I finally did it.. I bought a new Maliko Javelin.. I decided to sell my old X26 Jav and bite the bullet.. I really didn't want to sell that board but I wasn't using it.

I paddled the Kite Republic demo about a week or so ago and found it a little tippy and wondered if I should cancel my order.

I decided to go ahead with it.. and yesterday I paddled my new Maliko Jav in calm water at St Kilda marina and it was great.. Not tippy at all.. Today I did my first downwinder on it.. The forcast was a suss 15-25 knots.. It had allready been 25 knots early and the wind was dropping.. We hit the water with a steady 15-20 but that soon dropped to the 10-15 knot range.. Bummer.. It was enough to catch a few runners and the board was awesome.

What did Naish do good? (besides a good shape DW board) .. Well I didnt expect a board bag.. It came in a bag and the bag is awesome.. Double sided zip.. Yay! .. White one side and black the other.. Yay! .. Tention tabs along the sides to prevent the dreaded bag flap on the roof of the car.. Yay! .. and the best part is the big side vents to help stop the board getting too hot while its in the bag.. Double Yay!!

Thank you Naish for not making this board black.. I hate black boards.. Even the big black Naish logo on the deck/nose my old X26 was a concern on a hot day.

Thank you Naish for making these light LE boards much stiffer.. I hate that feeling like it's going to break and flexes when you hit any boat wake size chop.

Next time I hope to get more wind.. and I'll try and mount my big camera rig on the tail.. I didn't fall once today.. Not even a wobble.. I never thought I'd be sayiing that about a 26" wide board.

For god's sake DJ...that was like watching porn...

The Maliko looks awesome - congrats on the new board!!

Nice vid as usual, tkhs for guys waiting for there own ones

Board looks great DJ!

The cover looks like it's come out of the same factory as the WoW downwind board that I had. Whist the cover shared many features that your cover does, the carry handles and nthe zips were tha achilles heel of that bag. I hope yours fares better!

Looks good. It actually looks like the perfect dw board, but it would be too narrow for me unfortunately.

Funny that that they put the black side of the board bag on fin side, so when you put it on the roof racks the black is in the sun. Air vents is good though for moisture as well as heat.

Well done DJ. I'm surprised and not surprised. From what I felt from KR Sup Centre demo board is this is super stable when the second stability kicks in - and that's from someone who finds a 31 inch wide Nalu on the tippy side.

I think they're on to a good thing here - not sure what that is, but in comparison to other boards it just feels right.

Looking forward to some more videos with the Tripod on. I'm betting we'll finally see you fall in, once - that is if that part of the video doesn't end up on the cutting room floor.

DavidJohn said..
I had the board in upside down..
Actually with no fin slot in the bag it can go either way..

Funny... I was sure I saw a fin slot I take it back then.

I've been paddling my Maliko the last few days doing my daily casual paddle around St Kilda marina to help me get used to the 26" width and today I paddled back in from the end of the breakwall on my way back to my car like I usually do and even though it was only about 10 knots I was totally amazed at how easy it was to catch and stay on the tiny runners that I've tried to catch for years and always struggled to get the odd one or two.. Today I reckon I caught about twenty.. I'm amazed at how fast this board is.. Faster than my old original 14x26" Jav for sure and way more stable than it even though it's the same width..

Totally SUPerotic DJ. Lovely stick. Can't hardly wait to watch it in a howler. One runner from Middle Park to Sandy perhaps???

First paddle this morning on Laceys 26 now demo from SurfFx - 15km of mixed headwind northerly ocean bump and flat - undoubtedly the best race board I have paddled!
And I have paddled almost everything over many years. I reckon the 24 would fly if still stable enough as the 26 is super slick and very stable for me at 82kg.
Can't wait to own one now.