This little beauty has flown under my radar and I had not seen any info on it in the press but after seeing it in the flesh I pulled the trigger on the 8/3 a couple of months ago and just backed it up with the 8/6 for windy choppy days here in WA. if I had to design a new custom this ticks all the box's. The 8/3 is like a Swiss Army Knife and just seems to do everything really well and becoming my go to board for 80% of our local conditions. The boards are super light, sub 7 kg for the 8/3, sensible bit of nose rocker for late drops, stupidly stable yet turns remarkable, smooth on the bottom turns and releases nice off the lip, love it.
more to come
Great looking board ...it's like they've taken the older Surf Wide version (which is a great fun board) and tuned it right up and turbo charged it in all the right places. And at that weight it will feel so easy to flick around.
Yeah Slab really enjoying the 8/3 and the 8/6 will get an outing soon, hopefully similar to its little brother. In comparison to the old surf wide boards JP has increased the nose and tail rocker, thinned out the rails and reduced the width but kept the flatish deck which altogether seems to work great.
Hey Rossal my 8'3" is on the slow boat due Oct and will add to this thread then.
Just looked at the design online and knew that it was a well thought out intermediate shape worth a gamble. Well that and a recommendation from a board whore ;-).
I've decided to keep my 8'10" smik as a rough weather ride but look forward to your review of the 8'6" JP.
BTW notice no rail tape. Not a fan?
The 8/3 is taped just haven't hatime to get to the local and buy some 3m. Should get the 8/6 out this week.
Select to expand quoteRossall said..
The 8/3 is taped just haven't hatime to get to the local and buy some 3m. Should get the 8/6 out this week.
great looking boards look forward to your reviews :)
Oth sizes seem pretty quick as quads, haven't tried them as thrusters yet. The 8/3 is the sweet spot though and Defo my go to board at the moment
Select to expand quoteFirst thoughts on the 8'3"x30.5"x123L JP surf pro plus.
Maiden run and I'm excited and nervous all in one. Dropped 7" in length near 2" in width and over 20 L, time to kick off the training wheels. Huey's playing fair with clean surface and 2'+ cruisy runners. Up on the pegs after walking through the shories with a bit of a wobble but paddle out the back and turn around to catch a smaller one which fills up as it hits the gutter inside the storm banks we've got atm. The board just keeps gliding on the rolling green lump and I'm thinking this thing likes catching waves and moving. Paddle back out and mate asks how was it and I pointed to my dry hair cos I pre warned him I'd be a total Gumby before we paddled out.
Next wave was backhand and even though my feet weren't right there was a good response from the board which makes me think get the back foot right and it'll go orf, which is one of the reasons I went smaller. Few rights and still working things out but it locks into the face off the bottom turn and lets you keep a high line with speed to beat the section and even run along the flat in front of the whitewater to try and catch up with the wall in front. Without noticing the wobbly boot eases up, except when I turn around to chat to my mate and lose focus and end arse up. Stability is good but jury's out until we meet choppier waters. So far it catches waves with ease which alleviates my concerns re going smaller.
I don't use my paddle to turn probs due to programmed from a lifetime of prone surfing which I still do. It's something I'd really like to do however this board responds so well to feet movement I was stoked. The last wave in had couple of sort of reos and arfa cutties with a little whitewater floater on the shory. That'll do just fine now off to work and look forward to unraveling all this board has to offer. She's a fkn ripper
