Congrats.. I agree about the handle.. The rockered nose boards do turn much easier because the piercing nose on race boards act a bit like a nose fin making direction changes very hard unless you sink the tail and raise the nose way out of the water.. I hope others hear what you say about tippyness even for a 30" wide board.. Most other brand boards seem to come in a 26 or 28" width these days and I keep hearing people say that they think they will be ok on the narrower option and don't really need the wider board.. Wrong IMO.. In most cases you need the wider board.. I can see why Mark put small'ish fins on his boards but I think while you're getting used to the board a bigger fin will help heaps.. I'm thinking a large dolphin (10") or something like the Jamie Mitchell fin from Future fins will work best for that board.. Let us know how it goes and thanks for your review.. A couple of pics would be nice..

Well, i got my SIC F14 about 3 weeks ago, but have not had many chances to paddle in decent downwind conditions until yesterday.
This board ROCKS! We had a 24mph south wind which works pretty good to be on Lake Michigan, 4-6' waves and 71 degree water made it a great day.


I

m

ad

e my way out through the channel into lake Michigan and continued to paddle out about a small half mile before turning north. The conditions were good as i mentioned, but there was a lot of confused chop. In spite of the chop, the SIC is very stable compared to my 404 Zeedonk. I only did 6 miles, but had more fun than ever before on a downwinder. When a wave gets behind this board it just seems to take off and jump on plane. In spite of the small fin, it still was pretty stable. What totally blew me away was how quickly it wants to plane out. I hope we get at least one more good Lake Michigan downwinder this year.

Hey Paddlezz... i got 3 good downwinders in some "big" water. All three were 25 or so mph, with waves ranging from 4 to 8 feet. Unfortunately, the waves were not very "clean", but they were still a lot of fun, with MANY good glides. Where i was REALLY surprised was on a 6 mile long downwinder on an inland lake. Winds were about 18-20mph with about 12-18" chop. The SIC just seems to be magical with a tail wind and some waves. It's hard to describe the feeling.

excav8ter said..
@ AkeG.... how's the board search coming?

hey excav8ter so glad the F-14 is working out for you! Lake Michigan conditions are clearly the real deal

I picked up a 2014 Naish 14' x 29 Glide GS almost a couple months or so ago....right at the start of Hurricane (big wave surfing) season here in Maine....so it's only seen the water half a dozen times mostly in flatwater distance runs with one short DW run mixed in.

The Glide is ridiculously stable and of course, paddles extremely well. It's a pretty heavy board to get on a bump with but once I'm on it takes off and keeps going. I do need to walk it quite a bit in swells back and forth to keep good trim but I believe that's the idea Getting smoother and better each time out.

The nose really is a thing of beauty how it goes under water , yet board maintains speed and nose just pops right back up shedding water. Excellent design!

I got the Glide for almost $1,000. USD less (in cost) than the SIC, with having a strict budget and all it made sense to go with the Naish, and I'm very pleased that I did so far.

@ AkeG ..... if i may ask, how much did you pay for your glide? I see them listed at $1900+ i paid $2,200 for my F14 with an SIC bag included.

quite frankly, that is the best 30" dw board I've ever seen . that guys is a beginner but its really going for him.



you should chase that one up

excav8ter said..
That's a BIG difference! I may have to take the 3 hour drive to see what kind of deal i can get on one.

I should add that I got a bit of a "bro deal" from my local shop, and they took my longboard SUP in trade....have been buying boards,wetsuits and all things surf related from them for over 15 years.

Though all things are negotiable and cash money talks ;-)