Dansmans is right,

The guy's at stonker really do look after you! I went to see the guy's at Port Melbourne after deliberating over an Airush Switch and FLX underground.

I was abit unsure of the type of board that i wanted as i had just finished my first season on a beginers board and had little experiance on any others. The guy's were great! They asked me what i wanted from a board and where my skills are at! They then gave me a demo to try for the weekend.
The board was like a rocket and fantasitic for carving up the 'St Kilda' chop. My confidance has now ten folded![}:)]

Back at the shop, with my hard earned $$$, Alex pulled out a clean 137 and spent 1/2 an hour setting it up, working out my stance, a fin setup that works for me and of cause the very cool retro graphic's.

Their aint many shops, let alone directors, that will give you that sort of service!

PS. And the best thing about it, i saved lots of $$$$$, compared to buying one of the other brands.

i'm riding a Stonker board also, a 137 KX and its my first board and have only been kiting since Dec 2004, on a Cabrinha co2 12m and a Naish Boxer 9m and i weight 75kg, in winds ranging from about 15 - 25 knots.

so far i have found this board great for the learning process and am still riding it in every condition now - from flat/chop water to about 4 foot surf.

I have been trying lots of other board lately, including Slingshots - Drake (i think it was), Undergrounds - FLX 32, North - Dragons, Cabrinah - Labrat, Caution - Redlines.

I like the Stonker, but i may be biased as its my first board, i do find though that at high speeds on both flatwater and in the surf that i cannot make the board bite/hold an edge as well as the other boards i have mentioned above. It will upwind ok but just wont seem to bite in the water as hard as the other boards mentioned above.

This though, could be to do with the fins that came standard on the board as they are only 1.25" RFC fins. Every other board i have tried has had 2.0" fins.

But as its been my first board i really cant complain about its performance in getting me past the learning curve of kitesurfing. A few people have commented that this board is more for beginners and that larger fins wont improve its performance all that much, this i really dont know though as i havent tried bigger fins on it.

I just feel that i cant upwind or make the board bite in the water as much as i can with the other boards i have tried.

It seems to ride better in the surf as generally i dont reach faster speeds in this environment as you would in flat water (seems to slip out on its edge or i cant pull the kite to the edge of the window by cranking the board as it just wont bite as hard in the water as other boards - could be due to the fins though or the shape of the board - i honestly dont know).

As far as boosting goes...cause of my intermediate kiting ability hard to say...seems to ollie easy enough in the water and landing seems to be smooth enough, but i'm not doing anything tricky yet, just launching and landing. The board does feel a bit heavier then the other boards i have tried - not by much though.

Overall i like/have liked the board - but lets just say that i'm looking at getting a new board this season - somthing with bigger fins and sharper rails/edges.

hope this helps