Select to expand quoteJonK82 said..DiscoStupid said..
Hi Jon
I am your weight and have 23" Sidewinder. I have ridden and owned many boards. If could nominate one board as a genuine all-rounder ie the only board you need, this would be it. I'm not suggesting the 23", but at 75kg, certainly consider the 25". The board has a fattish tail, which gives a lot of stability. I'd equate the 23" Sidewinder to being as stable as 25" in most other brands. They are also very robust despite their light weight.
Thanks for the post disco. Have you downwinded the sidewinder in the ocean? What's the stability like? I'm v close to ordering the 25" but am reluntant to buy without trying first.
Hi Jon,
I haven't DW this board in the ocean, only in a lake. Stability is great under these conditions, however, DW in the ocean I'd much rather be on the 25".
I have done a few DW runs on the 27 wide sidewinder and stability is good, winds were about 18kn so it's not heavy duty stuff but am waiting for a 20-25kn run to really see how she goes.
First vid show the Sidewinder being throw around s bit, remember the GoPro flattens things out and the second one shows how easy it is to get onto a good runner, forget the ending and keep the sound off just lots of heavy breathing!
Gives you an idea about stability and I don't have the best balance.
Select to expand quotebenjl said..
Hey forestinjersey, what did you mean when you said your board surfed beautifully but terrible in the bumps? In what way?
I mean bumps as in chop, cross chop, the mess you get of headlands. For me the board is very twitchy, I did paddle it at the weekend with 4 fins, 3 small surf fins at the back and the ventral and it was much better, without the ventral the secondary stability is non existent.
For riders with better balance than me its probably a different story
Select to expand quoteJonK82 said..Forestinjersey said..
Best all round 14ft for me so far was the 2016 Maliko, crazy stable, super light and heaps of fun. I currently have a 2019 14 x 26 Maliko and its a great board as well, but heavy, mine is 14Kg compared to the 2016 which was maybe 10-11kg. Also have a 2017 14 x 25 Infinity Blackfish, surfs beautifully but a nightmare in the bumps, no hard rails, rounded bottom = many swims.
Just waiting on delivery of my ONE EVO2 14 x 26. 2019 is going to be a great year....
Thanks forestinkersey. So the 2017 blackfish must be quite different to the 2018 that I tried. Square and high rails combined with bottom shape made it v stable. No yaw at all, unlike the Falcon.
You wouldn't recommend the 2017 blackfish for DW?
The 2017 and 2018 boards are completely different. The '17 does not have any hard rails and seems most stable with 4 fins in. Personally I would not DW mine again though mainly due to my balance. Recently I have been DW'ing on my old 2013 Naish Glide!!
I would say the Maliko would be a great option but in the interest of offering a less biased opinion I will put up an independent review -
