Finally got the new 14' Glide GS out on a downwinder yesterday in the northerly. Actually got two runs in.



1st one was pretty sedate, but got some really long runners.

My 2nd run in the afternoon was pretty heavy duty - launching from Boulders. The wind graph shows gusting at 30knts, but it seemed to be constantly hammering 30 the whole way. Lots of rogue waves and a bit of a haul to get out enough to clear the headlands prior to heading downwind. I think this wind was about my limit from this launch spot, 40 knots would be life and death I reckon. Such good fun though

My impressions on the Glide for open coast downwinding:

- Definitely more stable than the old 27" Glide. Only fell a couple of times and it was way more hectic than I've ever experienced before

- Like the guys have been saying, the new glide is very responsive to stepping forward for a bit of acceleration and I was certainly holding runners for a lot longer than previously. Others previously have said that this board has quite a large sweet spot, but for me it seemed very sensitive to where I was standing.

- It was very very easy to pick up runners standing forward, but you have to be quick to get back to stop the nose going in, very quick. I had a few where I had the nose buried deeper than my GoPro (about 3 or 4") and still recovered and stayed on the runner - so it's quite forgiving. Standing just back from the handle it was possible to catch and glide a lot of smaller runners without moving much, but that's not getting the best out of the board.

- a lot of water runs over the deck. It seems laughable that this would be the case with 280L, but looking at the gopro footage, it was awash a lot of the time. Didn't seem an issue, though - just saying. I noticed the same in one of DJ's latest vids.

Speeds from the afternoon run, I think is probably my fastest on average yet:




Haven't put together a video, but here's a photo. Check out the wind spray around the paddle