Driving to the beach today I had to look under the big swoopy nose of my new 14' Naish Glide.
I dropped my board at the usual spot and went to move my car to the free parking side of the road.. I looked back and found myself staring at that beautiful shape.
I brought my camera to snap a few pics for those who might not get to see one of these beauties.. Look at that pointy nose.
From this angle the nose looks almost boat'ish.
Lots and lots of rocker.
Quality and finish is typical Naish.. and a great deck grip just like the 12'er.
The square tail looks a bit odd at first.
Check out that big chopped off arse.
If you look close you can see a line a couple of inches ahead of the hexagon and about a foot behind it.. It looks like extra re enforcement in the main standing area.
Stepping on the board it did feel a bit more tippy than the wider 12'er but it soon felt very stable.
I love the look of that long pointy nose.. and it felt fast to paddle.
I headed across to the breakwater and around to the St Kilda pier.
I stopped at the little beach near the kiosk and took some more pictures.
I thought I better head off before I get a blister on my shutter finger.
Heading back it was into the sun and into a 15-20 knot headwind.
It didn't take long to get back and I decided to get some pictures of the bottom.
It's great to see they didn't go with the sharp rails all the way to the nose like the 12'er.. They are sharp for about 2/3 and the last 1/3 is very soft and round'ish.
The soft front rails and the almost belly'ish front section made turns easy.. With wide sweeping stroke the nose would come around pretty easy to change direction.
That belly soon changes to a planning shape hull.
Here's the dimensions.
I dried my board off on my perfect shaped tree.
When tieing the board to the roof of my car the board looks about a foot thick.
I might need to hang a red flag off the end of the board.. or buy a bigger car.
DJ