Sunova Skate 8'6"x 30.75"x 124 liters
About Me:
35 yrs
6'3" 105kgs
supping 5 years, life long surfer on various crafts
No commercial interest in any shops or brand but the Sunova skate pictured is for sale, just because of all the usual reasons like having too much gear and also wanting to buy more gear.

I have had the Skate for a bit over a year now and have ridden it in alot of different conditions. I mostly use it for small slop we get around perth, this is really its strong area but I have also used it in overhead long indo lefts as pictured which whilst this was not its intended purpose it did work quite well for.

Construction:
I wont go on about the construction too much other than to back up what has already been said so many times before. Light, tough as nails, looks great and for me I feel like it has a certain give to it- the flex properties built into the board make it feel like it was really "made to surf" if that makes any sense. This has all been stated before but I just want to confirm that I think the claims are legit. Durability is excellent, I am pretty good at not damaging my gear but even after a year plus of use and a trip to indo there is no dings and paddle scrapes are well hidden with the silver paint on the rail. I really like that the board has a fairly minimal paint job. One thing I hate with a lot of the major brands is that they come in super bright "lost at sea" colours. Its hard enough blending in on a sup as it is without a hi-vis life raft under your feet.

Paddling and Stability:
This is a very stable board. It has a full nose and wide tail which give it a very even volume distribution and a predictable feel under foot. 124L for my 105kgs is quite low volume but with the all round wider outline i found it quite easy and could handle it in as crappy choppy conditions as i would choose to go out in. It has a very flat rocker and fairly straight mid section which means the board paddles well with good tracking and glide for its size. The flatter rocker and wide tail make it pick up waves really easy. I can catch and get going on the smallest of dribblers and in bigger stuff I could still get in nice and early. If I was compare it to my 8'8" naish x32 (now moved on) the Skate is a lot more stable (despite being 16L and 1.25 inch width less) paddles easier and catches waves a lot better than the x32 (also waaaaaayyy faster, I actually like it way more than my old x32)

Performance:
Performance wise this board is definitely a bit of a compromise. it is definitely the fastest sup I have ever been on, it has a kind of fast friction free glide that lets you milk speed in the smallest lumps but that does come at the expense of top to bottom and in the pocket performance on steeper waves. The rocker is flat and the tail is wide this can make it feel awkward in sucky waves and tight in the pocket. It is more suited to turns out on the shoulder but when you get these right it can deliver some really fun drivey cutbacks on rail. You kind of need to nurse it into the turn a little to avoid the tail skipping out but once you set the rail in you can really push hard and drive it. It doesn't always work out but when it does it is sweet, I have had some super fun sessions in average waves on this board.

It is a wide board but it is very much not a fat board instead the rails are very fine and the tail is really really thin with the sharp points of the crescent giving it a lot of edge control. I felt confident coming off the bottom in solid waves and never felt like the rail was bogging or that i might slip out. I find with this board im not doing a long drawn out bottom turn more getting to the bottom of the wave and jamming the board sideways which will usually send me rocketing along. On the trip pictured i took some really late and steep drops which required a lot of sideways action and a fair bit of faith. In more solid better waves i felt Ok as I had the speed to make the waves but I didn't really have the control to surf tight in the pocket.

Why take a small wave fish to surf indo?? Well it was a choice between this and my JP 9'2 surf (actually also for sale), I was worried about the length and weight of the JP and how I would go taking it on the plane so I took the Skate instead. In the end i think I made the right choice as I could really get some speed down the line with the skate and make a lot of waves I wouldn't have made with the JP.

Overall for its "class" I think it is a great board, i have ridden the Starboard wide point and the Naish x32 a fair bit and I rate this board above those mostly because of its max speed!!!