dj,or anyone else in seabreeze land,any reports for your naish 14,ive paddled one briefly and compared it to the 12' glide,side by side switching over etc and thought the 14 very stable in flat water,quite fast but then i dont really have a comparison to go by,the 14 seemed to suit my weight 93 kg,and it actually fits inside my van easily in its cover(very important),how is it in chop/down wind on runners etc we found that with me on the 12 and annie on the 14 she could keep up with me however with me on the 14 and annie on the 12 i just flew away from her.she found the 14 heavy to paddle and directly compared it to a lahui kai (jamie mitchell's 12.6) and the custom board was very light and fast for her.personally i thought the 14 would be a very good club racecruise and training board.if enough people had them it would be a good class board alternative to a custom racer.imo good value for money with good resale (another very important feature)if you got serious about racing and got a custom.

If it's down-winders that you want the board for the answer is easy.. Go for the 14'er for sure.

The 14'er will catch runners that the 12'er would not.. and it handles the rough conditions so much better.

DJ

Gorgo said...

Hey Guys

Keep us posted on how the 14 handles in small to medium surf.

Don't even think about it.. IMO.

It's like asking how a Ferarri would go in the Pari Dakar..

DJ

It just knows.

paul.j said...

hey DJ whats with you putting on the other naish fin.?

He may be having an affair with nobby rash...............

Gorgo said...

I tend to agree hence the question. But ... how does the 14' Glide know that the 1-2' wave under it is surf or wind swell?

Rolling swells maybe.. On the shoulder of a fat wave maybe.

But any kind of breaking wave or a wave with a steep face no matter how small I'd be keeping well away from it.

DJ

I paddled the Naish 14fter and the 12'6" Starboard today. First time on both boards.

Both caught runners so easily (very similar) compared to other boards I have ridden (PSH 11' WAA with lots of volume & flat rocker, Naish 11'6" with heaps of volume and bent like a bananna, Starboard 11'2" with medium volume and reasonable rocker)

The Starboard nose went under a few times but wasn't a big concern, it caught me out once at the start. This board catches runners by itself and is very easy to trim and change direction in the close chop. Stability is great. Allround great board for the bay type downwinders.

The Naish caught runners maybe a fraction easier than the Starboard and stability was OK. Not as stable as the Starboard but still fine. The long nose didn't seem to go under much at all. The Naish has a lot of volume behind the mid point including a thick tail which meant it was really fast once you caught a runner. The problem with this was you ran into the back of the next wave at speed and this slows you down fast. Because of the extra volume in the tail it was harder to slow it down and sharper rails made it harder to turn. If you were going to get a bay downwinder I think this would be as good a buy as the Starboard but for different reasons.

I would assume the Naish would go amazing in open ocean paddles/downwinders where the swell/chop is further apart. The large amount of nose rocker limits the glide so it would be preferable with a good tail wind.

This is a guess but the Starboard should do pretty well also in open ocean. The flatter rocker throughout with the late nose kisk would work well and nose diving in ocean swell/chop would not be an issue. The surfability might make it more fun ride than the Naish but I would expect the Naish to be first across the line 7 out of 10 times in varied conditions.