Need board advice! C4 Vortice (bw) vs C4 Holoholo?

[Mcnally78]

I am semi new and currently have a 11' all arounder by jimmy lewis. I currently do flatwater and a small bit of surfing with it. I plan to keep that as a surf setup and get a flatwater specific board. I paddle by myself or with my girl friend who is in a kayak. My jimmy lewis has a hard time keeping up. I am on west coast of florida and have wind to deal with. My jl's nose has little rocker and gets bogged down super easy. Even with wind at my back, and me standing further back on the board, it has a hard time in some situations staying above water. This is why I was looking at the vortice by board works. I liked the turned up nose. Some people have complained about that, saying it caught the wind and gave them some problems. I both read and watched c4 videos saying to step a little forward to fix that. I am 198lbs and 5'11" so it should hold my wieght. I wish it had some tie downs for a small bag to be pinned to the front. I heard that all c4 boards have paddle strap mounts on the foam deck. These look like leash plug mounts and i thought I could attach my drybag holding my gps to that maybe? Any ideas for storage would be awesome. 14 feet long would also give me a faster and more stroke per side experience I think. It seems like a good choice.
The holoholo is similar in shape with a lower rake on the nose. It has screw mounts for storage options and the nose is a little wider. This would help with storage. I think it is slower because of it's 12 foot length and slightly wider profile. It can be surfed, which is a plus, but it is pretty big to do anything too crazy.
Both boards are kind of similar and have their advantages. I am set on the brand because I have a fiend who can hook me up. I just want to make a good choice, so I don't have to do it over too soon. I read this forum very often and value any input you all have. Thanks for your time. chris

[Dwight (DW)]

You're right about the leash plugs working well for attaching things.

Here is what I found when comparing the two boards between me and the wife.

At my wife's weight, the Holoholo looks exactly like a Vortice, nose scoop and all. It even paddles with similar speed.

At my weight, the Holoholo is slower and the nose rides low.

So with me on the Vortice, and the wife on the Holoholo, we look like twins.

Therefore, for your weight, I'd say Vortice is what you want.

And if you feel like a road trip, I've got one for sale cheap.

[Tom]

Both boards are pretty much designed for down winders, especially the Vortice with alot of nose rocker. You might want to look into the Nash glide or the Hobie race boards.

[greatdane]

FYI: My C4 Vortice Boardworks had no tie down points... just one leash plug at the rear. It had a hand-hold in the middle of the deck.  Maybe the new ones have tie downs?  I am 6'1" and 180 and the Vortice was plenty floaty for me... and suprisingly very stable for it's width.

[SD Ryan]

I'm 170ish lbs (a bit more with wetsuit) and have paddled both boards extensively.  The Vortice is wider and has a lot more nose rocker.  It also has a more 'bulbous' nose.  That comes in useful when doing a downwinder or paddling in strong chop.  The Holoholo has a much flatter rocker which can semi-perl if the chop is large enough but do to the lower rocker it ends up having nearly the same waterline as the Vortice.  In my opinion, in completely flat water with no wind the Holoholo is faster by a noticeable amount.  In heavy shop and/or downwind swells I think the Vortice is faster and will be easier to paddle because it is more stable. 

It's nearly impossible to really surf the Vortice.  The Holoholo surfs like a gigantic old-school longboard (set trim and go straight) but it's a lot of fun to paddle it distance up the coast catching occasional waves as you go.  It actually surfs surprisingly good for a 'cruising' board but you definitely would not choose it for a day when you only wanted to ride waves.

The Holoholo has places to attach bungies in various locations around the deck.  The Vortice does not.  Both have a handle and sort-of leash plugs in line with the handle where you can attach your paddle to make it easy to carry.

The Hololo is 12' (IIRC) while the Vortice is 14' (IIRC).  The Holoholo fits in my van, the Vortice fits if I let the nose poke out the window.  The Holoholo is easier to carry.

My personal preference is usually for the Holoholo.  I have a Bark UL 18'6" that I race on but I often grab the Holoholo when I'm just putting in time to train because it's easier to deal with.

In most conditions I'm faster on the Holoholo than I am on the Vortice.

I used a Vortice at the Battle of the Paddle and beat people on 'faster' boards because they kept falling off and I stayed upright the entire race.  Having said that, if there had not been such rough conditions I think I would have been faster on a Holoholo.

Hopefully this feedback is useful to you.  Let me know if you have any questions. 

For what it's worth, I think C4 makes incredible boards and paddles.  For being just one company it's really impressive that they have such a wide range of boards (from surf to cruise to race) that are so universally used and liked.  Their gear works, it lasts, and the company is heavily involved in supporting 'our' community.  OK, I'm off my soapbox...

You'll like either board, Hololo or Vortice, have fun!

[Mcnally78]

Thanks for the info , that helps quite a bit. I plan to do some distance, maybe race, and try to keep up with my girl friend in a kayak. We have some windy weather which produces some choppy water. I want to do some "down winder" stuff, but it is not like the traditional style. We don't have big rolling waves here, just smaller ones that are closer together. I have read that some people don't like the turned up nose on the vortice. They also seem to be on primarily flat water or lakes. I think the wind may effect the nose , but may also help the waves it produces. I will also do a lot of river and flatwater distance. This would be great for the holoholo. I love the tie down options. I am torn between the two. Has anyone used those 3m sticky anchor systems which can be used to attach gear? Anyone have any ideas how to do that another way? I now use a camelbak waist bag which I store anything I need for a small outing. Storage isn't super important, but nice to have as a option.

[greatdane]

If you check out the Gallery section, 2nd page of the Gear section, I posted pics of a great water bottle holder I mounted on my Vortice that I made out of extra deck pad & bungie cord.  Later I made a bigger tie-down system for a life-jacket or dry bag out of the same stuff.  It held up very well and cost about $8.

I suspect the 3M stuff works good too as this is the same adhesive thats on my extra deck pad.