Most surfable downwind board?

[Luc Benac]

I would love to see you swing a nose like that. I'm getting closer to a shape for my
next 16' prototype, if that turns out like I want

Then I would have to consider replacing the Vapor and the Maliko with one custom 16' unless I found tons of money....

[Area 10]

Here's some pictures of my 16ft x 26" DW board. It was designed to be as "surfy" as possible. I regularly surf it up to head high.

I've got another one that is 24.5" wide too. Same design, also 16ft. 16ft is a nice length for surfing.

This is a low volume, thin-railed (under 5" thick), full-rockered maximum-surfy DW board. It works really well in the messy, rippy, steep DW conditions we get here. It is vacuum-bagged 2 x 6oz carbon on the bottom and rails, with 2 x 6oz FG on the deck, with resin tint on rails and bottom - no paint to chip! It weighs about 28-29 lbs fully kitted out - I got it made pretty tough because in the conditions I paddle, a little weight isn't such a bad thing, and a lot of strength is a superb thing. It is very strong, durable and stiff - gone are the days of having to worry about chipping of denting my board if I lay it down on stones or concrete etc. I've pretty much hammered it for a year now and it looks pretty much exactly the same as I did the day I got it. It's certainly been a lesson to me in how badly made the production boards are, and also how having a board that is designed for your local conditions is really important. We aren't all Kai Lenny paddling on Maui

The fin setup I have here is what I use for surf or big downwind. I have other arrangements for flat water or small DW.

The handle is a SIC-type one, full carbon, custom-made. It is lovely - best handle I've ever tried by far. I have deck plugs so I can carry the board with my paddle in high winds, which helps a lot (I'm often DWing alone). And, of course, double leash plugs (all serious UL DW boards should have them IMO) and a goretex valve.

It surfs better than many 12-6 board I've tried, and nearly all production 14s...

[gone_foiling]

Great looking board Area. Looks like well thought out design. It would have been interesting to try one like this in SW Florida where we have steep breaking waves. For Maliko/long open ocean swell it would be cool to have a little less entry rocker. I dig this design, it looks great imho. Those side bites, are they traditional 2+1 setup?

[Area 10]

Great looking board Area. Looks like well thought out design. It would have been interesting to try one like this in SW Florida where we have steep breaking waves. For Maliko/long open ocean swell it would be cool to have a little less entry rocker. I dig this design, it looks great imho. Those side bites, are they traditional 2+1 setup?

Thanks. It is a lovely board to use - very easy and flattering.

The sidebite fin positions are conventional relative to the centre fin, except there is no toe-in. So it's not the same as in a surfboard. I found that having no toe-in means reduced drag (meaning that they don't significantly affect getting into waves) but still aids surfability - a huge amount, actually. You need to use symmetrical foil sidebites for DW, and they work pretty well for surf too (albeit not as well as flat foil for surf of course).

This 16 picks up small swell just fine. Better than most 14s, whether they have flat rocker or not. But a friend of mine is building me another 16ft board that will be for small conditions and flat water and will be a bit like a longer and narrower version of the Bark Vapor. I recently tried a 12-6 x 24 version of the board he had built for himself (actually, long before the Vapor came out) and was shocked at how easily it went upwind and DW in small stuff (about 15 knots and ankle-to-knee bumps). I tried it back to back with the 16 shown here (in the small stiuff) and it was faster (but more technical). So a 16ft version will be an absolute rocket for downbreezing. He's a talented shaper.

[mrbig]

No cant no toe on JP Surf sups! FAST!

[burchas]

Looking very good A10! Definitely a nice board to have in your tool box.
28-29 is a perfect weight for this kind of board imo, mine is about the same and it feels great.
I have one at 24 LBS and I don't like it as much and the construction feels more fragile.

You're very lucky to have access to a good shaper/builder like supuk. Construction sounds rock
solid and I love this handle. Have the same style of handle installed on mine only its plastic and
doesn't feel nearly as good as the SIC so yours must be a notch better.

[Area 10]

Looking very good A10! Definitely a nice board to have in your tool box.
28-29 is a perfect weight for this kind of board imo, mine is about the same and it feels great.
I have one at 24 LBS and I don't like it as much and the construction feels more fragile.

You're very lucky to have access to a good shaper/builder like supuk. Construction sounds rock
solid and I love this handle. Have the same style of handle installed on mine only its plastic and
doesn't feel nearly as good as the SIC so yours must be a notch better.

Thanks. Yes the handle is all carbon and the bit you hold onto is round, so it is more comfortable than the SIC one. Incredibly, he's made an even more comfortable design. He was going to do a run of them to sell, but he's currently taking a break from the shaping business. So if he makes me another board it's just as a favour to me, or an experiment for his own satisfaction really, and it might be a while before he does it. It's such a shame that being a shaper doesn't pay better. The market in the UK for custom SUPs is pretty small. Nearly all the people who buy expensive boards are sponsored by a big brand. I think that if supuk lived in the US he'd have more orders than he could cope with. But like many talented guys, he can find other things to excel at, and that will be more lucrative. So he's going to go off and do them, I fear. I just hope I can get my 16ft AW board before he does!

[Area 10]

No cant no toe on JP Surf sups! FAST!

Yes, very fast indeed. So with big boards like DW boards you may have to experiment with different sizes and different fins to maintain control. For instance no toe but some cant can be helpful and given that so many fins have some cant built in, isn't too hard.

[JEG]

nice board Area 10.
do you dw without side bite on that board?

[Luc Benac]

But a friend of mine is building me another 16ft board that will be for small conditions and flat water and will be a bit like a longer and narrower version of the Bark Vapor.

Arghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My dream board!!!!!

[Area 10]

nice board Area 10.
do you dw without side bite on that board?

No, I certainly DO use the side bites for downwinding - and they give a substantial improvement in control, speed and steering. I also have a 24.5" version of this board which is just a single fin. I'm going to get the side bites added to that one. There really isn't a downside to them, but many upsides. It's important that they have no toe-in, othwerwise they would probably create drag and possibly yaw.

[Area 10]

But a friend of mine is building me another 16ft board that will be for small conditions and flat water and will be a bit like a longer and narrower version of the Bark Vapor.

Arghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My dream board!!!!!

Yeah. I know. A virtually unchipable, super-stiff, super-durable, faster, easier, narrower-but-just-as-stable version that is easier to carry, is longer but the same weight, easier to steer (it's gonna have the special 2+1 fin setup that works so well on my custom 16 DW) and catches waves even easier (Grey Paddleboards do a subtle little tweak of the nose which adds lift and release). And despite being 16ft it will surf as well as the 14ft Vapor.

Can you imagine that???


Which is why I'm begging him to make it!

Suggestions for what colour scheme/graphics to use would be welcome. I think I'll keep the bottom and rails white resin tint over the carbon, which keeps the board cool even on top of the car in the height of summer. But if you have any ideas for the rest of the board and the pad I'd be interested to hear them.

[Area 10]

Here's a 12-6 prototype of the design of the board I'm talking about for my new UL Vapor-like board.

Sorry it's not a very good picture. But it should give you some idea, if you imagine a substantially tweaked 16ft version. There is a brushed carbon type finish on this one, but mine will have solid colors - don't like the brushed carbon effect at all, and it causes hot spots in the sun. I was really surprised at how fast this was DW in 10-15 knots, and it was very rapid upwind too. This one is 24" wide I think, which is too narrow for me in a 12-6, but I didn't get wet despite it being pretty choppy. I'll probably have mine 16x24.5 or thereabouts. My balance is crap.

[Luc Benac]

For me is has to have some orange, period....maybe grey with large orange wave...

https://www.google.ca/search?q=orange+grey+wave&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=ya9I1-njaL8BJM%253A%252CluuoolUZZQgPWM%252C_&usg=AFrqEzdJrFzLcd_vMnrPAePji1mnQTjO0w&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj_w_ems5fdAhVE0FQKHRX7C9EQ9QEwAHoECAYQBA#imgrc=cXsD8eMqXR_NvM:

[Luc Benac]

I am wondering if Supuk would "sell" the design, IFC drawings.....for another shaper to built with the same technique this side of the pond.
The more I think about it, the more I would like my next board post Vapor/Maliko to be a 16' along these lines. My wallet tells me that I am in no rush but would be good to have as an option.