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I absolutely love my sidewinder.  I posted a review of the 14x25 Sidewinder in the gear review section.

I absolutely love the Sidewinder. I posted a review of the Sidewinder in the Gear talk / SUP gear review section. Enjoy.

The Jimmy Lewis Sidewinder is intended to be a 2017 model in the US. It's already available in Europe and a few have been shipped to Canada and even fewer in California. I accidentally have the only one in the rest of the mainland USA.  A few months ago a friend invited me to help Rep for Jimmy Lewis Boards in Florida. One of the benefits has been that  I became the caretaker of a 14'x25" Sidewinder left behind after the Carolina Cup by a young European Pro . I will be bringing it to Surf Expo in September.

To give you my background, I have been a recreational SUP racer, surfer, explorer  for the past 10 years.  I'm 51 years old, have a family, maintain an 8-5 desk job, and despite losing 50 pounds in 10 years, I am still 190 pounds and probably have 15 pounds more to lose.  All that is to say I am definitely not a pro level paddler. Still I train regularly and get out on the water surfing and racing enough to have plenty of fun. I have decent form as Paddle Fit Pro and Kalama Kamp devotee.  I also had a weekend mobile lesson business, and have taught dozens of people to get started in the sport and plenty have gone on into racing.  Over the past 10 years I have owned more than a dozen different race boards from at least as many different brands and demoed plenty more. I have tried race boards of nearly every size and shape but my favorite have been bulbous nosed boards based on prone board shapes. I especially like the way they get up on a semi-plane so easily. They never feel down in the whole. They get up to top speed easily with partial effort and adding full effort they ride up on top of the water far better than any other shape. They seem to catch every bump and every bit of energy in the water going your way without penalizing you in the opposite direction. I don't know how it's possible, but they seem to go up over everything against you and yet get sucked into everything going with you. It took a little effort to learn to paddle that way but it became addictive.

Prior to owning the Sidewinder I would have told you that  bulbous nose boards were not without obvious drawbacks. For one, most were quite heavy compared to displacement boards, making them tiring on flat water. They could be as fast as displacement boards in the flats but carrying the extra weight took extra effort. Next, most used a a pin tail prone board shape in order to keep their speed. The pin tail made it nearly impossible for me to control a buoy turn, and took away a lot of stability. The combination of a rounded nose and a pin tail creates a floaty feel  that  takes months to get used to. Even more, they are especially difficult to stand on in side chop. The same boards that I loved in upwind, downwind and quartering conditions, I loathed in side-chop. The result was that as much as I loved being on a bulbous nose board in my training, where I could pick the direction of my paddling, I very often handicapped myself in races involving side chop or significant buoy turns. Occasionally, I would get to a race and borrow a board just to be able to survive rough side chop. That has all changed with the Sidewinder!

The Sidewinder combines a prone style bulbous nose and outline with a more traditional SUP race tail shape. I have owned other boards that have attempted to do just that, but they ended up being horribly slow in all but pure downwind conditions; and they didn't handle as well as true downwind boards. I was beginning to think it was impossible to create an all conditions race board with a bulbous nose, but the Sidewinder has changed my mind.

After living with the Sidewinder now for a few months, my opinion is that the Sidewinder offers all the benefits of a bulbous nosed board without any of the drawbacks. As expected the rounded bulbous nose stays up on the surface of the water always ready to go. There is no effort wasted getting out of the whole and you can paddle at high cadence or slower cadence and still keep it up on semi-plane. It is not intended to be a downwind board for technical spots like Maliko. Jimmy Lewis and others offer great choices in that category. But as a race board that will be asked to go downwind in small and moderate conditions, it is a blast! In a recent local race, I was definitely not the best paddler, but I was the first board to complete the downwind leg because of the Sidewinder's downwind ability. Turning around and grinding it home against the wind, I did get passed by a few stronger paddlers, but I won my division and was happy to be on a board capable of getting up over the swell and not getting slammed around by small whitecaps. Even the wind  wraps around the nose better than it does on a displacement board. Just as important, side chop is not a problem for the Sidewinder. The rounded nose and rails allow side waves to pass over the board with less resistance than the broad side of a displacement board and the stability of the board is still as expected regardless of the direction you are paddling. In the 3 races I have entered, I have paddled better on the Sidewinder than on any other board I have used regardless of conditions.

Another surprising feature of the Sidewinder is that it is very light with just the right stiffness. Jimmy Lewis has tweaked their carbon construction and this board is definitely lighter than you would expect, but at no point does it ever feel flimsy or flexy. The result is a board that flies across flat water.  Granted I am more experienced on the bulbous nosed shapes, but I am faster on flat water on the Sidewinder than on any other board I have tried even displacement boards designed for flat water sprints.

As you can see I am super excited about the Sidewinder! For me it is the holy grail of a bulbous nosed board without any drawbacks. My race times have been a full 1/2mph faster on this board than any other race board I have tried in any shape.  Since I am willing to own two race boards at a time I intend to buy a second Sidewinder in another size;  that is, as long as they let me keep this one, otherwise I will be buying two of them. In the past I have been most comfortable on 14' race boards between 25" and 27.5" wide depending on the conditions and the stability of the board. The Sidewinder is more forgiving than most boards. If you are in the same category as me you will immediately be comfortable on the 14'x25" model. In 2017 the Sidewinder will be available 23", 25", 27" or 29" wide in 12'6" or 14' length. For the conditions in my area (Tampa Bay and the Gulf) I plan on owning the 14'x25" for most days and a 12"6"x27" for the really rough days or to lend to my wife or other newer racers. The all out pros and agile lightweight riders will want the 23" wide models, and big guys will want the 27" and 29" models.

I am anxious to see how this board is received by the SUP world. Nearly every racer that has demoed it from me has raved about it. If you are headed to the demo at Surf Expo in September make sure you give it a try. Jimmy Lewis dealers should be able to get there hands on them shortly after that.

Aloha,
Kurt...

I wouldn't be afraid to try that "single androgenous board."  The early YOLO race boards were designed by Steve Brom and were really some of the best designs at that time, and really shined in open water. ( I owned a custom one and miss it allthough I grew out of the 29" width.) When YOLO brought on EJ as their spokesmen/racer they had several additional models designed by EJ's friend and long time shaper Brian Syzmanski. While Syzmanski may be the best shaper of race boards today, the designs he did for YOLO were really not better than Brom's just different boards for different conditions. Now YOLO is back with a new Brom design and I'll bet it's better than anything before. YOLO is not the only company to put all their eggs in one basket as you will see Fanatic and others have done the same thing. If the dimensions seem good for you then go get a test drive and report back to us. I bet it's very good.

I'm a Florida West Coaster. I would agree they are both good boards. Naish has the better reputation for performance oriented designs all though you won't find any complaints about an Amundson. If camping and or traveling loaded down is your thing I might save a little money and buy that high volume Amundson touring board. Nick Bjork the owner of Solstice Sports in Tampa carries them both. Tell him Kurt Forster sent you.

So this thread has gotten so big that I doubt anyone could come to the Forum and get to the main arguments without investing an hour or more of reading. Perhaps I could sum things up by saying that some paddlers have an advantage over others when we stick everyone in the same board length limits. And just about every solution comes with a disadvantage to some other group or at least a limit of board design and possibly personal freedom or at least creativity or preference.

Jim Terrell's argument (posted up on supracer.com) is really more about preventing the sport from becoming so elite that new comers can't or won't come join us in our races. I think he makes a very important point. The truth is race boards are getting narrower and narrower to the point that new comers will have a hard time getting into racing.

I've owned at least 6 race boards between 12'6" and 17'6" but the real issue each time has been about the width.  Now I've settled into getting a new board each year, mostly because I am ready for the next narrower step. The truth is some of my friends who have raced are already feeling squeezed out of the fun because they can't get to the next narrower step. It seems like only those with a watersports background or lifestyle are able to keep going narrower.

5 Years ago, when I moved to race boards from all purpose boards there were plenty of choices 30" wide even some 31". Today the widest 12'6" or 14' all purpose race board Starboard sells is 27.5" and their widest board for calm flatwater is 25". Kai Lenney is now racing on a 23" wide board. We are almost at the point now where new paddlers won't be able to make the switch to race boards and when they do enter on an older wider design they are at such a disadvantage that they miss out on much of the fun and get discouraged. Who wants to get into a sport with a 5 or more year learning curve using second hand equipment.

To me the biggest issue we need to consider limiting is the width. I don't care what reasonable length or lengths we settle as long as it fits in a surf shop, in a garage, and on top of a car people will do it. Tell me the race is limited to 12'6", Jim Terrell's suggested 13'1", 14', or whatever and I'm there.  I don't really care about a weight limit, there isn't that much advantage in a 10 or 20% weight difference to discourage the new racer who can't afford the latest lightweight material. And as far as the recessed decks it hasn't been a problem yet although Jim has an important point. This sport's connection with the "boardsports industry" keeps it relevant. If we end up on standup canoes, I agree we will lose the connection with general public that the sport needs to grow.  

As much as I hate limits to anything in life I hope we can keep SUP racing on a SUP that a reasonably athletic guy or gal can get on and go with a little instruction.

I've owned race boards 17'6". 15', several 14's, and a 12'6". The truth is I would probably be at my best on something around 16' or just under 17'. I'm really not strong enough to pull an unlimited 18"+ through the water all the time but at 190 lbs I'de be faster on something a little longer than 14.  The only thing that prevents me from ordering a custom 16 from Infinity or 16'8" from Speedboard, is the resale issue. Most unlimited buyers are going to want something around 18+ so I'de be stuck with the odd length board when I was ready to change things up, which in my case is about once a year. Still it would be fun to be on the board most closely matched to my size and strength.  If there were no board length limits it would probably help the custom guys sell a lot more odd size boards but I think it would reduce the number of newbies who buy their first race board off the shelf and we need newbies for this sport to continue to grow. The truth is those of us who have an idea for an odd size board should really just go with it. They won't let you in the BOP with it but there is a place for every size board in most local races.

If anyone is interested in a novice perspective. Here's my report from my first OluKai race and really my first Maliko run:

I spent the week participating in another great Kalama Kamp and the first in Maui as preperation for the race. Unfortunately there were no downwind conditions anywhere on the island all week so the race was my first downwind Maliko run, but not my first downwinder.

Anyway we paddled out to the start line and the conditions were beyond anything I had been in before. I remember thinking on the paddle out: "There is no way I would be out here alone." The open water near Maui is so much more active than it is back home on the Gulf of Mexico.

I was still about 400 yards back from the start line when the field began to move for a silent start. For the first 2 miles I was really just getting used to the conditions and catching a few small glides. By the middle 3 or 4 miles Dave's coaching kicked in and I was linking some glides and caught up to a pack of strong amateur paddlers. When I should have followed them in over the reef I headed back out thinking there is no way I should be going over there with the size of the swell. I guess I was expecting a defined channel or something. Anyway, after wasting 15 minutes heading out about 90 degrees away from the beach finish , I realized I needed to go in at any spot I could. I was just getting tossed around, and the swell was now breaking on the reef ahead of me. Just then a kid maybe 12 years old paddled near me to ask where to go in. I pointed out a spot and we headed in.

By that point I had lost my focus and was just surviving not racing. I fell 3 or 4 times over the reef before I got it back together and decided I needed to act like I was in a race again. I passed a few people in the last 1000 yards and finished in 1:33. It was a great experience that I hope to do again. Special thanks to Dave Kalama for all the coaching and to my family for supporting me in my crazy paddle adventures.

I own the custom x-14 for sale in the classified section a d have demoed the production x-12. They make really nice all purpose boards that go fast enough in flat water and even faster in mild to moderate downwind situations. As race boards they really only have an advantage in open water or rough conditions a lot of other flat water race boards are faster in flat water. If you want an all purpose board that races well and downwinds well these are great. Or if you are frustrated with a downwind board that feels too slow in flat water these would be great. But if you want to win a flat water race this may not be the right board.

Sup'n with Jesus sounds pretty awesome to me.

That Yolo is a goot ride and classy!

2 of us who are around 200 pounds tested both prowlers with a gps and we both found the 29" board to be faster in moderate chop. And the very fastest would be to buy my custom carbon YOLO Prowler 14x29" which is far lighter and stiffer than the production boards and would cost you less as well. I'm on the west coast of Florida if you are interested send me a pm.

I was already interested in the speedboards based on PB's endorsement. Now that I am hearing that MHL may be involved I am even more interested. MHL has the best construction in a board that I have ever seen. Strong, light, and absolutely perfect CNC lines.

I don't want to highjack this thread too much but let me throw props out to "proboxlarry." The way you saw him work with Ponobill on this thread is exactly how he worked with me when building a front sup-keel fin for my MHL 17. He advised MHL about the front fin placement and got it right out to me.  Thanks Larry! And thanks to all participating in this thread. Lots of cool stuff. Now back to our regular programming.

I have Larry Allison's duel fin set up in my MHL 17' just like the photo above and I also own the greenough fin shown above. I may stick that thing in the front fin box and see what happens. I suspect Larrry's design offers way less drag with most of the stability benefits but it's still worth experimenting to see what happens.