Get a haircut, get a job and then get a downwind board

maybe 45 kg in a wet 4;3 steamer with hood after a roast dinner

For a down winder, yes the Naish 14' Glide is a very good choice of the production options. The Coreban 14' seems to be a bit of a cross over between flat water and down wind. ???

http://www.naishsurfing.com/en/boards/glide_2.html

www.coreban.com/alpharace14_2010.html

A little more expensive are DC's
www.chapmansurfboards.com/paddleboards/

More expensive again are S.I.C. from Maui.
www.sicmaui.com/Sandwich_Island_Composites/F14.html

Sounds like you are a lightweight !! You may never require an upgrade to a 16 footer ... ?? "Downwinder" (the forum person) might have more thoughts ???

Simondo has a good list going, for shapes I'd add:

Joe Bark Paddleboards - www.joebark.com/boards - Not sure how easy/expensive it is to get his 14' over here, it's a nice looking board though.
Deep Surfboards QL - the new 14' they did looks nice
Paddle Surf Hawaii have a 14' from the sound of it - not sure when it hits our shores

Most people, shapers and shops are willing to let you have a go on their boards I'd try a displacement and a "surf" style (flat bottom) board to see if you like one over the other.

One thing I had a hard time deciding on is Custom v Production. Other than price production is nice because you can pretty much walk out with a board. The nice thing about a custom is you can tweak it to incorperate things you'd like to have and to suit your body type if you don't quite fit the "average", the down side is it can be between 3-5 weeks to get a board depending on where you live in respect to the shaper.

Lahui Kai boards hardly get a mention on here , but they seem to be right up their , Billy Watson pretty much smashed every body on his today and prettty much every other race he enters , probably more to do with him than the board though.

PTWoody said...

teatrea said...

Lahui Kai boards hardly get a mention on here , but they seem to be right up their , Billy Watson pretty much smashed every body on his today and prettty much every other race he enters , probably more to do with him than the board though.

But are they genuine downwind boards or race boards?

hey ptwoody, that is the million dollar question, depends on what you won't to do.race or cruise, big dw ers or small to medium(swell size and wind rate)
cheers

...at your weight you could probably buy a cheap set of water ski's and have a spare...?