Hello,

I'm new into this and interested in fitness rather than racing. I think I'm interested in downwinding but plan to use it out the back at fairly sheltered beaches initially (some chop but I won't be trying to surf). I'm about 100kg so at the heavy end of SUPpers.

I was initially interested in the Fanatic Falcon 14' HRS but now I'm ready to buy the new models are only in Carbon and above my budget. I have three questions:

1. The Naish GS is quite a bit cheaper than the GTW. How much difference does the weight make if you are using for fitness rather than racing?

2. Do I need the extra 34L of volume for the 30" Glide vs the 29" Glide as a heavier guy?

3. Finally from looking online two other boards that looked interesting were the SIC F14 and X14 (not the Pro version). Would you recommend either of these over the Naish Glide? If so do you know anyone who sells these in Sydney (or Australia and will ship)?

Thanks, Tim

+1 on the glide. I have a 14 x 29 and its a great board, excellent for down winding.

I kinda wish I had held off for the wood version, they look very nice and the 1 and a bit kg weight saving would be very nice too...

ShireSUP said..

+ another one for the Glide, as much as i like my SIC having a V2 and X14 the X14 is more FW than DW although the good guys DW on the X14.........but did you consider the V2 I am about the same size and sold the 2014 glide to buy the V2 and it took a little time but its been a great choice

I agree with my old mate/Hitman ShireSUP

I'm also 100kg and have an SIC V2 Bullet. Very versatile board. All the boards you mentioned are available at Wind Surf & Snow in Collaroy. Sam the owner is a very nice bloke with all the knowledge you could need.

You will enjoy the Glide GS. I sure like the look of the wood option though, but it is only 2 or 3 pounds lighter. Well, even a few pounds lighter would be better. The GS is a heavy sucker. The I was just under 100kg when I picked up the Glide 14 x 29 and it will handle your weight just fine. One of the factors that had me getting the 29" wide Glide was the reviews from owners who were 220 pounds and heavier. I have had a full load of gear with me for camping in excess of 40 pounds, and the rails were still well above water and the board still handled well. For whatever reason, I really think Naish has understated the total volume of the Glide. It is a bit over 29" wide with rails that are quite thick right until the last 16 inches of the board. It seems more like 290 litres+ than 280. I remember comparing my old Starboard Touring 12'6" X 30 that had a listed volume of 277 L with the Glide 12'6" X 30 that had a listed volume of 265L for that version. The Glide seemed like the slightly bigger board with very thick rails, but it had 12 less litres of volume? I don't think my 12'6" X 30 SB Touring has basically the same volume at 280 litres as the 14 X 29.25" Glide either. Volume listing doesn't really matter as long as the board paddles well for your weight, but volume listings can get a bit confusing.

The biggest difference I noticed between the Touring and the Glide was stability in rough water, and how the nose of the Glide reacts when it goes under the water in downwind conditions. I had the 12'6" Touring but the nose is identical to the 14'. The nose on the Glide and SB Touring are very different. The Touring has a very defined, high, and sharp ridge on top, whereas the Glide only has a slight ridge that doesn't extend as far back. The Touring has some of that yawing effect, or side to side movement when the nose goes under the water, and the Glide just charges straight ahead and comes back up smoothly. The defined peak of the Touring is for shedding water and piercing waves upwind, but it makes the board a bit harder to control in downwind conditions. The Glide is easier to paddle in cross chop and quartering swell in bigger conditions, and the Touring definitely gets pushed more by cross chop and quartering swell, and I believe this is largely due to the nose of the Touring that catches the swell. There is more rocker on the Glide, which helps in downwind conditions, and probably in side chop as well.

One area where the Touring is better, is upwind performance as the design pierces incoming waves and chop a little better than the Glide, which has more rocker and more board slap in smaller conditions. When it gets bigger, the gap closes between the two upwind, but I preferred the upwind performance of the Touring over the Glide. The Touring gets the nod in flat water performance too with less rocker and the pintail out the back. I had my Touring in the ocean in trying conditions, and it did fine considering the primary design intentions were for inland paddling, and not ocean performance, but there is a noticeable difference between the two in downwind conditions and paddling into cross chop and quartering swell. The Glide has more stability in rough water hands down. The Touring will be fine in calmer to moderate conditions on the ocean and it does just fine in knee high chop and backwash you typically experience when paddling close to cliffs, etc, and with practice you would be able to go in bigger conditions for sure. The Touring just isn't as stable and doesn't perform as well as the Glide when the going gets rough. The wood Touring is a beautiful board, and with the tie downs fore and aft, makes for a versatile distance board. I added NSI tie downs to my Glide and they work really well and the Glide also makes for a great overall touring board as well.

I'm going to try and add some pictures for the Glide and Touring side by side to show the difference in rocker and the high ridge on the nose of the Touring. There is no difference in nose design or rocker from the 12'6" Touring to the 14' that I can tell.

That's a good price for that board in mint condition. Buy it and save up for a lighter ocean board for heavier conditions

Others on here are a lot more qualified than I am to answer that question. I would say the Glide is a good compromise in a board that can downwind and be a long distance touring board, but it is not overly fast on flat. Too much rocker, it's heavy, but it isn't horrible on flat water either. Just depends how fast you want to go. The Naish Javelin 14 X 28 might be a better compromise than the Glide for use as an ocean board that is good on flat water too, but it's not cheap. The SIC X-14 has less rocker than the Glide, and is a better flat water board, but I would definitely lean towards the Glide for ocean conditions. Some of the downwind crowd will say that the new generation of low rocker boards are good for distance touring, and while I haven't had any of the newer DW boards out yet, I would probably agree with them. If you aren't racing and not concerned with being super fast on flat water, then a DW board with lower rocker could be the ticket. Just depends what your preferences are.

Does the 2016 hybrid 14 X 27 have less of a pronounced hump than the 28" version? Can't tell from that pic. I don't mind some volume up front to help with downwinding, and even upwind but that 28" is pushing it a little bit for my tastes. Plenty of volume for the 27", but how stable is it? On paper it looks like a good quiver of one board.

Nice to see that the hybrid starboard would match my needings for flat and ocean paddling. How would a 12,4 X 26 perform?
At first I was considering buying an used board due to my budget.