Author Topic: 14 x 22 Riviera RP Raceboard  (Read 4664 times)

FloridaWindSUP

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14 x 22 Riviera RP Raceboard
« on: May 23, 2016, 07:20:37 PM »
I got on my new ride for the first time today. 14' x 22" Riviera RP raceboard. It's not a production model (the production 14s are 27, 25, and 23 wide) but it has the same construction and a very similar shape to the 2016 production models. The weight is 25 lbs, which is not bad for a non-carbon-fiber board. By comparison my custom carbon 14 x 23.75" Riviera is about 21 lbs.

The new board has tons of volume, soft rails forward, hard rails aft. The front section is very thick with a peaked deck, the tail section is also very thick, and it's just a bit thinner in the standing area. The deck is not noticeably recessed. The nose is wider with less vee than on my older custom Riviera. "Whiskers" of water come off the nose when paddling, in different ways depending on how far forward or back you're standing and how fast you're going. There's not a whole lot of rocker, which makes it easy for me to keep the entire waterline working. The glide seems great. The tail is really wide and thick, and stability is quite good- Though I've only used it in flat water so far I'd say the stability is on par with a typical 24" wide board. Maybe better in some ways because of all the volume.

Tracking seemed fine, even with the 6" keel fin I was using. It turns ok when you need it to- I think the soft rails in the nose let you slide the nose sideways easier when you paddle out to the side to go around a curve. When you step back for a pivot turn, the stability is still there because of the voluminous, square tail.

I did a workout that was 75s hard / 75s moderate, x12, and averaged 9.84 kph for the hard sections, which is really good for me. So it seems to be fast. I need to time-trial it on some longer courses that I have well-established times on other boards to compare with. It will be interesting to see if and under what conditions it might be faster than the my 14x23.75 carbon Riviera, which is 1.75" wider but 4 lbs lighter, with some more rocker and a bit narrower nose.

I also look forward to trying it in bumpy water so see if I can still handle it in that stuff.
14x23 Riviera RP
14x27.25 Fanatic Falcon
11'8 Exocet WindSUP
10'4 Angulo WindSUP
...and a bunch of windsurf stuff

FloridaWindSUP

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Re: 14 x 22 Riviera RP Raceboard
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2016, 07:07:39 PM »
I tried it in choppy water on the Gulf of Mexico today, 10-14 knots onshore wind. Steep, close together chops about knee high. I paddled in a 1 km x 1 km square so I could see how it felt at every different angle to the wind.

My GPS was taped onto the deck since I don't have an FCS attachment for it yet. The tape started coming loose, which worried and distracted me "out of the zone" a little. After I did my 4 km I took the gps off, changed the fin from a 6" keel to a 9" weed fin, and did some more upwind/downwind with no distractions.

Impressions:

Stability was pretty good- similar to what I would have expected for a 24" wide board in those conditions. Concentration was required but it wasn't such a balancing act that I couldn't paddle hard. I wiggled a bit but didn't fall off in the first 4 km. Putting the bigger fin on later made it feel a lot better- Took some of the twitchiness out and let me focus more on the paddle power and rhythm.

The flatter rocker, wider nose, and slightly heavier weight relative to my carbon Riviera made it feel like "more board" when heading upwind into chop. But by my second run out, with the bigger fin, I got the feel of it better. Instead of standing further back and trying to get the nose to go over the chop I kept a more normal standing position, focused on the paddle technique, and let the board do its thing.

Side chop and other weird angle chop and waves didn't seem to bother the board or knock it off course much. It wanted to keep going in the direction you were paddling it.

Downwind in the knee high chop it was easy, fast, and forgiving. The wide nose was helpful for that, I think. It was almost as easy downwind as my 14x27 Fanatic Falcon, believe it or not. And because it's so narrow, once you got it up to speed you could keep it coasting at that speed for a while with not much effort, even when the bump disintegrated. 
14x23 Riviera RP
14x27.25 Fanatic Falcon
11'8 Exocet WindSUP
10'4 Angulo WindSUP
...and a bunch of windsurf stuff

zachhandler

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Re: 14 x 22 Riviera RP Raceboard
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2016, 08:42:17 PM »
I have been curious about the new rivieras. Clearly a very good value. And i have no particular love of carbon in situations where glass gets the job done at almost the same weight.

Your description of the board makes it sound very much like the 2016 allstar, except for the lack of deck recess.

FloridaWindSUP

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Re: 14 x 22 Riviera RP Raceboard
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2016, 08:33:41 AM »
Your description of the board makes it sound very much like the 2016 allstar, except for the lack of deck recess.

Ya, it's similar to the Allstar in terms of the thick torpedo-like nose and wide square tail, but the board outlines are different. The starboard looks more diamond shaped, tapering steadily from the widest point around the standing area to a fairly narrow nose, whereas the Riviera is more tongue-depressor shaped, keeping parallel rails well forward such that the nose outline is very blunt indeed. I think that contributes a lot to the narrowness-defying stability of the Riviera and may reduce the need for a recessed deck. I don't know which nose shape is better for going upwind into chop. The Riviera feels very efficient at disintegrating and getting on top of small chop but it may slow down more when hits a piece big enough to go all the way over the nose. I definitely need more time on it to get it dialed in.
14x23 Riviera RP
14x27.25 Fanatic Falcon
11'8 Exocet WindSUP
10'4 Angulo WindSUP
...and a bunch of windsurf stuff

 


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