Hi Phil, if you are just interested in flatwater paddling/cruising and want to maintain a reasonable speed over a long distance or time, with minimal effort, the new Starboard Sprint would be a great option to consider.

There's a lot of very good all around race/cruising boards from many of the top brands (Starboard, NSP-DC, Fanatic, Naish etc.) that will do the job, and for just cruising/exploring, the Starboard Touring is great, but for something like the Hawkesbury Challenge, the additional speed from a specialised flatwater race board will be your friend if it means you can finish the distance 0.5-1hour (or more) faster, the challenge is to find a board that provides this speed without being too tippy, especially when your legs get tired.

The 2014 12'6"x24" Sprint (and I'm not recommending you go for it) is the first board I've ever paddled that you can actually feel lift in the water when it starts to plane and then it felt like it was riding its own wash to hold its speed, with significantly less effort to maintain flatwater speed than anything else I've paddled (I've been racing sups for almost 5 years), but being the narrowest & shortest board in the Sprint range, it's also pretty tippy and not something you would choose for just cruising, or if you're going to be standing on it for 12 hours straight.

However, the 14'x26" and 14'x28" models offer extra length for glide (though the 12'6" is about as good as a 12'6" can get) and extra width for stability which your legs are going to want after 12hrs standing up! I tried the 14'x26" on the ocean in light onshore winds (side on) and a small lumpy swell and found the stability pretty good! The 28" version would obviously be even more stable and although the top speed will be a little slower, it'll balance out if a narrower board means you're falling in.

Best advice I can give is to demo as many boards as you can, preferably over a good distance in flatwater & if possible when it's windy, a little choppy or there's strong cross-currents, so you get a feel for how it will perform in the variety of conditions you may encounter in the race.

(The 17'6" Sprint is the bees knees when it comes to flatwater speed and more effortless to paddle (but not necessarily to stand on), but at 23" wide, it's going to be very very tippy & for the most advanced/experienced paddlers only - for the rest of us, it's going to feel like the 'wobble board' you want to avoid).

Cheers, Ali

A bit out of left field (pulls flame suit on-dunno if there are board length restrictions in the hawkesbury race?) but have a look at this:

www.seabreeze.com.au/Classifieds/StandUpPaddle-Race-and-Downwind-Boards/~aymyl/Naish-Glide-17-0-66-cm.aspx?search=TTipMvwLkmAszgJ9fErQ!A==

An early, low-rockered 17' Naish with the steering mech off and a fixed fin is just brilliant for distance cruising (fast and very stable and with the steering mech off you can stand well forward and make full use of the waterline length). I have one and it's my firm favourite for distance...shaves almost a minute per km off my 14 at cruising effort. If I have a 10k or more to do I reach for mine. I don't know what the seller is asking for the one above but it will cost you a truckload less than a new 14 and downriver it will be a dream, especially fitted with a fin with some rake. Downside is it's an 'unlimited' board which your opportunities to race it in "conventional" SUP events if you wanted to go that way and it will be hard to resell.