Have been fortunate to demo a few boards the last week, thanks to Paul from Sunshine coast paddle centre in Caloundra and Marcel from Ocean Addicts in Maroochydore- both very helpful and friendly guys and would highly recommend them!
I have been trying to find another board to 10'2 max for 60% small surf and 40% flat water. I am a beginner / intermediate surfer and weigh 90kg. I have been looking for something that surfs okay, but is also not hard work to stay on when it is choppy/rough (as in most of the time!). The boards I demoed with some of my comments are;
JP Fusion 10'2 - probably my favourite - very stable, easy to catch waves, could turn it okay and was fine on flat water, found I could get through most broken waves without falling off
Naish Mana 10 - super stable and good on flat but fairly hard to turn in the waves
Naish Mana 9'5 - also very stable and better in the surf but didn't enjoy it as much as the Fusion
JP Surf 9'2 - good board on a wave but found it too tippy and too much hard work for my weight/ability

The other board I have been thinking about but been unable to demo is the fanatic allwave, in either the 9'6 or the 9'10. I have seen it out there and it looks like it has very thick, solid rails but rocker looks okay - any feedback on these as compared to the above. I don't get to surf all the time, so I am not looking for a super high performance board, just one that will work for what I need.

I am based in Brisbane but regularly travel to the sunshine/gold coast. If anyone has any good comments to add to the above or any other possible board suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

We have an Allwave demo available.

If you are going to spend time on the flat water just playing around I reckon the Starboard 9-5 Wide Point would be worth a look. Having said that none of the boards you have looked at are anything less than unreal. I kinda dont think you could go wrong with any of them

Based on what you are telling us the Starboard 9.5 x32 is hands down the perfect match. Its not a brilliant paddler over any great distance biut its very stable for up to maybe 95kg and it surfs a treat Its waaay less boxy and corky than the fanatics and much more precise and controllable than a mana in surf.

straddie said...
On this topic, anyone tried the Surftech Laguna Bay 10'2 as a comparison to the JP Fusion 10'2

Yep - ridden them both. The laguna is a faster paddler but more cumbersome in small surf - it feels huge compared to the JP and is noticably less stable.
They are both very good boards - for points Id take the Laguna and for beachies the JP. Overall - for comfort in all conditions Id pick the JP.