Two new boards - mico-review of Point Break

Today my new Point Break (12' x 32") and Placid (8'7 x 31.5) arrived. The Point Break looked fantastic in blue - my Placid didn't quite turn out the way I expected - it can be seen from space

I bought the Point Break so I could go out to a favorite break, Big Left, on either small days (ride the swell) or on messy days (need stability). Today was a messy, on-shore day so I took it out. It was better than expected. As long as I didn't nose dive it (need practice with a 12' board), it flew along and I could "surf" it. It was MUCH better than my 14' Search. If I took my 9'1 Acid out today it would have been very hard work; too lumpy. The Point Break was so stable, easy to catch waves, easy to punch through breaking waves, and it was fun to surf. Most rides were >20 km/h. My first wave was a ripping left - I forgot to turn on the GoPro... The waves were chest-to-head-high.

I added some photos below.

The video is not exciting. But after only 5 good waves my brand-new 10' 8mm leggie snapped. I was 1 km off-shore, it was shark-o'clock, and no one else was out... Fortunately, the board didn't get too far... This is not a real review, just first impressions.

Ohhh,,, love em' both.
That blue is really nice, did you get to choose the colour? or is it a Std colour?

I'm very interested in the Placid, that looks ace. If poss, could you give a bit of a review of it when you take it out? I'm keen to hear about that and the same size too... Looks great in that orangish colour...

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SunnyBouy said..
Ohhh,,, love em' both.
That blue is really nice, did you get to choose the colour? or is it a Std colour?

I'm very interested in the Placid, that looks ace. If poss, could you give a bit of a review of it when you take it out? I'm keen to hear about that and the same size too... Looks great in that orangish colour...

When I learned that they would have to make the Point Break and Placid I figured I may as well go for different colors. Years ago Brenno had a Flow made in that deep blue, so I asked for "Brenno Blue". And I was on a surf trip with a classic guy Rick "The Rick" Pettifer and he later got a Sunnova in orange and black (he was in the Victorian State championships and made the Nationals) so I asked for "Rick Orange". I did see the mock-ups and they both looked great, but the final orange has more "safety orange glow" to it... I am sure I will get used to it, but I am going to attract attention so I had better pick up my game!

But yes, when I have given it a proper run I will write a review. I also recently purchased an Infinity Blurr V2. I have only had it out once in smaller waves, so I will do a review on that too (first impressions are VERY good).

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cantSUPenough said..

RbGar said..
awesome congrats, blue looks great !!! Deff try the PtBreak with the Sunova 105 or 93's Thruster or 105 & 83 Quad and she'll loosen up with good drive, I'm running the GL-1 all the time now, that mongo center fin will makes her quite stiff. I've even run mine with the 105 sides and a small stub center knee/waist waves, super fun!

Hi RbGar - the Father of the Point Break!

Yes, I was in a rush and slapped on the big center fin. Now I will experiment with the quad and thruster setup.

I wish I had thought to ask for the double leash plug... It should be standard on such a big board. Have you had any problems with leashes? It was a pretty big wave (open ocean powerful wave too) but the board managed to get sideways which meant maximum pull on my leash...

I can't wait to get it out there again. It was so much fun with the combo of stability and ease of catching the waves. A far cry from my small Acids...

no problems with leash but haven't been in powerful surf yet. be great to hear your thoughts running quads, I haven't checked it out yet as I've settled in with the GL-1 thruster setup.

Cheers!

CSE, you scored!!!
a perfect two-fer... all bases covered in one day

You did well for a first session.... nice vid!
12' does take some adjustments.
Your chesty CAM view looks like you might want to move back a bit more on the board.
My feet are behind the handle by a fair bit.

RbGar is spot on with the fin comments.

I use a 5.75" center when it's OH or juicy.....
but I have a blast with a 3" center for average days... the tail will slide a bit through turns and that helps a lot on weak waves.

Pics of:
my standard foot placement through turns.
My two favorite fin set-ups

I'm NOT jealous at all ...great add to your quiver ...the 12 sure does look fast on your vid ....

Nice sticks! So another Pntbrk to drool over. Love the blue. Do not know what happened to your leash but that aside getting your board sideways to the wave impact is easier, less chance to break, then nose or tail into it.

So so I have not kept up with the all the new sunovas, is the placid a short board shape for when the conditions aren't suited to your acids?

Magic looking place. Perfect board for it by the looks.

I just had another session. It looked smaller, strong off-shore, it looked like it would be challenging to get onto the waves on my Acid, so I took the Point Break out.

I am still grinning.

2 hours, 19 waves, no one else out.

It started waist-chest high, went smaller, but the last 45 minutes got much bigger - head high at the peak.

Sadly, the GoPro bracket was cracked, so no vid... But I had a ton of lefts and rights, late drops with better positioning so no pearling, waves up to 24 km/hr again. It rockets along.

I tried quads today as I could not find an appropriate center fin for the old-style fin box... I can't say I noticed a huge difference, but the conditions were different and I was getting used to the board. I was able to do long, drawn-out top turns, cut-backs, etc.

Still grinning!

Looks brilliant CantSupEnough I wanted to look at the dimensions of the sups you bought and looked on the Sunova website and couldn't see the sups you bought?

The Placid looks like a weapon! Will be very keen to hear how it goes.

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SupChickadee said..

cantSUPenough said..

SupChickadee said..
Looks brilliant CantSupEnough I wanted to look at the dimensions of the sups you bought and looked on the Sunova website and couldn't see the sups you bought?

Hey SupChickadee!

I am not sure why they have not made it on to their site yet, maybe they still treat them as customs. But the Point Break is 12' x 32" and a smidge under 200L. It is a big and fairly heavy board. If I was not 6'3 and supremely strong it would be a struggle to get it on the roof. My normal car is playing up a bit and I have come down to Yanakie (just outside the prom) with both boards and I bought my Prado. Its roof is even higher... Even though 32" is wide (but that width makes it so stable in the lumps out at big left) you really need the width in order to pull off the surfboard shape.

The Placid (who thought of that name!) is 8'7 x 31.5 x 125L. Here are the dims of the other boards in the range that Tardy got from somewhere


I hope to give the placid a run this weekend. It is pretty windy and rainy down here now though...

Thanks - looking forward to more feedback on the performance of both sups - off to Sanur tomorrow for a 10 days sup trip with 11 of my besties! Hopefully see you out on the new sups when we get back

thats not fair supchickadee ...have a good trip ..lucky chic ....I'm lining up a 8'7 placid in the next week ,i can't wait to get my hands on it
looks like a real playful board ...and really loose ....I'm going to compare it with my 8'7 flow and my 9'1 acid ...i love half breeds
and glad theres more sunova models coming out now ...
Can't wait to hear your run down on it CSE ..

GET vertical

I gave the Placid a run today. For half the session it was pretty lumpy and the waves were a bit full; big, but full. Not a great test... (I could have caught them on the Point Break...)

But then it cleaned up and got bigger. I was at a beach break at the prom (Picnic) and the bigger waves were overhead. I was using the quobba fins in thruster (see below), so it was not the perfect test of the vanilla board.

It wasn't a great test - so I will reserve judgment. But I can tell you that I was pleasantly surprised at the stability; even when it was lumpy. (me: 6'3 100kg. Placid: 8'7x31.5x125L) I flew down the face of the waves, and had some screaming lefts, but I did struggle to master the bottom and top turns. I could figure out what I was doing wrong. Going too fast? Too lumpy/bouncy? Footwork? I just could not get the carve/balance right.

I had my GoPro, but the battery went flat quite early...

The board really glows in the sun though!

I thought the placid was designed as predominantly a twin fin plus stabilizer set up as per the talk in the dealer video? Big (5.5") sides would make more sense with that tight a cluster and a trailer would allow the tail to sink in more. More spread in the cluster should give more drive with a thruster set I would expect. Board looks great though! Look forward to more reports imagine it will be a while before we see any on UK shores!

A guy on the beach took a couple of photos!

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bomberdave said..

cantSUPenough said..
A guy on the beach took a couple of photos!

CSE ...how was the placid ???? really keen to hear your thoughts please.

Hi Dave - I wrote a few notes earlier in the thread, and I have not had the conditions to go back out. I need to try some different fins, and different conditions. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that may not be for a while...

It did, however, tick the first box. I wanted a stable Acid. It is 6" shorter than my 9'1" Acid with the same volume and it was stable enough. So I am looking forward to getting out there again.