Simondo said...

Scotty,

Technically, the Glide 17 is a Down Wind Board. But it is very stable, and is a really good Open Water Ocean Tourer, and enclosed water tourer. It has really soft round rails up the front, and a rudder, so it is actually quite controllable paddling at 45 degrees into the wind. Most boards hate that angle. It's competent in flat water too (quite quick). But other boards are quicker on the flats.

But as they say... some boards might be all-rounders but masters of none.

Cheers.
Stability is important for me and I am satisfied to lose some speed for this.
Safe to say the 17" is more stable then the 14" Jav or Glide.

Simondo said...

I quietly wonder weather the S.I.C. F18 is the fastest board available....

Especially in the open water....

http://www.sicmaui.com/f18.htm

G'day Simodo
Low Pressure Prodution video comming soon getting new apple mac book pro next month got footage of my f18 in 10/12 knots of wind in a small swell did 11km in under 53minutes doing 20km/h all the way catching runners for bult the glide on the f18 is mind blowing it weighs 17.5kg so its a heavy board
DW

Downwinder,
Sounds awesome! Built for speed. Help me please Mr Wizard, I want one !
Simondo

Simondo said...

Scotty,
The Glide 17 is one of the most stable boards available. The rail might dunk a little, but the long rail and volume just pushes straight back up... Self righting !

The track in a straight line really well, and move a step back or just jump on the rudder, and they actually turn around amazingly fast for a board of that size.

What are you weighing in at, at the moment?

Yes, the 17 is more stable than both of those 14's. The 14 Jav is actually one of the least stable boards!! The soft rails give it a tippy feel... But again, there is good volume, and when you dunk enough volume it just pushes back up.

Early models of the Naish 14 Glide are getting quite cheap, once they have some cosmetic blemishes. This is becoming a great board for the 2nd hand price.

naish glide is everything simondo said. i might add to me, its a small feeling 17'er and i mean that in good terms.

i'm a broken record player, but one of those boards at 13kg ish would be all time.

how about it mr naish
cheers

Makaha said...

Fanatic Lacey

maybe, but its one of hell of a beautifully shaped board- nobody can deny it, well nobody who knows anything about boards in general
cheers

laceys lane said...

Simondo said...

Scotty,
The Glide 17 is one of the most stable boards available. The rail might dunk a little, but the long rail and volume just pushes straight back up... Self righting !

The track in a straight line really well, and move a step back or just jump on the rudder, and they actually turn around amazingly fast for a board of that size.

What are you weighing in at, at the moment?

Yes, the 17 is more stable than both of those 14's. The 14 Jav is actually one of the least stable boards!! The soft rails give it a tippy feel... But again, there is good volume, and when you dunk enough volume it just pushes back up.


Early models of the Naish 14 Glide are getting quite cheap, once they have some cosmetic blemishes. This is becoming a great board for the 2nd hand price.

naish glide is everything simondo said. i might add to me, its a small feeling 17'er and i mean that in good terms.

i'm a broken record player, but one of those boards at 13kg ish would be all time.


how about it mr naish
cheers

Cheers Lacey,
How's ya frequent flyer points ?
Must have a few racked up.
Brunei to the the Alley each day.
Closer then Swaziland I guess.

Lacey Lane said "seriously, boards over 14' in australia will be like the dinosuars in the not to distance future. our swells aren't hawaiian. not much point having a board for a once in a blue moon epic day"

Come over to SW WA in Dec/Jan/Feb if you get the chance.

You'll be very surprised.

We are on F16's and Bullets and other various unlimited boards every day and conditions match Hawaii.

Cheers,

Courts

This age argument is off the mark, especially in distance races. Endurance and technique takes years to acquire. Look at Danny Ching and Travis as examples. Paddling since 9, Danny won Molokai solo on OC1 last year at what 27? Kai Bartlett jas won it a bunch, i'm guessing late 30's... Sure there are freaks like Connor Baxter or Jake from Currumbin but for the most part paddle endurance sports are dominated by guys in high 20's, 30's and 40's.

Age is no excuse, I'm 36 and I am slow, it's not cos I'm 36 it's because I'm slow and don't devote my while life to the gym, swimming, running and 6 paddle sessions per week. The guys winning, regardless of age train as athletes.

The other point to this whole age thing in racing is that it implies if you can't win, why bother? Same applies to golf or tennis or any other leisure sport. I know I will never line up in the Elite Race at Battle of the Paddle. So what? That's not because I'm too old. As CMC says, it's because I'm not an elite athlete, I'm not built like one and I don't train like one. Doesn't mean I can't enjoy beating my best time or over taking the guy in front of me.

Supsurfaust said...

Lacey Lane said "seriously, boards over 14' in australia will be like the dinosuars in the not to distance future. our swells aren't hawaiian. not much point having a board for a once in a blue moon epic day"

Come over to SW WA in Dec/Jan/Feb if you get the chance.

You'll be very surprised.

We are on F16's and Bullets and other various unlimited boards every day and conditions match Hawaii.

Cheers,

Courts

i diverse here. a few people have been looking at the best lenght of board for flatwater speed/times. now a big long board will go fast,but is it takes a bit of grunt to keep them going.

after 5 ks or so would it be better to be on a shorter board where you can still get a reasonable speed for your effort?

can you keep the paddling power that is required for a long waterline board?

would it be better to be on say a 14' er if it say a 15 to 20 k race?

a few think arounf 15' is the best.

keep in mind this is flatwater, not the ocean where you get help from wind and swell

cheers

i diverse here. a few people have been looking at the best lenght of board for flatwater speed/times. now a big long board will go fast,but is it takes a bit of grunt to keep them going.

after 5 ks or so would it be better to be on a shorter board where you can still get a reasonable speed for your effort?

can you keep the paddling power that is required for a long waterline board?

would it be better to be on say a 14' er if it say a 15 to 20 k race?

a few think arounf 15' is the best.

keep in mind this is flatwater, not the ocean where you get help from wind and swell

cheers

Hi Lacey
Give me my 18'6'' f18 at 17.5kg anyday for a flatwater paddle I went for a paddle in Bond uni canal about a week before I went to Fiji (late April) did 28.5 km it took me 3 hours & 4 minutes that is an OK time with no runners & some head wind now & then. & I'm not as fit as I was this time last year when I was training for that Molokai
DW

Is the DC15 suited to DW as well as flat water ?

Hi Scotty88
At the end of the day you will need two SUP board or shall I say three SUP boards
one for High Performance surfing somthing under 9ft one for rough ocean paddling 14 - 18ft one for flat water paddling 15 - 19ft.
All I can say is best if you build a bigger garage
DW

Downwinder said...

Is the DC15 suited to DW as well as flat water ?

Hi Scotty88
At the end of the day you will need two SUP board or shall I say three SUP boards
one for High Performance surfing somthing under 9ft one for rough ocean paddling 14 - 18ft one for flat water paddling 15 - 19ft.
All I can say is best if you build a bigger garage
DW

hi phil, that board is a bit of a freak one off. weighs 12kgs, but has soric(that honeycomb membrane stuff) in the scooped deck standing area, so it extremely stiff.

yeah, it has a fair amount of rocker, but is narrow with chines. i can downwind it up to say 15 to 20 knots with a neat ish swell

my first time tweed last week, light winds, but a reasonable swell to work with.

the board was like it was made for it. i imagine your f18 would have been insane in that stuff. you probably wouldn't even had the chance to say' see ya later' before you would be gone.

i'm not sure i could handle the lenght and weight of the f18 like you can
cheers

Gassa,
Post the results anyway. But Lacey is right.... eg, Small engine on an F18 will still get beaten by a big engine on any of the 12'6 race boards.
Simondo

Hi Simodo
When buying a Downwind Board by 100% core shaped blank. Not a Hollow moulded Downwind Board. Yes a hollow moulded board are up to 4 kilos lighter than a 100% core shaped blank. The 100% core shaped blank sits better in the water & goes faster than a hollow moulded board. To buy a Hollow Moulded shaped board you're just asking for trouble. My good friend Mark Raaphorst from Maui who owns SIC knowds I hat hollow moulded boards.

Hear is an extract of the 2008 Maui story I wrote.

My final leg of the journey is the Quiksilver Edition Molokai Race. 32 punishing miles!!! So here I am at the starting line. There was 8 of us in my division. Unlimited SUP solo. This Hawaiian paddles up to me & says “hey man you look like a spaceman” all I did was start laughing. I had my full body white skins on for 2 reasons (1). I won't get sunburnt (2). The skins help pump the blood through your system which helps fight fatigue (footballers train in this gear all the time) + with my 3 litre camel back & extra bottles on the back I guess I did look like a spaceman. The siren sounds & away we go, white water wake going everywhere I'm at the very back (the spaceman's at the back) I'm just getting ready to mow em down. I'm just ploughing through the water with my 10 inch Quickblade (my body works like a diesel motor, it takes a while to get going but once its up to speed it will maintain that pace) I pass one yellow singlet, I pass two yellow singlets, three, four & so on. My next step is to mow the paddle boarders down. The first 10km was too easy catching these little bumps doing good time. By this time you're in the middle of the Pacific Ocean - the swell starts coming from the North (spew) it's 7ft ocean swell going in the wrong direction. Pumping if you're paddling to the Marshall Islands. So it's a side chop paddle the rest of the way, you have to use caution due to the swell - you don't want to end up too far south of Coco Head as you'll have to contend with an outgoing tide + a 30 knot head wind. You don't want a North swell when paddling Molokai you want an ENE swell with an incoming tide (that's pumping conditions). Anyway I've hit the halfway mark by this time I saw a couple of support boats go past with Paddleboards or a SUP in the back of the boat I truly felt sorry for whoever they were & by now I've mowed a few more paddle boarders down stoked. By this stage I've come across Hawaiian Jack Gillan - this bloke's an axe. He's won Molokai every year he has entered, he's paddling a F-16 custom 17fter but with no rudder so he's usually the only one in his division. (99% of the SUP Unlimited Solo paddle custom F-16 17fters have rudders). For 4 hours I'm having the biggest paddle battle with Jack Gillan he'd be 200 metres in front then vice versa, I love that kind of racing - bulk fun. I'd be talking to him every time I'd paddle past just to try & physic him out. I'm a kilometre out from Coco Head at the 49km mark, my bodies still feeling good, I'm paddling hard with my 10inch blade. I've hit the home stretch Maunalua Bay 50 kilometre mark & my bodies all of a sudden wanting to shut down, I'm cramping up big time. I could see the finish line so I'm fighting the cramps (nothing's going to stop me) I'm hugging the cliff face to keep out of the 30 knot head wind & some swell comes through so I'm riding this swell for bulk (it's a world class lefthander on it's day) you could see the exposed reef up ahead so I've bailed out, turned my
F-16 upside down so I wouldn't rip the fin out - I'm lying flat like a dead man to let the white water push me over the reef. You could feel the jagged coral heads scratching my back. So I'm paddling hard, the finish line is in sight. I couldn't workout why I wasn't going anywhere then I noticed the breather plug on the F-16 was out. My F-16 was filled with water all I could do was hang my head in defeat, I was shattered there goes 3rd Place. I called the support boat over to empty the water out. I'd trained 12 months for this event. Even kept off the beer for 7½ months & trained when the surf was pumping. (That's a hard thing to do - keep off the beer & turn your back on a surf just to train for Molokai)! Even when training with Mick DiBetta & Shakira I always paddled that extra mile just to make sure my fitness endurance was in form, all I wanted was to finish in the top 3. I wasted over 50 minutes to paddle the final mile just to get to the finish line - shattered!. Kevin Horgan who won Molokai last year was in 2nd place & I was only 10 minutes behind him. This bloke is a machine - doesn't work - all he does is SUP all day. So I ended up coming last. For 3 days after Molokai my body felt like it had played footy against the All Blacks. I guess I'll have to go back & try again in 4 years time when I turn 50. Congratulations to Jamie Mitchell winning his 7th Molokai stoked. Morgan Hoesterley the only female to do Unlimited SUP Solo it took her 8 hours 57 minutes. I take my hat off to her what a gun. I tell ya what they breed the sheilas hard over there in Hawaii & good looking as well. I guess if you went out with Morgan you'd better make love to her like a mink & not like a lion or I'd hate to be in your shoes!