Well, I saw the $699 special and thought - what the hell. I already have the 12' Venom in my 5 board quiver (ranging in size from 7'8' through to 14') and that has been an awesome fun board in all size surf. I had always wanted to give nose riding a go and was about to pay up for one of the expensive named brand boards. Took it out for its first spin yesterday in smallish 1-2 foot very clean waves (with a rare head high coming through). What an absolute hoot of a board and a great performer. Knocked out 24 waves in 1h 30 mins and could not keep off the nose. I'm close to 98kgs (dry!), so being a bit of a performance style SUP, a reasonable amount of the board is always underwater and it is not a simple cruiser-style board (well, not at my weight !!), so you have to put in a bit of a workout paddling the beast, but it certainly handles the waves very well (as well as the other nose riders I have demo'd). My only complaint is that the carry handle is probably an inch or 2 too far back as the nose has a bit of weight in it and tends to want to touch the ground as you walk. My only worry is that I have gone from long boards to short boards and now I'm heading back the other way.