infinity whiplash and blackfish

[kelvinpumba]

Anyone own one of these. Any reviews, how do they compare.

[Bulky]

recently acquired a 14 * 26 Blackfish.  I paddle 4-5 days open ocean so I was looking for something durable and would hold it's own speed-wise.  Like it so far, but probably can't tell you much beyond the videos and info on their website.  It's got good stability--plenty wide for me at 210lbs--I could probably have gone thinner and been fine.  As advertised it's a very good open-ocean board.  Probably the most significant thing I've noticed about it is how well it tracks--really better than any other board I've been on probably due to the Allison ventral fin setup along with such long parallel rails.

You probably already know that whiplash is more flatwater specific.  Never been on one.  If they don't chime in on here PM kayadogg or luc benac.  They're familiar with Infinity stuff.

[PonoBill]

I've got a Blackfish 14'X25". I like it for flatwater and it's fine in downwind and open ocean conditions. It tracks a bit too well for the kind of downwinding I do--hard to steer from anywhere but the tail. I'll be trying a squirrel style single fin next summer, but for now I'm using it for training in a lake. Trying to go every day to get my distance chops back--I'm going to do the CCBC this year.

[Luc Benac]

Love the Blackfish 26" for open/rough water.
With the ventral easy to paddle with side chop and just ignore it to go where you want to go.
Works also on downwind with the proper single fin as noted by Pono (Aercor, VMG Mako,.....) LA has also a new downwind specific fin that could be the ticket. Would never downwind with the twins on unless planning to just go 90 degrees from bump and stay there.
I still prefer a dedicated downwind board if that is only what I am doing that day (luckily I also have one :-) ) but have no qualm taking the BF out otherwise.
If I was limited to one board only (God forbid...) it would be it or the same board in 25" the days I feel younger than I am really.

I just got a Blackfish 24" for flat water (we never really have flat water) so not enough TOW to comment yet.

My understanding from Dave Boehne is that the Whiplash is not as stable as the Blackfish so BF 26" = WP 27" and BF 24" = WP 25"
Hard to believe when you see Candice but then again she is not everybody.

[warmuth]

  Theres close to zero real world information about the Whiplash out there. I ordered one anyway, chose it over the blackfish since its the technically faster board and should be very similar to my 404 V3. I don't expect it to be very versatile, seems the BF would be the easy board choice unless the only goal is racing performance.

[paddlejones]

I have the boardworks infinity whiplash 14
Great Lake racer. Fast
They can be found used

[kelvinpumba]

How does the blackfish compared to maliko.

[PonoBill]

Who's Maliko? Jimmy's or Bill Foote's? I haven't tried Jimmy's, Bill's are customs, so there's not much of a way to compare.

But if you're looking for a downwind board I'd suspect the Maliko steers and catches bumps better. If you're looking for a board that CAN downwind but also goes fast in flats, the Blackfish is the choice.

[yugi]

Naish Maliko.

Never tried  Blackfish but looks and sounds similar.

[JayInSoCal]

I have a 14x27 Whiplash and a 14x26 Blackfish. The whiplash I have is a little older and has a different shape than the current model. Mine has almost no rocker, compared to the current model which has a lot of nose rocker.  My whiplash is lightning fast in flat water but a nightmare in any chop. I've ridden quite a few of the newer models and they are much more forgiving in chop, but a little slower than mine. The Blackfish is crazy stable in just about everything and is super fun to surf.  Both boards are great but are designed with different philosophies. The Whiplash is a displacement hull and is designed to cut through the water, while the Blackfish is a planing hull designed to get on top of the water (although the new Whiplash has aspects of both). The Blackfish is great for sprints, open ocean, and surfing, but much slower in flat water. The Whiplash excels in flat water and some ocean racing.  If I could only have one, I would pick the new Whiplash, but I love my Blackfish and surf and train with it the most.  Consider where you do most of your racing; open ocean = Blackfish, flat water = Whiplash.


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[greatdane]

I had a 26" wide Blackfish for about 2 months.  I went much too wide when I ordered it, I should have gone 24.5" or 25". It was quite slow on flat water, but fun and forgiving when things got rough on the salt water. If I did most my racing in open ocean, I would have kept it, but our races up here are often flat to medium chop and it was a pig.  I've been on Allstars ever since, but if I were to get another Infinity I'd lean Whiplash. I enjoyed working with Dave Boehne (sp?)…