2018 SIC RS

Here is portuguese rider Diogo Caseiro on the SIC RS 12'6 x 25'': www.facebook.com/sicmauiportugal/videos/1171851919612755/

Also, there's a video of Caio Vaz doing some ocean paddling on a RS 12'6: www.facebook.com/sicmauiportugal/posts/1164754743655806

I demoed a 14x26 RS today, in windy and shallow flat water on a river.

It felt very comfortable to paddle, and would make a nice board to paddle for intermediates and up even when not racing. It's got bungees at the front which was a pleasant surprise for a raceboard - pretty useful. Fat rails, fat tail, and a fairly bulbous nose means it doesn't look particularly svelte off the water but it feels quite svelte actually on the water.

It does give "easy speed" - it's pretty straightforward to get it almost planing when paddling, and so achieve good top end speeds. I should imagine that gifted paddlers will get crazy speeds out of it. But even a dork like me felt good on it. So, it's quite a flattering board and it kinda skips along the water when you really get it going. A surprise to me was how well it quartered the wind given the bulbous nose and fat rails. Very nice predictable handling. Nice and stable: the claims about stability aren't BS. I didn't get to try it on any proper downwind conditions but with the wind behind me on the river and some little ripples, it took off extremely well. I should think that in proper small downwind conditions it will go like a "rocket ship" indeed.

The board felt light, even with all the fittings (two race handles as well), and was really well balanced on the handle. It was noticeably lighter than a 14x26 Maliko, despite more volume. Of course, the Maliko is I think a full PVC wrap so might be more durable. But time will tell I guess: The SIC has innegra reinforcements at various places on the board. Usual superb SIC handle. Tracks well. Overall it felt very refined indeed, and I can well believe that a lot of thought and time went into the design. I find it hard to criticise the performance - there really wasn't anything I disliked about it at all in that department. The nose splashes a bit, but it doesn't seem to slow it down. So overall, top marks for performance from me.

I do have a couple of suggestions/Qs for Mark Raaphorst about it though, to consider for next year's model:

1. Why are the race handles where they are? They aren't really in the conventional position at all.

2. The deck pad is a bit thin (presumably to save weight) and not very comfortable to stand on for long periods.

3. The deck pad is a pretty uninspiring colour, and looks more like something I'd expect to see on the floor of a public toilet than a stylish uber-expensive race board. It also shows muck (I was paddling in a muddy river). Style, please!

4. The leash Point is almost directly beneath the fin, not further back. So if you were surfing the board (eg. a beach race) you'd risk treading on the leash/leash point. Pretty irritating. Please move the leash plug 6-8" rearwards: there's plenty of room.

5. The fin it comes with is the 8.3" SIC Carbon Weedless. The SIC fins are a great design. But I think the 7.0" would probably be plenty for this board for most people, especially in flat water.

But these are all pretty minor points, and I've never seen a production board yet that I couldn't criticise in one way or another: I'm a bit of a perfectionist. The far more important aspects are that it is definitely fast, is very easy to handle and is forgiving, and will be a really nice board to paddle even when not racing. For me, it's pretty close to being the perfect 14ft race all-rounder (and closer than anything else I've tried).

Hello Luc,
Well, the RS is clearly meant to be an All Star competitor, right down to the drain holes. But it paddles more like a Vapor that has added flat water speed. And that is exactly why I demoed one. I love the way that the Vapor paddles and handles, but I could do with a board that is a tad faster in flat conditions. I also demoed the 2018 14x26 Maliko at the same time, and that's a nice board to paddle too, and I was quite impressed with it. But the handling of the RS was just a little better on the turns, when against and wind and light chop, and maybe it was slightly faster going upwind.

If you like how the Vapor paddles then you should definitely try a RS if you can. I don't know yet how the RS handles in bigger chop or serious downwind, so I'll let you know when I get a chance, which will probably be in a week or two.

There's a fair bit of volume in the RS, with thick rails and a fairly boofy nose. The RS 14'0" x 26" Is 315L (weight is around 27 lbs). So there's a fair bit more volume in all areas compared to the same width Vapor (271L) but it is lighter. It looks a bit chunky sitting next to e.g. the relatively low volume (264L for the 14x26) Maliko. But it doesn't look or feel "boaty" when paddling it, and is certainly much less "boaty" than e.g. an All Star, which has a fair bit more volume still (the 14x26 AS is 353L). The RS still somehow feels more like a board than a boat IMO despite the dropped deck. Whereas I'd say that an All Star is more boat than board - although no doubt other opinions are available :)

Curiously, the Maliko I tried was noticeably heavier than the RS even though the RS is advertised as heavier than the Maliko... dunno what is going on there, but maybe bear it in mind if you are buying a Maliko. This page claims just 11kg for the 14x26 (www.naishsurfing.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/2018SUP_Board_Spec_Sheet_Final.pdf) but the one I tried sure felt a lot heavier than that to me. However I didn't put it on scales, and the crappy handle might make it feel heavier than it is (whereas the RS has that glorious SIC handle that is the best in the business).

You could quite happily tour around on the RS, which is no doubt partly why there are bungees. I was pootling around on it in the river dreaming of casual summer day trips on an RS... (it is freezing cold, windy and rainy here at the moment). So it will be very nice for casual recreational paddling and fitness, not just racing.

I need to have many more hours of experience paddling the RS in a variety of conditions (especially in proper downwind) before I'd be comfortable claiming that it is definitely the most versatile board I've tried. But I can already say it's one of the well-mannered and relaxing boards to paddle in flat water and mild wind/chop. And as you can imagine from the fact that it has replaced the X series flat water boards, Mark clearly intends it to be used for racing flat water as well as beach races/downwind.

We'll see how it goes downwind - I've always thought that the biggest performance weakness of the All Star was downwind, so it will be interesting to see how they stack up.

In short, if you are interested in a "fast Vapor on the flat", then definitely try the RS. That's exactly what I was looking for too, and I'm going to get one now.

Hope this helps.

Nice comparison between the RS and the All-Star: 101surfsports.com/index.php/about-us/blog/474-which-is-faster-sic-rs

SIC have always been expensive in the UK. But then all SUPs are. When I was in Melbourne I was struck by how much cheaper SUPs were there.

The Maliko is full PVC wrap I think, with not much carbon. It has a cheapo handle. The RS is full carbon with innegra round the rails, nose and tail, with the SIC handle plus two race handles, leash plugs fore and aft (also a mounting point I think), and 4 leash plugs with bungee for carrying stuff, and four drain holes. All these little details add to the cost, perhaps?

It remains to be seen if the SIC carbon/innegra of the RS proves to be anything like as durable as the Maliko. It is lighter, but I suspect that since I heard that the Maliko was a bit fragile last year they have really tried to make it durable even if that means a little added weight. Dunno if that's true but as I say, the RS is noticeably lighter. So it depends where your priorities lie I guess.

im not sure that the RS is much more expensive than a carbon All Star, is it? The hybrid All Star is 2k GBP in the UK and it has virtually no carbon in it, so the full carbon versions have traditional been something like 700 GBP more expensive.

In short: they are all very expensive indeed in the UK.

Actually, one of the biggest advantages to costumers with the SIC/BIC deal was the drop in prices on all SIC's carbon boards. A 14'0 SCC board had a price in Europe last year between 3300 euros (Bullet 14'0 V2) and 3400 euros (X-Pro, Prolite and FX) and now all 14'0 SCC boards from SIC cost 2899 euros (at least in most European countries). The 12'6 was 3100 (Bullet) and 3200 (race boards) and now they are 2599 euros. So a costumer will pay less 500 in average for a carbon board (between 400 and 600 euros).
Just to do a little comparison, the All-Star 14'0 Carbon Sandwich costs 3828 euros in 2018. In just a few years the price of this board increased around 1000 euros. And the All-Star hybrid carbon 2018 (only has carbon on the rails) costs 2212 euros. So for more 387 euros you can get a carbon 12'6 from SIC. And the difference between the All-Star 14'0 and the Bullet 17'4 or the Bayonet 17'1 is only 171 euros. And these are unlimited boards, in double carbon construction and with the FAST system.
I can't compare them with the Naish boards because I'm not all that familiarized with those boards, but from what I've read in this forum it only has a small amount of carbon (I would probably compare them to the Hybrid Carbon from Starboard and the Tuff-Wood carbon from SIC).
And all these prices include VAT (that is an absurd 23% in Portugal).
If you look at the prices in the US the 14'0 is 2699,95 $ and the 2399,95 $ (don't know if they include all taxes).
As for the UK the problem now is the devaluation of the pound with the Brexit, so all imported items could face an increase in price.
So with these prices you can see that the SIC boards have a very competitive price and that you get a lot for your money (full carbon, innegra reinforcements, PVC reinforcements, premium EZ grab handle, two beach race handles, carbon fin, bunge tiedowns, gopro mount on the nose.