surfsupwarehouse.com.au/product/takayama-prince-kuhio-tuflite/

The originals seem to have one of the best reputations re: gliders. Perhaps better than the Munoz.

This seems to be a quite new 'rerelease'.

Anyone got their hands on one? Any sort of report on these v-tech tufflite versions?

Will be interesting to see the durability on the new model. I had the old version and it was a brilliant board. In a brain snap I moved it on. Regret it still. I have a 10'6" Munoz (love this as well) that I would swap if there is anybody interested. Unfortunately there aren't many around and owners hold on to them. My only issue is carrying these beasts.

The 11' Munoz in the original tuflite is my holy grail.
Hire one a few times in Hawaii, and own a 12' Munoz.
If you ever look to sell yours, vanders1, you know who to hit up!

I'd read somewhere in the past (here?) that some peeps considered the 11' Prince Kuiho a better design/board/ride over the 11' Munoz.

surfanimal said..
I've owned the original 9'3, 10'6, 11 and 12'0 Munoz in the old Surftech construction and currently own an 11'0 in the most recent Surftech construction (which is much better than the second generation from about 5 years ago).
Furthermore, I've also owned the original Surftech Prince Kuhio and currently have a North Coast Surfboards PU 11'0 Taky Prince Kuhio.
It's difficult to compare any size Munoz with a Prince. Vastly different boards with polar opposite rails and template. The Munoz offers a sensational down the line experience and really picks up speed across a wave face. The Prince is graceful and a real Cadillac to ride.
I pull out the Munoz if I am riding zippers or faster waves. It will also surf overhead surf very well and isn't just a one trick pony in small waves. I go for the Prince when I'm out with friends on those happy, sunny summer days and want to surf with a more vertical approach turning off the bottom and top and running across the face from the middle and not that I'm much of a noserider, but I anticipate it would also do that amazingly.
As I mentioned earlier, I've had no issues with the most recent Surftech construction Munoz. Couldn't be happier with it so don't shy away from it; the first batch of 'new' construction had issues but since rectified. I can't comment on the Prince Kuhio Surftech but if it's the same construction I'd consider it worthwhile if you don't want to get a PU version of the Prince from North Coast.
Hope that might help someone somewhere.

Great post, Chris, and great pics.
Have enjoyed your input on the Breeze for years. Thanks!
Dave

SA needs to post some pictures of the North Coast Prince beautiful looking board

Great post, Chris, and great pics.
Have enjoyed your input on the Breeze for years. Thanks!
Dave

Thanks Dave, it's been a long time between posts and I really appreciate your comment. Cheers, Chris.

SA. Board looks beautiful. Much more character with a hand shaped board than the Surftechs. I still really liked my Surftech.

SA - thanks for that informative response!
How do you find the current surftech Munoz compares to the 'original' surftech construction version?

Given how much I love my 12' Munoz, and have enjoyed hiring an 11' Munoz ('original' construction) in the past, I reckon the Munoz may be a better choice for me after your feedback.

And Josh Constable was telling me about the feedback on his gliders when I ordered my 10' Cruz (FYI - The Cruz is an amazing board!).
Choices, Choices.......

I know I should buy local, but I'm just so fixated on the 11' Munoz.......

Sounds like these things are the next level of stoke, may need to add one of these onto my quiver list, only just re-connected with a longboard and the glide is where it is at.

Good move going to Ross, have had a few boards off him over the years and they are very hard to go past for a custom board made by a bloke who tunes in to what you want very quickly, makes a very nice board and is good value.

Value is the key word here, not the cheapest and that's not what you want because that moves the goal posts on what is a personal item - value is getting an amazing product for a reasonable price.

I'm going to keep my eyes open for any 11 Munoz then.
SA - out of curiosity, how do you have your 11' finned?
I'm really quite surprised at where I ended up with the 12'

surfanimal said..

damned67 said..
I'm going to keep my eyes open for any 11 Munoz then.
SA - out of curiosity, how do you have your 11' finned?
I'm really quite surprised at where I ended up with the 12'

I like my Munoz best as a single using a 9 1/2 inch True Ames Nat Young fin.

When I got my 11'8 from Josh Hall he strongly suggested keeping the centre fin small if riding with side bites and I stuck with a 7 inch and small sides on that board which worked well.

Yes.
I like this quote from Skip Frye (who, as you know, loved a glider): "Ninety percent of the surfing public uses too much fin. Big fins just increase a board's drag. If you get rid of that extra fin area, you're going to trim so much faster and blast through sections. Over the years my fins have gotten smaller and smaller." (That's from here: www.surfer.com/features/wisdom-skip-frye/ )

And even though it has been posted about 20 times before, 15 or so by me... ..,. how good is this?

And the restrained snarl as he goes by,

surfanimal said..

damned67 said..
I'm going to keep my eyes open for any 11 Munoz then.
SA - out of curiosity, how do you have your 11' finned?
I'm really quite surprised at where I ended up with the 12'

I like my Munoz best as a single using a 9 1/2 inch True Ames Nat Young fin.

When I got my 11'8 from Josh Hall he strongly suggested keeping the centre fin small if riding with side bites and I stuck with a 7 inch and small sides on that board which worked well.

I found my 12' Munoz is at it's best (for my liking) with a 7.5" centre w/ side bites.
Tried a whole bunch of different single and 2+1 set ups and this set up ticked all the boxes.

So I went ahead and ordered the 11' Munoz from a local dealer. Figured if I'm not buying from a local shaper, I can at least buy from a local dealer so that they get a cut of the sale.
That choice is starting to look like a very poor decision on my behalf.
Dealer keeps saying 'should be here by Friday'... starting in August. Last week it was 'I chased them up, they told me Friday, hasn't arrived, so hopefully Monday'... still not here. Unless the Surftech distributor is crap at getting boards to their dealers, my gut tells me I'm being shafted by the local dealer. I'm gearing up to kiss that money goodbye.
FYI- I've tried to call the surftech distributor a couple of times, both later in the day, and forgot about daylight savings, so would have been closed... but how does that conversation even go? "Hey has Dealer X ordered one of these boards from you?" whats the chance of even getting an answer on that???? Yeah, I'm a little anxious and frustrated.

I should have hit up Josh Constable for one of his gliders - but I'm never going to be happy until I've got an 11' Munoz in my quiver.
You never know, it might turn up tomorrow.

... and now the anxiety about having to explain to the Minister of War and Finace how the board followed me home has kicked in.

Had the maiden voyage this morning!
I can't believe how light it is- it was quite shocking. My 12' 'oldtech' Munoz weighs a literal tonne, and my memory of the 11 footer I hired a couple of times in Waikiki was also a tonne of weight.
It's interesting that's it's somewhat different to the 12 footer. I've read here or elsewhere that the Munoz gliders (inc the 10.5') are not necessarily the 'same' board at different lengths, but essentially different boards to some extent.
Indeed, the new 11 footer has some nose concave that the 12 footer doesn't have - whether that's a literal difference between the 11 and 12' versions, or simply a design upgrade over the years, I don't know?

Had a great session on the board. Felt over-finned, so down sized the fins this arvo (really should've just pulled the fins out of the 12 footer, that might be the next step).
That said, the waves were pretty gutless this morning. According to my watch, my top speed was only 15kph. My experience with the 12 footer is that it really needs a bit of speed to really light up. Apples to oranges, of course. I'm guessing a bit more oomph in the waves will get this board going. Nonetheless, it was still super responsive, and surfs less like a 'glider' and more like a shorter board - ie much more than just trimming along the wave.

Interestingly, I could hear a couple of guys chatting about the board, 15-20 metres away. If it wasn't my first surf on it, I would've paddled over and given them a couple of waves on it... next time.
Planning on taking the family down the beach tomorrow morning, but we'll see what happens with tomorrow's wind forecast (12-15kt NW).