Welcome to the Breeze Scott.. If you don't mind me asking.. How heavy are you and where are you?

DJ

Hi Scotty,

The Naish 14' goes quite well up against some of the bigger boards, with the advantage of still qualifying for the 14ft class.

I've never seen or paddled the Starboard Point, but being 14'8", the only race class you could enter would be the unlimited class and in my opinion if you want to be competitive in this class, your better option would be to go for a bigger 16 or 17 foot board with a steering system, such as a DC16/17, Naish 17', Laguna Bay Penetrator or SIC F16/17.

There are plenty of others that know more about race boards than me so I suggest maybe talking to Jacko (Roar Industries) or Woogie (Kia Kaha paddles) who are both familiar with downwind paddling conditions in QLD and probably give you advice as to what might best suit our conditions.

Cheers & welcome to the Breeze,

Alison

Hey mate
There are a few good options but it really depend on what conditions you are going to be going out in the most. I start with what i know best

14ft Naish: Great board for those real windy days loves the big fast runners and the windy it get the better it goes. Its not super fast in the flat water but anything with this much rocker has to push water some where. i do about 100km a week on this board and know it in side out. I just come in from a 22km down wind paddle with average wind and it took 1hr 48min which feels alright for a board its size.

Naish 17: Wish i could say more on this board but mine is a week away from all report this board flys and with dave Kalama helping to design it it wont be slow and having already sold 5 well before they get here is saying they will sell out fast.Will type more on this board next week!!!

DC 17 : I Paddled dales lastest one on the sunny coast a couple of weeks back and it had some good and bad points. It picked runners quite easy and the rudder system was good. i had a lot of trouble keeping the nose from nose diving when on the runners and it felt like it would be a bit of hard work over a long distance. it was quite fast just need's a bit more work. A coulpe of people said that some of the older DC16 felt better.

Sic 16-17: These seem to be the board at the moment they are not flat water boards and like the Naish they love the rough ocean and with a 8 month waiting list it speaks for it self.

LahuiKai 17: I wont say to much on this board as i only has a short ride in the flat water but from what i have heard its a great board for the ocean up to 15knots. I know when Billy whiped my arse in the Honoula last year it seemed to go pretty good in those conditions. I will have these boards for Demo in our shop.

Overall there are some great boards out there, for me the 14 Naish is sweet but i will ride the 17 when it gets here and use the 14 as my training board.I'm more than happy to talk to you about anything i know just ask!!!

Cheers Jacko

Hi paul.j, totally agree with your thoughts on the 14' Glide, great board in strong wind. Only had a chance to do one down-winder on a demo but really enjoyed it.

22k in 1:48 sounds pretty good to me, what were the conditions like for you on todays run - wind strength and wave size? I'd love to try it out in open water on bigger swells than DJ and I had in the bay.

JonathanC said...

Hi paul.j, totally agree with your thoughts on the 14' Glide, great board in strong wind. Only had a chance to do one down-winder on a demo but really enjoyed it.

22k in 1:48 sounds pretty good to me, what were the conditions like for you on todays run - wind strength and wave size? I'd love to try it out in open water on bigger swells than DJ and I had in the bay.

Jonathan you missed a good one today.. Haro and I did one from the gay beach in Port Melbourne (so I've been told) across to Pt Ormond.. We were both on 14' Glides and got some great runs.. I found it much harder to surf the runners left being on my heel side.. Haro had his GoPro on the tail of his board so maybe he got something good.. other than me falling off..

DJ

thanks guys for all your input . looks like I will have to try a few to get the right one but I have narrowed down a few! talk to you all soon. ps what board did jamie win honolua just for interest .

DavidJohn said...

scotty100 said...

thanks guys for all your input . looks like I will have to try a few to get the right one but I have narrowed down a few! talk to you all soon. ps what board did jamie win honolua just for interest .

www.lahuikai.com/ .. did you mean The Battle of the Paddle race?

btw it was a flat water paddling board and not really designed for down-winders and open ocean (me thinks) but then maybe they are.. I'm sure they'd have something that might suit you.

I hope they're getting heaps of orders from around the world after the BOP.

DJ

at roars demo day, i heard mick d saying they were going to start on their more ocean type boards after bop

14 vortice xp I seen one for sale but it doesn't have a rudder system is it needed in that size or just in the bigger ones

NewcastleSUP said...
As for a 14'0 you can't go past the VorticeXP for a true downwind surfing performance, Dave Parmenter describes it 'a sports car' of the ocean and cleaned up in both the Molokai and Hawaii paddleboard championships.
Like all things boards only go as good as they are driven......one cannot expect to buy a board and instantly go fast.

What sort of weight range is the VorticeXP good for? How about standard Vortice?

Are these boards available in Australia yet?

If your interested in a 14 vortice aussiewahine has one for sale , plus Dale Chapman has just made a couple of very fast 14's for customers.

Just remember that the catergoies are 12-6 , 14-0 & unlimited so if you buy a 14-8 you will be racing against unlimited boards.

Piros