Fanatic 12'6 x 30 for Down Wind - a review

Well, I was completely taken by surprise today. Did about 6km of Down Wind with very fun bumps from 15-20 knots of wind. We launched from a protuding point, and had bumps instantly.

We were also paddling about 15-20 degrees off True Down Wind.

I was very impressed with it's ability to pick off runners on a diagonal. Some runners were true Down Wind too though. It linked runners really well. Very predictable on control.

Opposite Steering Concept was there, but not usually... (lean on the left, board goes right, vice versa, when on runners). On the good runners, you could find an edge and happily slide along using a combo of rail & fin, to move diagonally towards the end destination, with traditional surfing steering / positive steering / rail surfing.

I'm about 88-90kegs. 6'0 tall. Aiming for 84-85. .

The board was the super light Carbon version, top of the range. Very impressed. I was running the stock fin. (not my board).

It picked off runners at will, with the normal 2 stroke technique...
Stroke 1) - the hold stroke - nose half in the back of the runner in front, give 75% power to hold some speed, but it feels like you're almost sliding backwards
Stroke 2) - full throttle stoke - give it 110% - and you're off and sliding !! You can attempt 150% throttle, but you'll be screwed after 1km !!

Then there was a stack of runner sets when I dipped in for Stokes 3,4,5,6,7, as maintenance strokes. Just control your position in the trough, the odd quick side change to change your angle, to stay on a good runner... Plenty of 75-100m sets of linked runners....

And yes, 12'6 does fit into small troughs very nicely!

Disclaimer, I'm hooked on 17 feet of fun with a rudder! So that's why I was so impressed.