A few shots of V3

[headmount]

Standing on Stephen's V2 and shooting him on the new V3, while gliding, wasn't easy but doable.  This bigger shot came out pretty clear.  Was stoked.  Just had my Nikon AW1 hanging around my neck by it's strap.  Shot at 1/250 shutter priority since shake is considerable out there.  Southside run. 

Stephen is from Alberta and a great skier that has transferred his ability to read fall lines to reading surface conditions on a DWder.

V3 was a trip.  The nose was spectacular for those unintended moments when the front end buries.  Almost OC-like, with litte loss of speed and most importantly little nose grab, which on larger front end boards can chuck you or at the very least strain your quads and wear you out on a long run.  The nose does this by being whittled away significantly in the front with both profile and volume.  Downside of nose is lack of tracking while parallel by rudder so that board turned a bit with even just one strong stroke.  But this could be corrected by surf stance back even just a little bit.  Then it tracked well.  Certainly a bit more squirrely on side to side balance but no falls even for my 190.  On big glides, back even farther, surfing was spectacular. 

Cameras always slow a run down so when conditions got excellent, the camera got put into my camelback so we could let it rip.  These pics are in the beginning just as fetch is building into small glides.  We traded off a few times to get good comparison.

[SUPflorida]

V3 SIC....what Model & Length? Quite a departure in nose volume as you say...a move in the opposite direction from what has become the norm...from your discription it sounds like it would be more of a pure downwind surf oriented board than their killer open ocean race orinented boards... Hot looking board.

[headmount]

V3 SIC....what Model & Length? Quite a departure in nose volume as you say...a move in the opposite direction from what has become the norm...from your discription it sounds like it would be more of a pure downwind surf oriented board than their killer open ocean race orinented boards... Hot looking board.

17' Bullet

[yugi]

I like the V3 nose. Does the 14' Bullet V3 have a similar one?

I’m a huge fan of sleek pointy noses in DW boards. I’ve owned Jimmy Lewis M14 and have a Rogue Rage, both which already had pretty sleek pointy noses. The Rogue Rage was early to adopt a less rockered outline. Both poke and then rise up through water without losing much speed or pulling sideways.

I took some (as many as I could) Naval Architecture courses on the side of my major in University as I raced sailing and my school had a great Naval Architecture dept. One reputed yacht designer guest lecturer spent his a whole lecture on esthetics. A good yacht should look good was his message, and often are fast too just BTW. Boof noses never really did it for me. Never liked the look, figured they suck in cross winds and actually find they slam too much when going against serious chop or waves.

I’ve recently tried a local company prototype (2017) 14’x26 DW board with extreme low nose volume (low rocker too). It works great DW. Pokes and emerges without scrubbing speed. Similar effect upwind when faced with a wave.  Pokes through elegantly instead of slamming. It has a hard rail right to the tip which works wonders when carving down the line. Sidewind is awesome with minimal effect of wind pushing nose downwind. It’s a nervous board being so narrow but becomes stable at speed. It’s quick so is also quickly stable. Just no snoozing when aboard. Similar to a Naish Jav x26 in ride but with sleeker pointy nose. A downside is the flex in the nose due to being so slim. Next prototype is going address this, keeping same low volume. You can see it here in action (white board). Sorry for the lazy (single sequence) and long video, I do mean to make a proper edit of it. It’s a simple segment of a 20 mile run. Wind dropping as Murphy would have it. Nice light and a fun long ride.

Skip to 4:00 for some better side views of the proto.
   

[yugi]

...
 Quite a departure in nose volume as you say...a move in the opposite direction from what has become the norm...

Methinks your said norm may be old school already.

BTW: my hope for 2016 Naish Javelins is the nose volume goes down. Some of the photos of protos seemed to suggest this. That said I'm jonesing for Focus Bluefin as is. More affordable.

[Eagle]

This may be an optimized DW design for a fast production 14 > put the more pointy M-14 nose on the lower rocker Bullet 14V2.  Blend the attributes of both > M-14 volume and stability - with 14V2 weight and speed.

The M-14 low nose profile is a big plus when planing across waves.  On the 14V2 you can just feel a slight push where the M-14 is neutral with no correction necessary.

Use the centered volume distribution of the M-14 that pushes you into a narrower stance position - and add the low friction fast underbody of the 14V2.  Of course use the easy grab SIC handle and lighter weight SCC > and you would have a near perfect DW 14 for the masses.

Essentially a carbon M-14 that is faster and easier to plane > or a 290L 14V2 that is more stable and less nose heavy for riders 200+.  Width maybe 26.5".

[headmount]

Don't know if 14V3 has similar nose.  Don't even know if there is a 14V3.  Haven't heard about one.  I think SIC usually works from the longest  down since the biggest draw here is the 17's. 

In any case the whittled out nose on the 17' we tried was a double edge sword.  Great on handling with all the poke factors but prone to 'spinning' or loss of tracking when standing in the middle.  Standing back a little solves this but different from how I usually ride so it was an adjustment. 

The shape is more like a clean ship but ships are usually powered from the back.  Dave has the same sort of outline but his board is a scary 19'.  Maybe more length inhibits the spin from the middle.  Scary because 17 seems pretty long to me.  Just carrying the damn thing around on land in strong wind can be tough. 

It's going to be interesting to see how these designs shake out.  I think they're close and after several runs in an OC and once in a surfski, I can dig where's it's going.

[Chilly]

Headmount, this is a Bullet 14 V3. Looks familiar?

[headmount]

Sorry, shoulda shot the two from the nose back because that's where the big difference is.  V3 is of course narrower than V2 (28") .  V3 has this double barrel which is noticeably fast when it releases.  Both have low rocker outlines but there's a little kicker in the tail of V3.  V3 has harder rails than V1 or V2.  I like the more tucked rails on my V1 but the V2 has the best rails. 

My personal board (not pictured) is a V1 and is really in between the design of V2 and V3.  V1 has a friendlier nose rocker and is honed out in the front more than V2 but not as much as V3.  I love the V1 but have had it for around 5yrs and guess you get used to anything after so long.  But the nose on my V1 will rip me off the road if I let it hit hard or go under water, so that was a very welcome change in V3. 

Maybe the weight center in V3 is back from mathematical length center, I forgot to check that. 

[headmount]

Headmount, this is a Bullet 14 V3. Looks familiar?

Ha, You bought it from Andrew?

[headmount]

I guess V3 in the 14' version means the hollow molded one which is only difference for 14V2.  Chilly's pic is my old board.  No new whittled out nose on that 14'. 

This 17' V3 is a departure in design profile and volume.  Not in 14' version and probably won't be.  14 doesn't seem conducive to this kind of nose, not in big ocean water.

I liked that 14 in good gliding conditions but in rough choppy, side or lighter winds, it was a handful for my 190.  Seen smaller guys do much better on them.

[Chilly]

Headmount, this is a Bullet 14 V3. Looks familiar?

Ha, You bought it from Andrew?

I wish that was my board. I just thought it was funny that you didn’t realize you owned a 14 V3.
 
 Hollow and a little narrower than the production 14 V2.

[Eagle]

Here is some info on the Bullet 14V3 -

http://www.standuppaddlesurf.net/2014/05/03/s-i-c-bullet-14-v3-sup-race-board-review/

http://www.sicmauicustom.com/products/maui-made-custom-bullet-14-v3

[yugi]

This may be an optimized DW design for a fast production 14 > put the more pointy M-14 nose on the lower rocker Bullet 14V2.  Blend the attributes of both > M-14 volume and stability - with 14V2 weight and speed.

The M-14 low nose profile is a big plus when planing across waves.  On the 14V2 you can just feel a slight push where the M-14 is neutral with no correction necessary.

Use the centered volume distribution of the M-14 that pushes you into a narrower stance position - and add the low friction fast underbody of the 14V2.  Of course use the easy grab SIC handle and lighter weight SCC > and you would have a near perfect DW 14 for the masses.

Essentially a carbon M-14 that is faster and easier to plane > or a 290L 14V2 that is more stable and less nose heavy for riders 200+.  Width maybe 26.5".

agreed. So who is going to write to Jimmy?

[headmount]

I paddle with him often