Gulliver Vanguard boards

Hi guys,

This is my first post on seabreeze despite lurking and learning here for the last year. Thanks to everybody for their very helpful posts as I learned so much from them. Seabreeze is a great knowledge base to learn from thanks to the members.

As a background; I have surfed since I was ten years old starting in 1981. In my late thirties my lower back started to get so painful I had to give up surfing. This was depressing to say the least. I put on a heap of weight and got as high as 123kgs! Last year a good friend of mine had a similar experience of giving up surfing but with a sore neck. He recommended SUP to me as it didn't hurt his neck and he could still go out in the water and get some waves. I bought my first board one year ago, a 10ft Mana and soon realized my back was actually getting stronger from the paddling. Then I went in the surf with it and felt the stoke again. So happy I rewarded myself with an Almerrick Caddy 10 ft 1. Now this is a great board and I still love it but it surfs like a mal. You have to move your feet a lot to get the most out of it so I started looking for something shorter.

I wanted to get a shorter surf styled SUP but I'm sure my paddling/balance skills aren't ready for it as I don't get to get out in the water that often thanks to work and family commitments. When I saw the Minion/Vanguard shapes I could see my chance of getting a shorter board sooner, so I took the chance and contacted Damien at Gulliver Boards in Burleigh Heads. He put me in contact with Aaron the shaper. Aaron was very helpful and convinced me to go a little longer than I was hoping, stretching the board to 8 ft 3 inches so as to keep the rails and tail a little thinner. When I ordered the board I was 115 kgs. This is a big boy board at 128 liters of volume. I got the board last week and as you would expect when getting a new board, the surf has been tiny and howling on shore ever since. Desperation got the better of me one arvo after work and I went out in 1ft slop and was so happy to find I could paddle it quite easily despite the wobbly conditions. Unfortunately the waves were weak and I never was able to get onto the back foot and really see how it goes. I have lost a lot of weight in the last few weeks(currently 107kgs), so the board is quite stable for me. I plan on loosing more weight and getting onto a smaller board eventually. Hopefully this becomes my big, bad weather board. I could only get 3-5 strokes in before changing sides but as stated earlier I don't have much paddling technique just yet. I have to say the guys at Gulliver were super easy to deal with and despite the glasser having some time off I got my board in just under 6 weeks from when I made the initial deposit.

I think the board looks like it should go well and I'll report back once I get some waves with it.
The board is 8 ft 3 inches by 28.5 inches. I thinks its about 4 and 5/8 inches thick but only right in the center.
Total weight with fins is 7.5kgs. Not bad for a board of that volume.

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Snapppa said..
Thanks Ezrik, board looks great , as a fellow big guy look forward to hearing how it goes

Thanks Snapppa! I should point out most of their Vanguard shapes are very small. This is the largest board they have done so far.

Nice one Ezric that thing looks trick.

Mine is coming to Sydney from the guys this week. It looks similar to yours but is the 'little brother' at 7'3" long x 27" wide x 4 & 3/16 thick.

Damo Gulliver is great to deal with and Azza the shaper is a well known local waterman and very knowledgable about these designs.

Can't wait to hear how you go in some deuce.

I will post up some photos of mine with a review.

Gav

To be fair Ezric in regards to the board's size I must confess that I am a Smurf at 5'6" and 65kg

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zoolanderZ said..
That looks unreal.
Is that Vectornet on the deck?
I have ridden a board with vectornet and it is super strong and really responsive. They come out really light too.
Love to see some photos or footage of it in action

Yeah, interesting Surf SUP there. Apparently there's a wee bit of a following with it too, based on another thread on Seabreeze. I'll put the link below:

Video Footage #1 (How that model surfs):

Video Footage #2 (How that model paddles):

// <a href="


.
.
Other thread about that Gulliver Vanguard model:

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/Gulliver-vanguard-style-SUP-go-pro-footage/?page=1

Bugger, it didn't work again. I'll try a screenshot. Just type in the website address manually. Soz.

The guy in the vid is Porchey who is Azza Bitmead's brother in law (shaper for Gulliver). That particular board (the orange one) is 95 litres at 7'5" long, 26.5" wide at about 4" thick.

Like a lot of people I was stinging to try one of these so I thought bugger it and jumped on a plane from Sydney and flew up to the Goldy for a test drive. After all, I was going to get one but didn't want to shell a couple of large out without nailing the dimensions. I demoed the actual one in the video.

One word...unbelievable. Throw out all you know about how performance SUPs are supposed to go because these things are on another level. It is way more stable and responsive when compared to my Hobie 7'11".

After a chat with Azza I settled on something a touch shorter, wider and thicker with a little more volume at 98 litres.

Should be getting mine by the end of the week. Will post up photos, etc, soon.

Gav.

Sick looking stick.

What are the dimensions ?

Waz

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supgman said..
Hey Waz cheers, dims as follows;

7'3"long, 27" wide, 4 & 3/16 thick @ 98 litres.

That is a sweet looking board! I look forward to hearing how it goes for you.

We have had relentless onshore winds but I did manage to get out one afternoon. It was pretty wobbly conditions and yes it was harder to stand on than my 10ft x 30inch board, but not much harder which really surprised me. I did fall off paddling a couple times but that just gives me a better work out. I also found it was easier to paddle with your front foot just two or three inches in front of your back foot. I haven't experienced this with the bigger boards. It felt good once I got used to it. The waves were weak and only waist to shoulder high but the board felt really manouverable. Still not enough power to get it turning hard on the rails but I'm hanging out for the right conditions. Maybe this week....

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supgman said..
Cheers Ezric, I will post up more soon.
Bring on some deuce!!!

Crikey, so many posts/threads on this my head's spinning and all I know is I WANT ONE! Can someone do us favour and advise on best way to go for one of these boards, 2- 6ft use, 6' 4" 100 kg. currently ride SB Wide Point 8' 2" want to go as short as poss really to fit in pocket, travel and generally benefit from the main advantage of the boards (speed, manoeuvrability bing the main ones). Perhaps someone knows someone that wants to do some kind of trade for the right/adjusted CAD file to get one made over here in Ireland? Thanks

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Ezric said..
After the worst wave drought I can remember I took it out one night after work, last week. The wind dropped and the conditions were head high, glassy with a light wobble from the earlier onshore. The tide was dead low and the waves were real peaky and sucky. It was a little more work to paddle and balance than my 10 footer but not nearly as bad as I would have thought. The trade off is much more maneuverability/control once on the wave. I could also get much tighter into the pocket and had much more control. I didn't have to worry about the outside rail grabbing on the sucky waves like I do with my larger boards. I'm looking forward to getting it back out asap.

I kinda wish I held off on my order as I'm down to 97kgs(from 115kg), so its starting to feel bigger than I wanted. I may have to trade/sell down to a smaller one soon.

Ezric - How many liters is your 8'-3" Gulliver?

The board looks very tasty mate. More importantly, congrats on losing all that weight too. Fantastic effort. 20 kg in two months is huge!!

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Zeusman said..
The board looks very tasty mate. More importantly, congrats on losing all that weight too. Fantastic effort. 20 kg in two months is huge!!

Thanks so much Zuesman. I actually started the diet in mid August. I've lost 26 kgs since then or about 1.4kg per week. Its been a massive change in my life, I finally have a system worked out to lose weight that works for me. I've done it all with no extra exercise too, just limited my calories to 1500 per day(1g of protein per kg of body weight), and enter all my food into a calorie counter on the phone. However, as the weight is coming off, I'm feeling much more energetic to do more exercise. The best thing is the weight loss combined with SUP, my bad back feels 100%. I even bought a windsurf sail and put it on one of my SUPs and have been loving it. I haven't windsurfed since the early nineties! I might have to learn to kitesurf in 2015.

Wind is low today, maybe I'll get back on the Gulliver tonight after work. Fingers crossed.......

Thanks for the offers guys. If I get too light for this board I will look you up first.

After yesterdays two and half hour session I'm going to hang on to it for a while yet. Solid 3ft to almost 4ft and howling off shore. It was the first surf where I had some face to work with and a few sections to link up from fast and racy, to mush through to the sucky inside section, lefts and rights. The board was great on all aspects as I was getting more used to it. The white water definitely hits more abruptly than a pointy nose board but I found after a few sessions you get used to it and brace earlier. I was popping over some white water that really surprised me. It is slower to paddle than my big boards but by the end of the surf I was real happy with just how early I could take off as I became more comfortable with it and my technique improved. I was also very comfortable standing out the back falling off just once during a huge wind gust. Its nice and stable.

The real improvement I noticed from my other sups is that you can pump them up to speed quite quickly once on the wave. My previous boards kind of feel they reach a terminal velocity which I guess the width and overall mass of the larger boards have. I'm looking forward to getting this board in bigger waves to see if it keeps accelerating. Another thing I really noticed is how it holds onto the speed once you have it, through roundhouse cutbacks, etc. Really nice!!! Much looser than my old sups, it doesn't quite feel like I'm back on my short surfboard but its a big step closer. Another cool thing was on the mushy sections you can easily get right up on the nose. I just need to put some wax up there. Overall its a real fun stick! I'll report back when I get some good over head waves.

Eric

Boom Colas: but on an open face, they feel like they drag an anchor...

but they keep you close to the pocket unless you want to charge the flats with speed!

That's right this design lets you do exactly that keeps you close to the pocket all Vanguard styles really excel at this when they power behind them them , my comment was based on when the wave dies the short line and length lets you sink. Pick your days and you can't get a better board it's in some occasions on slow fat days you need a different board from your quiver. This applies to all Vanguard Sups not taking a shot at Gulliver which I think are pretty sweet.