Shame I was working, what time did this happen?

Thanks DJ I will keep an eye on the weather, I am staying home this Christmas so mid mornings will work while I am having a break, I will pm you if I think the wind will be right to see if you are going.

Nice vid. You're looking super comfortable on that board, it must be a joy to ride.

I suspect that wider thinner boards , especially those with fairly wide noses and tails can tolerate higher weights than narrower ones where a lot of the volume is above the waterline. They are probably just being cautious. Anyway there's a webpage here that says max rider weight for the 14x28 Maliko of 104kgs: www.naishsurfing.com/product/maliko-140-x28-carbon/

Yes. The volume thing is all about what you want out of a board. If you want speed at the expense of control then higher volume is generally the go. If you want control at the expense of speed then lower volumes are better. The volume most often comes from thick rails which tend not to "catch" as much as thin ones. The downside is that you have more rail above the waterline which can be pushed around by wind and chop, and unless you have a dugout you'll be standing higher above the waterline which creates instability.

The advantage of a lower volume board is that it can have thinner rails and therefore less windage, and a greater ability to sink a rail to effect changes in direction when surfing or downwinding. Lower volume boards can feel much more "surfy", more stable in chop, and controllable in heavy downwind conditions.

So, how much volume you want over and above what will technically float you will depend partly on the design of the board, but also what you want to achieve with it. If pure speed is your only goal and you have the right conditions and ability, then by all means consider thick-railed high volume boards. But if like DJ you want a board that gives you good control when downwinding (i.e. FUN!!!) and you don't mind sacrificing a little flat water speed, then you can consider boards for which you are towards the top of the weight range.

In other words, low volume isn't always a bad thing. High volume has its price too.

If you want good volume in a race board then maybe consider the 14x27 SIC FX? It will probably be trickier to downwind than the Maliko but if racing is your primary goal and you've tried other boards around 290L (like the Maliko) and found them "catching" or sinking the nose/tail more than you'd like, it might be worth trying. The FX range looks purpose-built for heavier guys with serious race intentions. I suspect that the 14x27 FX would be more technical to ride than the 14x28 Maliko but faster in most race situations except maybe pure downwind in a big blow.

But if instead you want to do what DJ does then having the same equipment as him would be a good start, and he demonstrates well how user-friendly the Maliko can be (as long as you have some DW ability).

For my own crappy windy conditions I suspect the lower volume of the Maliko would win out over the higher volume of the FX. I was pleased that Naish didn't make the Maliko super-bulky.