2014 14' Naish Glide GS vs Fanatic Falcon HRS?

[whitecap]

DJ - Looking ahead to my next board, preferably a 14.  Probably between an Amundson TRX 14 and a Glide 14, possibly a Bark. Big question is how do the Glides go into chop and upwind? And are the older ones as capable upwind/side chop as the new ones and is there a cutoff year for that? I have read and seen that the 2011 board has a pretty aggressive nose rocker.......which seems like it would work against me upwind.

Won't bore you with all criteria but I can only afford/justify one board, need some volume, want something capable of flat water speed, and it'll likely be used. Riding a Starboard Pin now, my first board, and at just over 200 liters volume I'm spending all my time balancing instead of having fun. [5'10" & 190 lb.s] I'll use it for mostly flat water, but downwinders in light stuff, 10 to 15, sub-windsurfing breeze, is in my forecast. As I progress, more wind later......although those will be one way. Most outings will require round trip, which brings me back to how do Glides go upwind? I believe the other boards, more flat water oriented should be decent upwind, but don't want to miss the potential of riding bumps either.

Really appreciate some input!

[Area 10]

DJ - Looking ahead to my next board, preferably a 14.  Probably between an Amundson TRX 14 and a Glide 14, possibly a Bark. Big question is how do the Glides go into chop and upwind? And are the older ones as capable upwind/side chop as the new ones and is there a cutoff year for that? I have read and seen that the 2011 board has a pretty aggressive nose rocker.......which seems like it would work against me upwind.

Won't bore you with all criteria but I can only afford/justify one board, need some volume, want something capable of flat water speed, and it'll likely be used. Riding a Starboard Pin now, my first board, and at just over 200 liters volume I'm spending all my time balancing instead of having fun. [5'10" & 190 lb.s] I'll use it for mostly flat water, but downwinders in light stuff, 10 to 15, sub-windsurfing breeze, is in my forecast. As I progress, more wind later......although those will be one way. Most outings will require round trip, which brings me back to how do Glides go upwind? I believe the other boards, more flat water oriented should be decent upwind, but don't want to miss the potential of riding bumps either.

Really appreciate some input!

Probably the most important factor in upwind performance is width. Narrower boards are much better, all other things being equal. The Mark 1 and 2 Glides are only 27.25" wide I think, and both go upwind reasonably well. Whether they would be better upwind than say a Bark Dominator would depend on the size of the chop you were going into. Probably up to 1ft and 15 knots the Bark would have the advantage but once over that the extra rocker of the Glide would start to give an advantage. The latest Glide is a completely different beast from the earlier models and I have no experience of it. It is wide, but has the style of nose that can go quite well upwind in smaller stuff so I'd also be interested in what eg. DJ or PeterP have to say about it's upwind performance relative to earlier models.

[Board Stiff]

Unless your paddling routes allure you to go directly upwind,  also consider side wind performance.  I just got a 2013 fanatic Falcon,  and it's great going straight into the wind,  bit even a few degrees off and I really have to work to keep it from rotating further and blowing backward.  I haven't spent much time on other  14' boards,  though,  so I'm not sure how this compares,  or whether a fin change might help.

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