I've just got back from a surf on a 7S 9’8” Uber Fish. A demo from Spud at Wicks.

One word: Hmmmm.

If you generally ride a fish or are new to SUPing in the surf, this board might be for you. It wasn't really for me (I'm looking for a high performance shortboard SUP).

I’m 88 kilos and ride an 11’ Oxbow SUP about 50% of the time. The other 50% of my surfs are on a 6’4” shortboard, a 5’10” fish or a 9’2” performance longboard.

I went out the Bower at Manly. Nobody else out (until right near the end), a fairly strong cross/on-shore wind blowing with a mid to high tide. The inconsistent sets were only about two foot. Fairly ordinary conditions but with the odd one that walled up nicely and had a cleanish face.

The 7S 9'8" that I rode was set up as a thruster with relatively small fins. You can also ride it as a quad or a 2+1. The dimensions are 9'8" x 29 3/4" x 4 1/4".

I launched at the Bower Restaurant, jumped on and started the 300m paddle across the bay. It felt very stable under foot straight away, even with a bit of wind chop. It seemed a bit sluggish paddling on the flat water. I needed to change hands much more often than my 11' Oxbow in order to keep it tracking straight. The built in deck pad provided a nice flat and grippy surface albeit a bit hard.

I got out to the break, hovered for a few minutes (without any troubles or death wobbles) then swung around for a little set. I soon realised I wasn't going to get this one so eased off on the paddling but as the wave picked me up the board just ran with it. Even though the wave didn't break, the 7S 9'8" started to ride it for a while to the point that I thought I may actually be able to catch this one. I didn't, but it showed me how easily it starts planing. I guess due to the width and large flat planing area.

The next wave I paddled for, I caught. Quite a nice wave and as I bottom turned and started down the line the 7S accelerated surprisingly well. Again the large planing area coming into play. I'm now racing along and pull into a layback cutback. Woops, too much speed and too much volume in the tail. The board spun around really quickly and got a bit out of control. The fins did all the work as the board stayed relatively flat in the water. I couldn't bury the rail enough. I guess I was expecting to turn it like a true performance shortboard SUP, not a wide fish (or maybe short longboard). Another few bottom turns and (nursed) cutbacks and then a speedy pull out over the back of the wave at the end. My first wave and I've already got a good opinion of the board which proved to be correct for the latter waves of the session.

The next wave was similar to the first, a nice walling right hander (my forehand). A bit of a steep take-off over "suck rock" but that was OK as I just compensated by moving my weight right back on the board. It went a bit wobbley while I was back there due to the amount of board out of the water up the bow. I got down the face and leaned into a nice bottom turn. I made sure to not drive it too hard off the bottom as I didn't want it to spin out or loose control but still pushed it as hard as I think it could go. It felt quite nice. This time I thought I'd try testing out its planing potential as it seemed to be tempting with this. I ran down the line with just a few small pumps. Wow, it accelerated and then held momentum really well. Impressive. I was flying by the end of the section. A hand change with the paddle and then a drop knee cutback whilst leaning on the paddle. This worked well and felt "right" probably due to it being a less aggressive move. A gentle foam bounce (a bit wobbley) and that was my second wave done. Still dry.

My next two attempts at catching a wave ended in fall offs. Basically it's very hard to redirect the board quickly when you are in the paddling position. A bit like my 11' Oxbow. Then as you start to get picked up by the wave the wide nose will tend to dig in on one side (catch a rail) if you are not perfectly straight. This might just be something to get used but I fell off about eight times like this. Maybe I'm a slow learner.

Some of the highlights from later waves included some cross stepping up to the nose (well close to it) and a big floater. Walking the board was still doable even though it's only 9'8". Justification that it's width carries from the nose to the tail (like a short longboard). Floaters were a bit hard to control, again probably due to the inability to make minor adjustments to direction while your weight is in the middle of the board.

You don't get many opportunities to push through broken waves at the Bower (you just paddle around the break on your way out). I did purposely put myself in this position, a number of times, in order to test the 7S's ability to get through whitewater. The first one smacked me down without remorse - I put this down to its wide nose and lack of nose lift. Learning from this, the next few I put my weight much further back to compensate for the minimal nose lift, however, when you get this far back it's very hard to get forward again quickly as you go up and over the wave. I fell off the back of board every time I went over a fully broken wave. Again, maybe I'm just a slow learner.

There are no lefts at the Bower so I didn't get a chance to ride it on my backhand. I would think it would go alright in a strong backhand cutback so long as you didn't try to put it on rail too much.

The board I tried was a bit over 12 kilos - quite heavy I thought, for only 9'8". It did have a small crack on the nose which I could suck air out of, so maybe this board had absorbed some water during its demo life. That would definitely add to its weight.

She’s quite a nice board to look at and I thought I was going to be in for a treat - but the 7S 9'8" Uber Fish is not really as high performance as would like. As I said before it would be great for a beginner SUP surfer or somebody who wants a not-too-radical but fast-down-the-line board. The quad set up might be a better option for holding in on more drivey cutbacks ... maybe.

Highs:
- Fast down the line speed.
- Early planing.
- Very stable to paddle.
- Built in deck grip.
- Relatively inexpensive (I think)

Lows:
- Poor on-rail turning performance.
- Slow paddler on flat water.
- Doesn't track very well.
- Often catches a rail on take off.
- Hard to control when weight fully up the back.
- Hard to steer when weight in the middle of the board.
- Hard to punch through whitewater.
- No shortboard "feel".

I haven't tried the Starboard 9'8", Steve. I would think they might ride very similarly though. Definitely more like the Starboard than the Naish 9'6".

Hey Brooko,

The 7S did float me slightly better but neither were an issue with supporting my 88 kilos.

If the Naish is 4 3/8" like Rich said, then yeah the 7S is thinner at 4 1/4". This measurement only refers to the single thickest point in the board. The 7S, overall, is a thicker board as the thickness extends right to the nose and tail unlike the Naish where it is more tapered (especially up the nose).

The extra width (again, from nose to tail) in the 7S makes it also a wider board, overall.

These two factors make the 7S a bigger board, volume wise. These two factors also, in my opinion, make the 7S a lesser board, performance wise.

Just to confirm ...the 7S fish is 4 1/2 thick not 4 1/4.

Rich

The board I tried may have been a prototype. It seemed quite old and I had heard there was a prototype floating around the Sydney shops. It did have proper printed decals (including the dimensions) which made me think it was a production board.

Who knows?

You're welcome Rich. Happy to be of service.

Any other distributors in the Sydney area are welcome to lend me boards in return for a detailed, unbiased write up.

Hey Sam,

I am very curious about the Starboard 9'0" and I'd love to see how a board that small performs.

I may have to do some work next week but if not, I'll be in to see you.

Give me a shout when you have some time. We could take out the Star 9'0" and the Naish 9'6" for a back to back test.

Both nice boards but both pretty different.

Cheers,

Sam.