I gave my new falcon 26 a good test "for my ability" today at my local queens beach Scarborough in Moreton Bay
5 x 1km out into the 12/15kn NE wind head on, then back down wind to beach and repeat.
This new "clubbie board" type nose is unreal into wind and through chop. Depending on the speed I was paddling and size of the oncoming chop the nose would either just ride over the swell or punch through it with ease, never felt like it was putting the brakes on or the nose steering to one direction when coming back up through the water. It just stayed straight. Board feels like it flexes a bit into the swell (I don't know a lot about that) but it feels quick to me and today I felt super stable on it in messy head wind type stuff.
Down wind. Firstly On Friday I did a down wind in howling winds near 30kn winds bit messy because the finish point we Aimed for wasn't dead straight with the wind, it was flying but when I slowed down and missed bumps I felt really unstable and wobbly to the point I fell a couple of times my stroke was half assed on Friday at times worrying about balance. I put it down to being so used to my 28 wide coast runner.
Today down wind mind you only 12/15kn at most, I felt completely stable and learnt quickly how to adjust my stance on this board. I was no longer hunting for the extra width and more stable rear end. I was instantly confident to power the stroke at all times.
I was powering hard to drop over and into the run as it was really short type swell being Moreton bay and not windy enough to be blowing you onto anything. STanding basically over the middle handle. Then one foot back and it dropped into the hole so effortlessly and smoothly.
If it was a smaller hole I just kept powering along and it seemed to run in the direction I was paddling and steering and linked up into the next hole and it felt like I was really motoring and planning along.
On the bigger holes I was getting a bit further back with my rear foot right in the middle of the skate board deck grip section to keep the nose up and dry from in front and I was able to easily foot steer the board in the direction I needed to go to keep the speed up on that bump.
When further back on the board it certainly does feel a little wild and loose being a pin tail though I'm sure over time I'm going to harness that feeling and thrive on it.
Overall I feel this is a true ocean board my opinion this is the best Nose section I've ever seen on a board, the new Maliko I also highly highly rate.
I believe this board will be wild and fast down wind, have no disadvantage upwind to any other ocean board, and decently quick on the flat compared to again down wind type boards. I've actually never been interested in paddling flat water at all maybe that was because my coast runner was 28 wide and felt like a pig compared to all the narrow 23/24/25 flat water boards I've tried. But this falcon seems to be feel quick enough in the flat the other day for me to start think about doing some flat water canal kilometres.
Deck grip. I wasn't sure about not having a full Eva pad to stand on as the older all stars/aces Etc I always felt unsure stepping back on the ones that only had the mid section standing pad. But this falcon with the "skate board" rough grip in the back third section of the board is unreal. It doesn't slip it feels at home under the feet. The only downside is when climbing back on the board and getting onto the knees if you drag your toes up it, it's going to rip them up which I experienced. Maybe jumping straight to feet is the smarter option, Kick pad right on the rear is spot on.
I don't know enough about fins but talking to some others including Lacey I think the standard fin is decent enough and does the job. I do think ill try the new tooless FCS dolphin fin though as everyone's raving about it and it just makes sense to have something easy to pull out especially when stacking boards on cars for down wind shuffles.
I thought this board was going to be a real step up for me, yet after 4 paddles in different conditions I'm already stoked on the decision to go this board over the many others I was considering and I am confident I'm going to be happy with it for some time.
Ps you blokes on the 24 wide version in the ocean are a little nuts.. I certainly would not be quick on that at all haha [:D
That's my two cents and a little bit more about this new board anyways.
