Yes it looks like it.
A guy I know told me that the handling feels a lot like the Bark Vapor which is a very good reference.
I am sure that it might be a little bit faster on flat.
He is a heavy guy at over 200 lbs.
Did a longer loop on the 14' x 24" wide Maliko today. Great acceleration on small boat wakes, decent flat water speed, better at handling cross chop than previous years. I felt like the stability was super solid but the volume was a little low for me at 185lbs... felt like I was pushing more water than ideal. If I was only doing ocean downwinders on big rollers I think the 24" would be an option, but for the Gorge cross chop no question it's 26" wide.
Standy and Kissa took the new 2018 Naish Maliko for a test yesterday, and there was a lot of froth. Sounds like she's very very quick!
JB
I demoed the 26 in flatwater and bump/wind. On the flat it was very stable (crazy stable) and has bit of glide. The nose seems to glide over the surface nicely with a little bit of sprinklering. It was easy to maneuver onto someones wash. I am not a good paddler so for most people who would use it on the flat mostly a 24 would be fine. It was a little slower than my SIC FX which is understandable, but not too much.
On the bump I struggled a bit getting used to the looseness of the board. I was paddling into a solid 20 knot wind with bumpy swell and rebound. My stability was ok, and I only fell off when I was turning around. However the board was moving around much more than I was used to. My speed upwind was very slow as I couldn't get going. Likewise on the downwind it was also moving around all over the place which meant I was having trouble getting settled. The looseness of the board is a good thing, I just wasn't used to it. I feel once I got used to the board it would go much better. I weighed the board and it was around 13.5kg with the fin.
All up I liked it. The stability was good, with plenty of improvement available. I am nervous about Naish durability having been burnt in the past with some of their surf sups. However the build feels like the naish quest sups. This is a very hard finish. I surf a naish quest and it is very strong. As I say I am a bit nervous about the Naish build, but the board seems very strong. The trade off is the weight.
The Naish price for the board in Aust is nice, especially compared to the starboards. I thought the similar allstar would be much lighter being carbon, but was surprise to see it is listed as over 13kg. Seems weird when compared to the SICs which are strong boards. My FX is 11.4kg with fin.
I would like to see a pic of the bottom shape with a straight edge so you can see the concave or V in the bottom. If anyone has one or can do it that would be great.