It's looking good for this Thursday here in Melbourne with a solid 30-35 knot downwinder.
DJ
Thursday 27 September Winds Northerly 20 to 25 knots increasing to 30 to 35 knots during the morning, then tending north to northwesterly at 20 to 30 knots early afternoon. Wind easing 10 to 15 knots during the evening. Seas 1 to 1.5 metres increasing up to 3 metres during the morning.
I should leave it to Luke to provide the review. I didn't get a look at it on the water so really can't say how well it worked. I think he enjoyed himself though.
Yep, had my first paddle on the new JP 14x27'' carbon race today, straight into the deep end in a 20/25knot downwinder! I'm 75kg and initially found it pretty stable(max weight would be around 90kg) It caught lots of runners without too much paddling effort, then it accellerated well and started planing at a really fast speed once I moved further back close to the tail. Once on the tail it turned surprisingly well and It actually felt more balanced the further back I stood over the flatter planing area of the board. I fell a few times going fast down the runners but only when I wasn't standing far enough back, so as soon as I started getting right back on the tail it felt great and still planed fast into the next runner. Looking forward to the next downwinder on it now that I've sussed it out. I think it's potentially a super fast downwinder..
Thanks for that Luke (though I look forward to the day when my balance improves to the point that I can use 27" wide and stable in the same sentence). Sounds promising though