Cheers all
I chopped the board more than a year ago but only lately have been able to try it out.
A few random comments and answers to questions in the thread.
I cut out too much nose volume - it needs heaps of sail power to waterstart/get up on foil so once I'm flying I have to deal with greater than ideal sail area for the conditions - in the vid I'm using a 4.5m in 25 knot gusts.
The rough board bottom/exposed bolts no doubt adds to the drag.
Height control is not hard to maintain but the board is definitely more twitchy in the gybes - but super loose and crazy fun, worth trying if you have an old board lying around.
I don't think I'd get a new board built to a similar length even with more nose volume.
Lack of ability to slog back if the wind drops means I wouldn't feel confident using it often enough in the ocean to justify the cost - and I'm super happy with the W114 and Freestyle 87 that I have.
Also, in big seas a little nose to help bounce back up if I drop off foil down a wave and some swing-weight to steady things up are probably good things.
The bolts are temporarily drilled through the board and unsealed so will take on water - I'll epoxy them in. They're just galvanized so will rust at some point but will probably outlive the board. The bolt-heads work pretty well to stop my foot slipping.
A few dudes have asked about the GoPro mount - pretty straight forward. You notice the weight with a smaller sail and dealing with shorebreak is tricky
