Nice vid I would like to see more of the board,
I guess we are coming up to the newest latest greatest time of the year again!
The carving Upwind jibe he does at about 1:25 going toeside to heel side but Upwind is very cool. I hadn't seen that done on a surfboard before, it is super functional as you would get a good little bit of ground straight upwind
Now on sale at Toys R Us!
Every time a product is described as "fun" generally means it doesn't perform at a high level from my experience.
Hey FlyByKite caught up with Nige on the weekend and got to ride this board.
It's same dimensions as the board in your video so it is smaller than the Duke.
Apparently it's the same materials but is lighter simply due to the size reduction.
Day one conditions were 3ft waves out back and lumpy soup on the inside. It handled faces and popping over waves strapless nicely.
I would imagine for big stuff that you'd want straps as it is very easy to pop out and ride reverse or slide sideways on foam. Much livelier than a regular SB, vader/vanguard or whip etc. You don't get that nice flowy, surf board feel, but maybe that would come with time? It's definitely more a mutant style at first impression but with improved grip due to the surf board fin.It is so light and easy to carry, it would be awesome for strapless rolls, but I'm still only dreaming of those ones...so leave that to you guys to suss that one.
Day two - sun out , dead flat 50cm deep aqua blue water Only 15 kts max so we put up the 14.5m Flite. We strapped the board up and...
all I can say is , we'll it was a very good time. Anything I can do on a regular TT was easy. In fact I landed my latest move more times than not ( which had not been the case til Sunday). I prefer to ride upwind heel side, so knowing how to jibe was handy. The straps seem fairly soft so they weren't in the way too bad and were fairly easy to negotiate in and out of.
I instruct with OR kites so I can see the angle viewing this as just a pimp post and that's fair enough.
But it's also fair enough to say that there is no other board out there with these dimensions, material, outline and weight (very light)
So whether this board is for you or not, it definitely presents a style of riding different to anything else out there at the moment.
If you're like me and you really like both waves and TT, this could be the way to go.
I'll be ordering one of these so if youre around Byron or the Goldie, after release date, just sing out for a borrow.
I think the 5'1 length n volume would suit my weight n style better than my 5'6..
As it planes real early.
Nigel - i know you are reading this
The new Duke comes with a five fin futures set up. Same shape and solid construction although they have shed a small amount of weight.
Length - 165 cm by 47 cm (5'4" by 18 1/2" )
Volume 25.3 Litres
New Jester - lively underfoot and comes with the 5 fin box also and a Mako concave.
Length - 155 cm by 46 cm (5'1 1/4" by 18 1/8 )
Volume 17.6 Litres