At our SUP race last week I was lucky to try some new boards..and some that I had not seen or ridden before....The Bonga and the new Walden were two of these.
Both have stepped rails..I once had a windsurfer made like this for me by Mike Maguire many years ago..and it worked very well..It may look odd but there's a reason for it.
The idea behind it is that a board needs to be thick enough to float you but a thick board means thick rails..and thick rail give the board a corkie feel..When turning the rail volume wants to float the board up and gives a jerkie skipping type of feeling..It can even bounce you right out of the water mid turn on a fast bottom turn on a wave.
So you can make the board thiner (sinky) or dome the deck more to get the volume in the center and keep the rails thin..But a domed deck is not a good idea on a stand up paddle board because of where you are standing (the flatter the better)..or step the rails like the Bonga and Walden.
It's not all good tho...A boards stability is controlled by two main things..Rail volume..and board width.
Most boards go with the rail volume thing..and when you tip the board from side to side it will only go so far and stop as the volume in the rail floats it back..but you loose some performance in the waves.
With the Walen board they have made their board stable by going wider..But at 31" it's not too wide...Most are about 30" wide...The board is 10'10" long..The 3/4 deck pad is also recessd into the board like the Bonga and Kalama .
The Bonga is only 27" wide..so it is the most 'less' stable board that I have ever used...and it's only 10' long..You need to be very good or very light to ride this thing...I'm sure it would surf real good..and Bonga Perkins proves that.
Once I jumped on the Walden I was surprised at just how stable the board is...It would be a great learning board..but would not hold you back with its performance in the surf like most other learning size boards...IMO
What I liked about it was that it did rock a little..It's not as stiff from side to side wobbling like other big boards..and also there was a huge sweet spot to paddle from.
I found myself moving forward and back while paddling and it felt good..Most boards do not like being paddled once you step a foot or two forward from the center of the board..I felt like I could almost hang ten and keep paddling..
It must be more than just the stepped rails..The bottom shape must have some tricky stuff going on also..and when you flip it over you can see all sorts of odd concaves and vees going on.
I've heard that Steve Walden make some of the best long boards so I'm sure it will surf very well...I hope to try it in the surf soon.
It's a shame that they did not put a handle or some thing to help carry it..Maybe I'm just spoiled with the hand hole on my Naish board.
Here's my pics of the two boards.
DJ
