Upgrading My SOS Big Blue

[PonoBill]

I think it's pretty tough to recommend a surfboard. A guy like Wardog who sells hundreds a month can pull it off, but surfboards are pretty personal, and depend tremendously on the skill level, weight, strength, and style of the rider. Since I'm in the 235-250 range and an intermediate surfer I really can't recommend a board for you. A board that Strand Leper thinks is just fine would make a nice prone shortboard for me.

There's plenty of surfers here, but I suspect most of them just don't know what to tell you.

[dakine1214]

PonoBill on another issue i know you like the mailiko 14ft. Ive been tempted on the new naish 14 (with new rocker). Do you still favor the Foote 14??? Also what is the construction on the Foote 14?? IS it hollow?? The one thing i like about the naish boards is the durability. But at same time i want the best downwinder i can get my hands on. Plus now over on the Big Island every Tom Dick and Harry has a Naish board. WOuld like something different, fast and durable. Whadda THink

[PonoBill]

I think either a Maliko 14 or the new Aircore--Jeremy Rigg's new hollow "maliko". Bill Foote had a hand in designing it, Jeremy perfected it. I'm probably going to buy one a few days after setting foot on Maui. Foote Malikos are EPS core. Very light, but you don't want to knock a hole in one. They have the advantage that you can specify exactly what you want. Having Bill make you a board is a lot of fun, and it's just a quick, cheap Young Bros shipment to the big island.

The Aircore won't be "something different" for very long, I suspect, but it looks like a real performer.

On the other hand, there's always SIC boards. I don't know what Mark's lead time is like these days, but you can get a Bullet in either 14 or 17.5. I love mine. In fact I have a somewhat unhealthy relationship with mine.

You are a quick trip away from the absolute vortex of high performance downwind boards. You can visit Aircore in the cannery, drop by SIC up in Haile Maile (and have lunch or dinner at the Haile Maile General store (fabulous), and hang out with Bill Foote. And maybe hook up with the crew to do a Maliko and scare the pants off yourself.

Why would you listen to my recommendation when you've got all that about an hour away? For that matter you can ask Robbie what he thinks, he seems to be at Lowe's in Kahalui every time I go there.

[dakine1214]

Thanks alot ponobill for some input truly appreciated. My problem is finances are super tight and like to do as much homework as possible (asking peoples input on my next surf sup and downwind sup) As you can see when i make a purchase I keep the board for a long time (big blue and big red ) and happy knowing i made the right purchase. I am not the type or have money to buy the latest and greatest and upgrade every 6 months. The problem with me going straight to the source is no matter how nice the maker the opinion will be bias. I like to ask surfers and downwinders on their input. My discription of where i live (conditions) plus what im looking for and my weight is a good measure for someone to give me their input. Usually as was the case with big blue and big red I narrowed it down to a couple boards and tried them out. Like I said I do not have the leasure to make several trips and try out several boards. If I can get good info from people who tried out several boards I can narrow it down to 2 boards. Like you saying the Foote maliko 14 (you wouldnt want to put a hole in it) gives me some idea that probably that is not the board for me because I have a friend that had a C4 that was super fragile and never could stop the leak. Im hard on my boards. Also on a side note I could not stand that board (no pun intended) because it felt like an unstable boat. The Naish I know is one tough son of a gun but want something different so thats where im at a crossroads. I am in no hurry so for now im real curious to check out the PSH 9'11" for surf and if I see an old foote 14 for sale i just might pick it up but need to really check out the strength of board. Then again im curious on peoples take on the new naish 14 with the new rocker. For me the Aircore looks awesome but not really into spending that kind of money.

[PonoBill]

Wait a little whi8le and check back with me. I'm pretty certain to at least try the Aircore and probably buy one. I'll let you know what I find out.

[dakine1214]

thanks ponobill...yeah im real curious. Have you had a chance to ride the new 14 Glide (new rocker) Im real curious on those 2 side by side. Im sure they are real close speed glidewise. Pono the Foote Maliko 14 you had would you say it was pretty stable???. The only downwind board I ever owned was a Naish 12 and that was super stable but sold it sometime ago for the new naish 14 but they took so long comng out with new one Ive been second thoughts on exactly which 14 i want to get now. Stability is an issue with me and do not want to fill like the way i did on my friends tippsy boat c4.

[PonoBill]

I haven't tried the new one, I have a old 14 glide with the silly rocker (that works wonderfully in steep Columbia River swells and NOTHING else AFAIK) and I have a Javelin 14. The Javelin is one of the wood ones and I bought it mostly as a piece of art.

Maliko 14's are very stable--depending on how wide you get them. Mine was a 28" I think, Jeremy Riggs has a 22" (or maybe even less). That certainly isn't stable. My Maliko was a very easy board to like, fun on Maliko runs (surprise, surprise) and on the south shore. Not as fast as the first one we tested in the big downwind board test, but definitely no slouch. I think the one we tested was 26 or 27" and it rocked.

[Strand Leper]

John,

I hesitated in chiming in on this thread because a surfing board is such an incredibly personal choice.  I have purchased surfing boards from the big boys and had customs made. IMHO is you are a surfer, and want to surf, a board from one of the big boys is not going to satisfy you as each model is made for too many people in order to make the discriminating surfer happy.

What are you looking to surf?  What is your surfing style?

I have three surfing SUPs that are my " go to " boards and each is  custom. 

Here is my experience on a few:  the psh boards (I had an 8'6" Ripper) are stable, have great outlines, are durable, and pretty BUT I found that they were slow, did not generate speed well, the bottom was boring, and the rails were too full... Basically a fun stable board... But if you surf in conditions where you need to generate your own speed, not the best choice.

Starboard 8'5 by 28 tiki... See above, with beefier rails... Very versatile but the full rails required turning from the fins...

So, what waves are you looking to ride, how much do you weigh, what is your style?

[dakine1214]

I weight 170. I am not the longboard on the nose rider. I am not a short board ripper either. If i was to say my style it would be progressive longboard style. I do love some big steep drops, late take offs and if i can get a couple turns im happy. knee high bores me. waist to shoulder to head high is what i like.

[dakine1214]

strand
i should also mention that i do want a stable board. Over here on the big island of hawaii we have trades and thermals all the time. So needless to say the ocean is pretty windblown bumpy. I do need a stable board. I see guys all the time on short sup 9' and under that are fighting constantly to keep their balance and they are great surfers. Basically wanna step up a notch or two from big blue towards the progressive side. I do not want an unstable 8' shortboard style board that is made for all the tricks in the book. Im not that aggressive surfer that throws hugh sprays off the lip and doing floaters. Nice drops and long drawn out carves. Longboard style without the nose riding but overhead bombs i can drop late take offs in.

[Strand Leper]

Thx for the clarification.  If I were in your shoes, and I couldn't get an imagine enigma in the mid nine feet, I would get the template of the PSH ripper in the size you want... And either go to Mr. Chambers at PSH or go to your local sup shaper and say give me something like this, but without the elf shoe nose, with sharper rails and (from the way u described your surfing) a v bottom and run it as a 2 + 1.

From what you are describing, I think such a board would make you very happy... Or just try to find a used mid nine feet PSH ripper and go from there.  I am just not a fan of the elf shoe nose on those boards, however.

There is also a PSH board at 9'3 that sounds like it would be a really good match. A friend of mine about 180 rode one for a year before he went shorter.  I think it is called the all arounder.  Basically any mid nine current board is going to blow your mind given what you have been riding.

Good luck and let us know what you get.

[dakine1214]

thanks you soo much for all the info

[dakine1214]

strand leper
do you have any opinions on the starboards or naish? I like the look of the imagine enigma but cant find any. Spent some time looking today pretty hard but no luck. Im not a fan of the slipper look of the PSH either. Do all the rippers have that?? If i cant get no luck on these production boards im almost thinking of getting a hold of Sean Ordonez SOS and give him the specks you were talking about and get one made. I love the big blue and red so it might make sense getting one made from him and it would feel nice actually since he was one of the main ones that got the whole sup rolling. Is there a tail i should be looking for??. Ive always loved pintail (not sure if it would be to unstable) and also love the fish tail.

[K-541`]

JL Kwad 9.1 x30 about 120 lit. fun board thin rails stable. Try one if you can.

[Strand Leper]

I rode a Starboard 8'5" by 28 Tiki... it was fun but the rails were so soft that it was ridiculous.  I rode the recent Carbon 8'0" and was not a fan...

I still have my naish 10'6" by 28" that I started on... IMHO Harold Iggy is a shaper's shaper.  You really can't go wrong with one of his shapes as long as the particular shape fits what you are looking to do.  I would stay away from the super wide ones... and go with the regular width boards... 9'5" Hokua or the 9"6" Nalu... The Hokua if you want to do some shortboard type turns... (but not too radical... more like a hybrid...)... or the Nalu if you want to ride more like a longboard.  The Hokua at 9'5" looks to be more versatile as you have many fin options... I would TOTALLY go for that one if I were looking for the board you suggest.

I literally beat the CRAP out of my Nalu... lost in the rocks at high tide... dropped it... let my son learn on it... and it still looks fantastic.  The Naish construction and quality is second to none.

Don't know why I didn't suggest Naish earlier... maybe I got sick of DJ always pimping them so I just forgot...  (just messing with the rock star from the wrong side of the world...)  Honestly I just forgot how good their construction was... My bamboo Nalu still looks bitchen!  Maybe I will ride it next time it is super small... ??

Good luck...