14' Jamie Mitchell LaHui Kai Surftech

[1paddle2paddle]

Displacement hull shapes also have a greater "roll rate" of stability than a planing hull.
(they can be rolled on their side a great deal and will recover back to flat)

That is probably true.  They can be designed for secondary stability, so even if the board is at an angle to the water you can recover (hopefully) and avoid going in the drink.

[XLR8]

I'm glad this has come around to a planing hull vs displacement hull because that is going to become the primary issue for me...I need to decide which will serve my purposes better.  I don't think I totally understand the design advantages of each and the situations where each can shine.

I have learned youtube is a good resource.  There is a very good video on there that was a link on the 14 Bark video where the videographer shows and discusses several different race boards, Barks, SIC, planing vs. displacement.

I'm going to spend my time deciding my position on the hull design before jumping into a buy.

[CMC]

I have paddled the proto of this board.  For a 14' it has amazing run and contrary to as stated above I did not find it tippy at all.  The deck scoop is extremely comfortable

Consider that this board has a lot more in relation to the (prone) paddle boards that Jamie has won Molokai on countless times.  It has a displacement nose for sure but like most of those boards it feeds to a planing hull.  I see a lot of the Lahui Kai designs in many other race boards which is natural when you consider Jamies dominance of the channel on Adrian Birses equipment.

In comparison to a Naish 14' if I was going to be paddling in big ocean conditions all of the time I would have trouble choosing, other than that I believe from paddling both on the same day in flat, still water that the Lahui Kai has considerably more glide and speed.

[XLR8]

That is great information and it sounds like you are saying this is almost a hybrid hull?

How does that translate into performance  on a distance trip where swell are occasionally large enough to surf for a distance before falling back into a strong paddling pattern?

I'm really interested in paddling this board when it becomes available in my area.

[DavidJohn]

You can get an idea of the tippyness of these boards at the 40 sec mark (and again at 2.12) in this vid.

DJ

[caseyg]

The one thing I noticed about my Bark 12'6 is it feels like it has training wheels. It seems somewhat tippy, but once it gets to a certain point it snaps back up. It definitely doesn't want to roll over.

[CMC]

That is great information and it sounds like you are saying this is almost a hybrid hull?

How does that translate into performance  on a distance trip where swell are occasionally large enough to surf for a distance before falling back into a strong paddling pattern?

I'm really interested in paddling this board when it becomes available in my area.

I'd recommend having a paddle on one, I don't have one personally as I am a tight wad and the shaper wouldnt part with one cheap and had none secondhand at that time but I really tried to get one.  I like this 14' board and in my last race just got pipped by a guy on one.  My only reprieve was that about 5 weeks earlier the same guy came 10th in the Molokai OC1 relay.

[1paddle2paddle]

I'm glad this has come around to a planing hull vs displacement hull because that is going to become the primary issue for me...I need to decide which will serve my purposes better.  I don't think I totally understand the design advantages of each and the situations where each can shine.

I have learned youtube is a good resource.  There is a very good video on there that was a link on the 14 Bark video where the videographer shows and discusses several different race boards, Barks, SIC, planing vs. displacement.

I'm going to spend my time deciding my position on the hull design before jumping into a buy.

I think if you are doing downwind primarily you want a board with some rocker (like the SIC boards) so that the board fits between the trough of the bumps and doesn't just want to bury the nose into the wave in front once you've caught a bump.  Watch those videos of the people doing the Maliko runs and you see how the SIC boards fit very well in the troughs of the waves allowing the paddlers to get very long rides on them (in addition to paddler skill).

But for anything other than downwind the displacement hull (flatter rocker) is probably going to be faster.  More rocker effectively shortens the water line and slows the board.

As others have posted, try as many boards as you can before you make your decision.

[mookdog]

Ive got a former BOP Lahui 12-6.  Tippy in moderate chop for me at 195 lbs.  Spend a lot of time just trying to stay up. 

[1paddle2paddle]

I saw a guy surfing(!) the Bark Surftech 14 Dominator (? definitely not the Expedition) out yesterday and the guy was able to turn the thing really well.  It amazed me how well the thing surfed on waves, being it appears to be a displacement-type hull shaped for racing rather than surfing.

[Mitchell]

That is the magic of a Bark board.

It cuts like a raceing hull and planes like a surf board. Uses a beautiful balance of speed and stability and great shaping to make a board that can do it all, and do it all very well.

[joemosq]

You can get an idea of the tippyness of these boards at the 40 sec mark (and again at 2.12) in this vid.

DJ

That is the 12'6" Surftech Lahui Kai Jamie Mitchell in the Video.  That was the first day I had the board and that was the first 5 minutes on the board.  At my size 6'2" 210 the board takes a little getting use to.  Due to the design of the board, it wants to go from rail to rail very quickly, so it seems tippy at first. The nice thing is that the board has amazing secondary stability so once you learn to trust it, you can really put the board up on an edge.

I have also had the chance to paddle the 14' Surftech Lahui Kai Jamie Mitchell and that board definitely had better primary stability for a paddler my size.

[DavidJohn]

You can get an idea of the tippyness of these boards at the 40 sec mark (and again at 2.12) in this vid.

DJ

That is the 12'6" Surftech Lahui Kai Jamie Mitchell in the Video.  That was the first day I had the board and that was the first 5 minutes on the board.  At my size 6'2" 210 the board takes a little getting use to.  Due to the design of the board, it wants to go from rail to rail very quickly, so it seems tippy at first. The nice thing is that the board has amazing secondary stability so once you learn to trust it, you can really put the board up on an edge.

I have also had the chance to paddle the 14' Surftech Lahui Kai Jamie Mitchell and that board definitely had better primary stability for a paddler my size.

I knew that but it just shows how those soft rounded rails make a board tip quickly even though there's a secondary stability.. My Javelin is the same.. It's something that you get used to.. or learn to live with.. but some beginners just jump off thinking it's going to tip over.. 

DJ

[1paddle2paddle]

Apparently SUP ATX will be distributing (the non-Surftech?) La Hui Kai boards in the US. 

http://www.supatx.com/lahuikai/

I wonder what the prices will be...

[caseyg]

I have ridden that board.  Here is a picture of me riding it (on the left).  You will see Slater Trout trying to give me some pointers on my stroke, but it was all I could do to stay on that board.  It was super tippy.