Downwinding the SICMaui Bullet 17v1 - VID

[Off-Shore]

The Port Shelter Express Downwind Run in Sai Kung is one of the best downwind runs in Hong Kong and works in Northerly or NNW or NNE winds. Conditions get bigger along the run. This time last year we were in wetsuits, so we were lucky to be still in shorts and paddle tops

This was filmed riding my buddies SICMaui Bullet 17v1. Also shown is the NSP DC 17'10 Travis Grant Molokai downwind board which he has replaced it with and is hard to keep up with.. I'm hoping to try it out one day.. It's narrow and tippy though...

Didn't fall on the run... but did launching on some slippy rubberized jetty steps. Luckily board, paddle and myself survived... as they were rubberized..

Sadly the day after I shot this we had our first ever Downwind Race organised by HKSUPBA on this same run, and there was hardly any wind (after a week of wind). We still ran the race and it was good fun.

I've left adding any music to this one, as the sound quality on the GoPro Hero 5 is not that bad, and I know some prefer just to hear the sounds of the wind and waves..


Sail Systems 3rd Person Mount + GoPro Hero 5

[Area 10]

Yeah I think that style of board is built more for control in big conditions than speed in little ones. The NSP will probably have less drag.

[SUPflorida]

Your friend on the NSP looks like he is putting in much less effort. It may just be the particular times he is in camera view... and he is backing off so the two of you could stay together... but your stroke rate and perceived level of effort appear to be significantly higher on the SIC throughout the run. Is the NSP the 24.5" or 26" wide model? Look forward to your impressions between the two when you get a chance to swap boards.

[Off-Shore]

Yeah I think that style of board is built more for control in big conditions than speed in little ones. The NSP will probably have less drag.

Yes, the Bullet 17v1 is built for open ocean downwinding, and by far my most favourite board in those conditions (including over my SICMaui F16v3). These conditions in the 2nd half of the vid were marginal for it, but nonetheless fun. The narrower NSP is just way faster.

Your friend on the NSP looks like he is putting in much less effort. It may just be the particular times he is in camera view... and he is backing off so the two of you could stay together... but your stroke rate and perceived level of effort appear to be significantly higher on the SIC throughout the run. Is the NSP the 24.5" or 26" wide model? Look forward to your impressions between the two when you get a chance to swap boards.

Yeah, he was holding back waiting for me to catch up at regular intervals. We do this primarily for safety in case we have equipment failure. It is the 24.5" version and no matter what board he is on, he's a very strong paddler and is always ahead of me! It's only when the conditions get really big that I can match his pace, and then it is only for a mile or so. What I've noticed when moving up to this size of board from say a Bullet 14 or Starboard Ace 14, is the shear mass and friction you have to push forward to get it on the plane. Once you are on the plane then it has great momentum to carry you forward though.. and you get that "majestic" feel when it really gets going. Then you feel your are on some sort of comfortable Rolls Royce compared to the smaller sports car 14's.. 

[Area 10]

IMO the Bullet style of board only really starts to make sense in 25-30 knots and above unless maybe you are in deep waters with long period swell. Many people would probably be just as fast or maybe even faster on a low drag lowish rocker 14 like the Ace in the conditions in this video. These big rockered boards need a lot of grunt to get them moving unless you have the wind to do it for you. It would be interesting to see the UL Starboard Ace GT against the NSP in these conditions.

[Off-Shore]

IMO the Bullet style of board only really starts to make sense in 25-30 knots and above unless maybe you are in deep waters with long period swell. Many people would probably be just as fast or maybe even faster on a low drag lowish rocker 14 like the Ace in the conditions in this video. These big rockered boards need a lot of grunt to get them moving unless you have the wind to do it for you. It would be interesting to see the UL Starboard Ace GT against the NSP in these conditions.

Area. Agreed completely. I'd be faster on my 2017 Starboard Ace 14 x 27 in these conditions. So much easier to accelerate and less effort overall. It would be interesting to see the Ace GT though against the NSP in these conditions. My money would be on the Ace

[Night Wing]

@Off-Shore

That was nice video. Although I don't do downwinding, I like to watch people like you (and others), put those DW board through their paces. Wish we had waves and wind conditions like that where I sup surf on the upper Texas coast where I hang out at.

Thanks for sharing the video.

[Badger]

Wish we had waves and wind conditions like that where I sup surf on the upper Texas coast where I hang out at.

Galveston and Trinity Bays look like good downwind spots.

You can tanker surf there too. This would be awesome on a downwind board.

[PonoBill]

Big V1's are 17.5' of pain in anything but solid downwind conditions. I've raced mine in light wind and no wind conditions and I'd rather be on anything else. Even the wider (but flatter) V2 is better in little bumps.

Doesn't need to be long-period if you have enough runs in short-period, high wind to get used to the level of activity required. I like my V1 just fine on Viento runs, and they are always short period bumps. Super short compared to Maliko. The rudder gets a lot of use, and you have to commit to doing everything necessary to keep the nose out of the wave in front, but they are fast and fun. The rocker is just right for quartering across a big, hollow, Columbia River windswell. Just not easy, or rather, it's not intuitive--it takes a little practice to get it right and you have to be turning all the time. But when the wind is blowing 35 gusting to 45 it's a magic carpet.

[Eagle]

Even in 15-20 kts the Bullet 17.4 is faster than all the 14s up Squamish way.  It just glides more and does not bog into the back of waves as much.  It just crushes over anything in front of it.  And glides away as in the vid.  With the steering it is just so easy to maneuver the board into the power band of the waves.  It is like cheating.  The paddle effort feels to me about 50% vs a 14 to go a similar speed. 

As the winds build to 20-25 -> it becomes even easier.  You just steer and pull away from the 14s.  The first time I tried that board I went about the same speed as the F16s.  The second time I pulled away from them all easily -> with the exception of one.  Our most experienced DW rider who paddles Maliko runs all the time.  He found the fast line and glided on every power face to stay ahead of me.  That run I got the 17.4 to plane - but it took massive paddle effort to get the board to unstick.  It is a real glide monster that provides a supremely majestic ride in lesser conditions.  That narrower DSP looks the ticket in those milder conditions by far.  The 26.5 is very wide and stable.  And I was able to stay dry both runs without effort.  The 17.4 is a super nice board and much easier for me to ride than a Bullet 14V2.  The 14V2 is like a Boxster that requires more finesse to eke out speed.  Whereas the 17.4 like a big Benz on the autobahn.  Both boards are very fun -> but the original carbon Bullet 14 fixed fin is the best for me in those moderate conditions.

[Area 10]

Interesting to see that 25/87 paddlers in the 2016 King of the Cut DW race in Australia were on Unlimited boards. Nearly 30% unlimiteds. I don't know the stats but surely that is more than last year? This could be the start of the return of unlimiteds. Then we will see some rapid changes in design and my suspicion is that we'll see more boards that are like long versions of 14s rather than Hawaiian-style heavily-rockered "surfboard" type shapes, so that they are faster in small conditions and lighter winds (and flat water). Most people probably don't need the complication of a rudder either. I've been using a fixed fin 16 for most of my paddling recently (and indeed, a lot of my surfing too), and it is incredible how quickly a 16ft board starts to feel natural and 14s feel a short and compromised design.

[PonoBill]

14"s ARE a short and compromised design.

[Night Wing]

@Badger

I'll have to check out Galveston and Trinity bays. As for tanker surfing, I've been looking at it on YouTube. In order to catch a wave, it would be nice beforehand to know a tanker's schedule when a tanker is coming through the Galveston Ship Channel. So I've done a little "surfing around" on the internet for a marine traffic site that might be of use for me and I ran across the Marine Traffic site link below.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-95/centery:29/zoom:9

BTW, nice video. Thanks for sharing it.

[Badger]

NW - Great link for anyone in that area. It even gives the ship name so you can look it up and decide if it will give a good wake. The ones I followed on the map were doing 12 knots entering and leaving the bay. I wish we had a place like that up here. It would be a blast riding those waves on a warm glassy morning. My M-12'6 would be the perfect board for it.

.

[yugi]

dunno, but 12 kn is typically the speed at which they don;t kick up a nice wake.

The real trick is to get tight with the regular ship captains so they slam on the gas when they see you're lining up. Our local skippers do. We've trained them well the last 4 years.