Well the board is finally getting some use now that I've been down south for a while.
...and there has been some waves.
Some words about this board:
1. It's fast. Sometimes too fast and shoots out in front of the pocket. I've taken to tail stomps for stalling where required. The big positive is that sections I would ordinarily have not made on my old board can often be made on the Skud. This was not a board purchased for point breaks and pocket surfing, it's for fast beaches and reefs. It doesn't really surf up/down in the pocket but that is as expected - it's not that sort of board.
2. It's surprisingly loose. I didn't think it would be, as it's flat and double concaved. Must be the quad set up. I haven't had a quad before, but I really like the skateboard feel in small to med waves - suits what I want out of an allround board.
3. It's light and to be honest I can't tell much difference in feel to traditional PU. Maybe I'm just a crab. Regardless I reckon the EPS/compsand feels great.
4. Volume for me at 70kg is perfect and I wouldn't want to go less. I would go more volume if I was routinely surfing small/mushy waves, but maybe that's a different board all together. This board 5'8 x 19 3/4 x 2 3/8 has "extra low rails" so if you wanted more volume you could beef the rails up a bit.
5. Gets in earlier than a HPSB and I presume with more volume would paddle into anything. Seems to like late take offs also and has given me some confidence in this area.
Probably the obvious negative is in larger waves it may not be suitable. I've surfed this board up to head high and love it. Probably if you want to surf slow and in the pocket this board may not be the one.
I guess the other negative is that with the EPS core I need to be careful of noticing cracks etc due to water intake. I'm usually pretty slack with my PU boards. With the EPS board if it's dinged it needs instant filling with wax or tape in order to keep surfing. With PU I never bothered with this.
Very happy with the board. This is my first board from Katana and I seriously reckon it's the best board I've had to date.
