through the nose for going in lighter conditions and ease of paddling. the board also has lots of extra good stuff to make it stronger for kiting, it has added a lttle weight but that is not bad for the kiting side of performance. i havnt been this excited about a shape in a long time and cant wait to try it out! i will post some pics of it after the weekend.

thanks for feedback guys, hey sunseeker how is your drifter holding up and do jump/punt with it.

This is the board i have been working on with a local shaper, it will have inserts added to it later for people who want straps. It is designed for small to medium sized waves up to 5ft after that the tail is too wide for a lighter rider. i have not ridden this yet due to just being too busy :( (i know poor excuse!) There are extra layers of glass around the rear foot area and the front area and we call the rest of the board a medium to heavy level of glass construction. Overall weight is 3.5kg's with tailpad and fins. It should be still light enough to whip around but the extra little bit of weight will help when kiting at speed and keeping the board sticking to you going over waves. The board should take the abuse of light strapless jumps for a season with some deck compression but on the upside it will feel like a proper surfboard not like those production planks with straps that have no feel. Being wider through the nose and tail it will get up and planning very fast and paddle into small waves easily :)