The Unlimited boards made it to Michigan!

[iDownwind]

My old F16 is still my favorite board for the Gorge. I have tried many other boards, hell, I own several other downwind boards, but I find myself returning to the F16.  My Bullet 14 V2 is not nearly as user friendly, and I ride it on lighter days only. For a while the fear of collecting weeds on the rudder kept me off of the F16, but I decided to just live with that and have not really had any issues this year.

I have not had any weed issues at all. Might be a problem later in the fall on Muskegon Lake though.

[iDownwind]

AMAZING!! We had a good South wind yesterday, and today it turned around and was crankin from the NNW at about 20mph. I got home from our 3 days of camping with the kids, unloaded extra boards and went to meet 2 buddies for a late evening downwinder. Conditions were damn nice. Slightly on shore wind, 4-6 footers, air was 80 and the water was 70. I cannot say enough how much I enjoy this F16. Again, the nose never went under on even the biggest waves. It feels SO fast and stable. I am SO STOKED! The rudder is just amazing at helping me get into a bump, or even working my way offshore, while still catching weird little runners.

[PonoBill]

Tried to lend Burchas my old Chinese F16 today, but I discovered the nose has a big crack in it. Ah, well, another patch of carbon on this poor old beast.

[Blue crab]

You'll continue to love this board and learn new things about it each time you head out.  The beauty of the F16 is it is the ideal DW board for all levels.  I have had beginners have a great intro run on the board because it is so easy to get into glides and also quite stable: far easier to ride than my 14' V1 carbon Bullet (which is also a great board). 

For advanced paddlers, the board also has a ton of tricks.  I have spent the last year working on snowboarding type carving in larger swells.  It is possible to get 3-5 decent carves before the momentum dies out. This can be done with the rudder or way back on the tail, depending on the morphology of the swell.  The 14' Bullet can also do this but is far more likely to lose momentum in all but the biggest swells. 

[iDownwind]

 XLR8 and I got out together for the first time since we got the UL's. Had a nice run of just over 7 miles from the Big Sable point lighthouse to the Ludington pier. Conditions were better than what I had yesterday for my solo run. Today was 17 knots with gusts to 21 at 350 degrees, which made it feel like it was a bit offshore for the first mile or so. We paddles out about a mile and then headed downwind to our destination. The waves were max of 4 feet, but shaped nicely. What a blast to finally have both UL's out there and be able to watch how they react to the given swells. We were able to catch lots of good glides and link many waves together. I just can't get over how the F16 is just so stable and how little I have to move around. Granted the waves were only 4 foot, but I never moved off the tiller for 7 miles. I LOVE this F16!

[nalu-sup]

Glad to hear that you love your F16; my wife and I feel the same way about ours. I thought that I would share what we have learned about moving around on those boards, which fits with what you described.
If the wind is under 20, we can hang out on the tiller 99% of the time. If it is averaging in the low 20s, then we need to take a step back into surf stance on the better drops and glides, and occasionally back to the tail. Once the wind is averaging in the high 20s to low 30s, we are spending many of the drops and glides back on the tail with our rear foot right on top of the fin. Getting back on the tail has some fun advantages; obviously it helps to avoid pearling on a big steep drop that you are not able to angle for some reason, it gets rid of the majority of the drag resulting in higher speeds, it frees up the front half of the rail so that it does not catch or trip, it allows you the option of delaying the drop so that you can hang out on the top of a steep wave with just the tail in the water and the whole length of the board out in space over the trough, and it allows you to actually surf turn off the tail like a longboard ( i have learned the hard way after many attempts that the board does not like to carve a turn off the rail unless you are right back over the fin where the tail rocker and panel V on the bottom kick in).
We are still discovering the nuances and versatility of these great boards, and appreciate them more and more with every run. I am sure that you will have many wonderful runs on your new SIC ULs.

[iDownwind]

@Nalu-sup....

I have had a couple more DW runs in the past two weeks. One was not notable at all, more of a slog in 2-4 foot cross chop.
Labor day was much better. We had 20 mph winds and 6 foot plus waves. The wind direction was good, but the waves had a weird cross chop that ran at a 45 degree angle to the main swell. The interesting thing about our typical Lake Michigan downwinder, is that I rarely catch the "big waves. It primarily seems to be the smaller runners that give me the best quality glide. Often they lead into a bigger wave, but not always. I am TOTALLY sold on the F16, on our Labor day DW, I basically stood with my right foot on the tiller and my left foot slightly back, and stayed there the entire 11 miles. Even on the "big" waves, the nose barely went under.

[PonoBill]

Dave Kalama told me a long time ago that his left foot rarely leaves the tiller. You can shift your weight back quite a bit if you bend your knees. Up until Dave told me that I was probably on the rudder 50 percent of the time. Now it's more like 99% unless the wind is over 40mph, then I'm generally perched on the cable drum, hanging on. Once you get used to it, the tiller is your happy place. You feel more stable there, probably because you have so much more control.