Author Topic: Naish 14' LE downwind video from Cape Town  (Read 2330 times)

peterp

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Naish 14' LE downwind video from Cape Town
« on: May 10, 2013, 03:27:36 AM »
Light wind, late season Milnerton - Big Bay run with about 15knots (gotta take what we get now).

Used a home-made back-cam pole mount and quite like the way you can get a feel for the throughs building up even on such a small day...

Naish 14' LE downwind run

Muskoka SUP

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Re: Naish 14' LE downwind video from Cape Town
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2013, 08:23:31 AM »
Thanks Peter.

That was nice to see....

Looks like the LE is a nice light wind downwinder...I guess the light weight helps as well as the narrowness...

Any thoughts on the LE vs. the standard Glide 14 for downwinding....? (especially the extra energy put into balancing a 23" wide board...).  Also how's the durability of the LE series proving to be...again given the trade off of a extra light carbon build.

Thanks again for all your time and effort in sharing the Cape Town scene...

Cheers

David S.
It ain't over until the fat board sinks....

covesurfer

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Re: Naish 14' LE downwind video from Cape Town
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2013, 08:54:42 AM »
Nice video and great camera angle. You can get a feel for the bumps, pretty cool! Thanks for posting!

Muskoka, there are several people riding the new 23" wide LE's here in the Gorge. For everything! I've ridden one in light conditions and found it surprisingly similar to my 2011 Javelin in terms of stability, even though it's narrower. For light wind downwinders, these race boards can be an absolute blast! Not sure about when it gets really windy unless you're really ready to push the balance envelope.

Several very good paddlers are riding the LE's in strong downwind conditions with bigger swells here. My observation is that they seem to fall a bit more and it appears difficult for them when they first get back on the board to balance before they pick up speed and get more stability. They seem to slow down when the chop gets nasty and comes from multiple directions. Frankly, it looks pretty tough.

In big conditions, I think the potential is there for an advantage on these kind of boards if you can figure out how to stay upright and into the glides. Personally, I'm too reluctant to go through the learning curve to get decent on a race rocket in bigger downwind stuff.

peterp

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Re: Naish 14' LE downwind video from Cape Town
« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2013, 09:37:29 AM »
We've had the LE since November and I have been riding it in most of the races and social downwinders over summer. When there is no cross-chop it's unbeatable - it just flies, accelerates onto runs with one-two strokes - incredible. Add cross-hop and its a horror show unless you have DNA of Kai Lenny - my 85kg (190pounds) and age probably don't help....

I'm faster on LE (than Glide 14') on our first half of our run and slower on the second, harder, half - overall time I estimate I'm 1-2minutes slower on the LE as the hard part is when you are beginning to tire.....

We have some youngsters weighing 60-75kg - they just fly through the choppy stuff as well. So in the end I think its down to talent...ie. weight of rider - if you are light then this board is incredible.

Whats nice about LE is that we've found that its as fast as the MC on flatwater provided the pilot is max75kg - we do 2x time-trials a week and I'm a fraction faster on the MC which I put down to the MC being more suited to my weight. If you are light this means you just need one board!

The Glide is still unbeatable for riders my size and up to, say, 100kg. I'm overall faster on the Glide as I can still find runs in the tricky parts where I'm bracing too much on the LE.

I have ridden the LE up to 50 knots and I barely fall off and it surfs really, really well as the rails are even more forgiving than the Glide, but you lose out in the choppy stuff - so again, if you are light enough, then there is no limit - it's fast in light and strong conditions.

Durability.....it's fragile, treat with care, look after and thou shall be rewarded....I've made a habit of checking entire board before I venture out too avoid water-logging it...

Muskoka SUP

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Re: Naish 14' LE downwind video from Cape Town
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2013, 09:55:25 AM »
Thanks Peter and Covesurfer..

Nice to get some feedback for a reality check... ;D.

I love my 2012 Glide 14,  it's an amazingly refined downwind board.  What I'm looking for is an open water board that would be suitable for light wind downwinders...short list includes a 14 Jav, the Fanatic Falcon 14 x 25 and the new 404 14' LTD.  http://404sup.com/boards/404-ltd/

Anyways, back to the regular programming...sorry for the segue from your video stoke Peter.
Please keep them coming!

David S.
« Last Edit: May 10, 2013, 10:15:05 AM by Muskoka SUP »
It ain't over until the fat board sinks....

Argosi

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Re: Naish 14' LE downwind video from Cape Town
« Reply #5 on: May 15, 2013, 10:02:04 PM »
Nice camera angle. It works better than I would've thought - the shakes are not too bad even though the camera is high above you.

It's amazing how lots of folks are moving to narrower boards this year. Ryan Helm did very well at the Carolina Cup on a 22" wide board. This race had downwind and side wind ocean conditions as well as flat water. A lot of the top 10 guys there had very narrow boards as well.

 


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