Been riding this one quite a bit lately.

The width feels great - super stable and never felt like a negative.

Loose as - can go square off the bottom - or close to. Which sets up the wall slay/ hook nicely

I Havent ridden it in huge waves - just the small beachy knee to shoulder high stuff i usually sup in.

Reos are safe as - seriously easy - and the vert approach never feels like any part of the board is going to bury- it feels like riding a shortboard surfboard - in that you can approach the wave in a similar manner - especially when its a bit wally with reo sections.

Its fast. For some reason a little hop / unweight as you get into the wave squirts this board up to speed nicely.

I was sharing a rip peak at scarbs / sth trigg with a guy on a mal- and a few other crew - we are both experienced surfers - so we were respectfully letting each other and the pack have waves and sharing them around nicely. (not paddling for everything and anything within range like so many SUppers seem to do these days- i 'm sorry but its true)

After getting a few nice link up rights and lefts through a nice little gutter - with a few reos and cut back reos -He was quite complimentary saying he didnt think Stand ups got that loose.

I mentioned that it was alot of fun - but really my wave count was no higher than his - he was getting some nice left hand runs through the rip too. We both had a sick time.

Love the board - but you definitely give away some glide and early wave entry compared to the Starboard 10'5 drive - which is a fave of mine. The 10'5 has a magic top turn slay when you set it up right - the 9'0 Hero has a looser little hook up the top - but doesnt feel quite as safe - however the tail will bust and slide on the 9'0 (the 10'5 slides too - but more push needed) - which feels really cool - as you just get your COG low and go with it.

Fantastic little board - easy as to stand up on. I am starting to think about a board quiver now. 10'5 for small gutless runners. 9'0 for small wally runners with spilling pitching reo sections.

I had a paddle on the hero this week, I am 120kgs naaakaaard and the board was stable (was pretty glassy and small swell), it had enough float, only thing I found was that I had to be a bit fwd to get the stability this meant I was digging the nose in but I am also a beginner SUPper...

I have been paddling the 9' Hero for a few months now. My local conditions are mostly crumbly beach breaks where barrels are rare. Probably 70% of the locals ride either fish type short boards, mini-mals and mals. I am 6'3" tall and around 95-100kg light. I have surfed the hero from waist high dribble to double overhead offshore heaven (1-6ft) and it rips every time.

The board feels most at home in shoulder to just overhead conditions where you can bottom turn hard and hit every section like a maniac. Once it gets over about 5 ft I have found it hard to hold a rail on fast walling sections and maybe a bit slow, but anything under that there are no problems associated with the 33" width. In fact I never notice the width when surfing normally at all. The wide nose makes it a great nose rider too. It feels very fast and is easy to flick around. I think the Hero would be better in my local conditions than a narrow Hawaiian style board, just as it suits a fish rather than a HP Short Board. That's not to say the Hero isn't just as at home on those rare sick barrelling days.

It improved my surfing tenfold in just a few sessions. I would highly recommend the Hero to bigger guys over about 90kg. Any lighter and there are probably better options out there for you. I have the basic Camo construction and the finish is excellent. I have no dings along the rail after 100 or so surfs. I have tried other side fin options and none have worked as well as the standard ones. It seems to need large sides or you lose drive. It is also easy to paddle over white water.

The only downside is it paddles very slow and has little glide. You can not pick up rolling swells before they break. Most days I have a few longboarders taking off further outside than me. I sit along side the main pack. I have had other guys on a SB 10'3 Gun and SB 9'8 x 30 take waves I couldn't get on to. The Hero is more maneuverable on the wave though.
It also gets mistaken for a Whopper a lot.