"Creek" model video #2 with Size Range & Pics

[surfafrica]

Great to see those smaller sizes in the water!  Creek, it must feel amazing to see those guys rip on your shape.  So cool all around.

[jsb]

Thanks for the great feedback on the video, I am glad you found it helpful.

Creek NEWS:
To answer the question:
"What do others think of the Creek?"

Australian National Titles
James Casey 3rd place, Mens Open on his 7'7 Creek

Trafford (3rd person to own a Creek)
Placed 5 in the Over 40's on his 7'4 Creek!!!

James Casey, Sunova Team Rider and 2016 APP SUP Pro #1 in combined, has had his Creek 7'7 for a month.
It has a custom orange paint.... but is otherwise 100% stock Creek.

Pics of James surfing the Creek in the Finals

Rick-  No disrespect to your design chops, but I was a bit surprised that Casey wasn't on the Acid, or perhaps the Flash.  Even if he might prefer the Creek as his daily driver, I would have expected him to be on a twitchier, higher-performance shape in a comp setting.  Or were the waves too mushy on the day of the comp?  It's hard to judge the conditions from the still photos, 'coz Casey is so busy chucking spray all over the place...  ;-)

As somebody who has such a broad understanding of the entire Sunova line, I'd love to hear your thoughts on how the Creek compares to the Acid and/or the Flash, and why a competitor might prefer the Creek over these twitchier boards. 

I know you compared the Acid to the Creek in your stability test earlier in this thread, but I'd be interested in your thoughts on parameters other than just simple stability while standing out the back.

TIA for any insight you're willing to share...

[supthecreek]

Thanks for that question jsb.

I'll let Trafford respond to that, since he place 5th on his Creek.
He emailed me this reply when I asked how he liked his Creek.... he isn't really a forum person, so I asked if I could copy/paste his emails here.

"Hey Rick,

I thought you might like to know how the Sunova guys went in the Aussie titles.

I came 5th in the over 40's on my new (tweaked) 7'5 Creek and James Casey got 3rd in the Open on my old 7'7 stock Creek. He had come straight from Hawaii and hadn't qualified for the Aussie titles and all his boards were still in Hawaii. They gave him a wildcard and he only had an Acid and the Creek. He surfed the Creek the whole event and absolutely ripped on it. He was throwing buckets off his turns.

Marty Cole got 2nd (Speed) in the over 40's and Casso (who I knocked out in the over 40 quarters) got 4th in the open on his Flow. James also got 2nd in the technical race on his Faast.

I reckon you would be pretty stocked on how the Creeks went!!
Its a sick board man.
Keep up the good work.

Cheers, Traff"

Then he followed with this:

"Yeah mate. Re post away

I don't think I mentioned before but I swapped the board with Tino in KL on the way to the Mentawai's.
Rode the board in some pretty solid waves and she handled well.
Some  waves were 12 ft faces with plenty of power and didn't have it skip out on my bottom turns  (like my Acid ).
Unfortunately no photos. That's a whole nother storey.

Hopefully you've been getting some waves back home.

Cheers Traff"

Note:
Trafford got the 3rd Creek made and decided he wanted to go smaller (custom orange 7'7)
Tino  exchanged it for the smaller 7'4 and gave 7'7 to James (who had asked for a 7'7 after riding my monster size 9'4)

Ok.... my take on my 9'4 Acid vs my 9'4 Creek:
as the vid shows, the Creek is much more stable, size for size than the Acid
However
9'4 Acid = 136 liters
9'4 Creek = 148 liters

So... the Acid is actually a much smaller board size for size.
My 9'4 Acid is snappier than my 9'4 Creek.
I love the Acid when I can ride it (fairly clean - no wetsuit)

A fair comp would be between:
9'1 Creek = 136 liters
9'4 Acid   = 136 liters

From what I know about my Creek, I'd say the Speeed tail might give the edge to the Creek....
But I can't really know till I ride a smaller Creek.

So, I only have James and Trafford's story to go by.

ha ha ha..... I WILL go to extremes to understand the board I discuss, so....
Today (the travel day before Thanksgiving)
I drove 6 hours in torrential rains to demo paddle an 8'10 Creek. (in Rhode Island)
I couldn't wear a wetsuit because the 8'10 is only 125 lites and I was underwater in trunks.

After a 1'2 hour in wind, chop and rain..... and after plenty of falling down, I got 1 crap wave and climbed back over the rocks and gave the board back to Eastbound, who drove there just to let me demo his 8'10 before ice sets in.

Even underwater it has just enough nose and tail size to make it doable.
Nice day in summer? 8'10 would be fine.
Today? NOT. Only did it because I really had to experience the 8'10, so I would have a real live comparison to my 9'4

I'll add an entertaining video when I get one together.
Here's a few teaser pics
 

[jsb]

Rick-

Thanks so much for the detailed post.  Lot's of interesting information there, including:

1.  Board shorts on Nov. 22 (in a near sleet storm):  You either have the metabolism of a 20-year old, or you've confirmed, once again, how passionate you are about this sport.   

2.  Trafford's observation that the Creek holds its rail on a hard bottom turn (off a 12' wave), while the Acid does not.  I would have thought the more pulled-in tail on the Acid would have the edge in such conditions ... shows how little I understand board design.

3.  Competitors were successful on the Creek, the Flow and the Speeed, but nobody rode an Acid.  Despite the fact that he obviously has elite skillz, Casey elected to spend the whole comp on a Creek, rather than attempting the Acid for even a single heat.

The more I learn about the Sunova line, the more I realize that there are some subtle and counter-intuitive distinctions among the various shapes -- perhaps more so than across the product lines of some of the "windsurfing" manufacturers.  Definitely interesting, as always, to hear your carefully considered opinions on these subtleties.

Have a great Turkey Day!

[viatormundi]

Thx a lot for your answer. I will check if I can get a 8΄7 Creek.

Viatormundi:

When I designed the Creek, I had only one board in mind.... a high performance board that I could ride in full winter gear. I simply took parts from my other Sunova's and brought them together to make a bigger board that would still rip.

Never gave a thought about other sizes or how the stability would be on them.
I'm pretty sure I could easily be on an 8'10 in my "no wetsuit" months, since I had no issues with my 8'10 Speeed.

I have never had a chance to ride any Creek but my 9'4, so until I do, I have to use comparisons that I know.
My 9'2 Speeed vs 9'4 Creek, should be relative to the 8'5 Speeed vs 8'7 Creek.
The 9'4 Creek is noticeably more stable than the 9'2 Speeed... so you should be fine on the 8'7 Creek.
If you need stability, the Creek can be ridden larger and still deliver great performance.

As to going bigger, the 9'4 Creek gives me much higher performance than the 9'2 Speeed... and very different in many ways. As Tiago says, much more playful from the middle, plus more.

[southwesterly]

Hi Rick,
Have you ever seen or ridden the 9’7” Creek?
Being that I am a special needs Stando when it comes to balance, I would love to hear your take on the 9’7”. It’s almost an inch wider than the 9'4' and my right in my target volume at 160 liters.

[supthecreek]

Hi Steve

I have not seen a 9'7, but a guy in OZ ordered one, so I should get some feedback on that board soon.

My 9'4 performance continually amazes me for such a big board, so I am confident that the 9'7 will perform extremely well... and at 33" wide should be quite stable.... in a Sunova sort of way. I say that because the rails are performance foiled, so there is always a lively feel to the boards.

The boards sit lower in the water than most boards at the same volume, but they have a very forgiving feel after you adjust to Bert's "high performance" float.

It is not a "stability platform" like an allrounder, but it has more stability "tools" than most high performance boards.

It surfs well in all conditions.... I pretty much ride it all the time.

[socalgremmy]

STC,
On your 2nd video review of the Creek,
https://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php/topic,32049.0.html
there is a photo of your 9'4" showing 2 leash plugs. Is that standard?
Sunova wants an extra $150 to add a second plug. Am thinking of having 2 leash plugs, 5" apart, to attach a tail handle.
Any thoughts?

[JimK]

I saw that (2 plugs) too. I asked Tino waiting for a response

Will advise as soon as I know

jimK
Extreme Windsurfing.com

[PonoBill]

150 bucks?? They must really not want to do it. The plug is a couple of bucks and installing it when you're building a board is nothing. I routinely have 6 to 8 leash plugs installed on the nose of my downwind boards for carrying stuff, and then two more along the centerline to make a paddle handle. I doubt I've paid more than fifty fucks for the ten plugs, installed.

[supthecreek]

I asked for two plugs on my original board and they put them in the 1st few boards.

All the new ones are single plug, I never asked why.

Sounds to me like they wanted to streamline the order process.
Might be a way to eliminate that option.