Ive ridden this one to death for 3 months, heres the ride report.
42 in Epoxy / EPS, black mesh deck and clear flexible plastic hull.
With the reduced foam volume its a low paddler but apart from that theres no difference in paddling feel or speed.
Paddling in to a wave it gets up to speed and engages the wave as quickly as normal except on a slow crumbly wave when the lack or foam in the tail area reduces the lift you would get on a full foam board.
Down the face and bottom turning it gets to Warp Speed and its a good Warp Speed too, with the flat rocker its getting the best speed out of the wave. The first difference in riding is the smoothness, with the vinyl flexible hull it doesnt hit and push the chop, it just runs over the ripples. Very smooth.
On the bottom turns you can feel the fleible hull grab with with the concaves but adding that to the straight outline and its a straight line board indeed ! It does turn but the rails at the tail are too full to penetrate so the next board is much thinner and with a curvier outline.
Once it gets to a hollow section it flies , no problem adjusting left to right, or riding off the rails, plenty of projection out from a tube or between flat sections.
Ive had a few hundred waves on the board and the mesh deck and the vinyl hull havent peeled or been damaged but the vinyl is a little stretched. I chose the thinnest vinyl and there was 6 thicker guages I could try.
I didnt totally like the mesh deck, it was a funky thing to ride and it drew a lot of comments but it wasnt 100/100 for precise control. The water flowed quickly thru the deck and out the back as I took off so there is no design drawback with mesh deck and/ or a transom-less craft. Sitting up on the deck ‘out the back’ was just the same as on a solid decked craft.
Ive retired this one now but the next board will have these variations…
1/ Thinner rails.
2/ I’ll go back to my standard outline I usually ride.
3/ And I’ll go with a solid deck and keep it low to the flexible hull. The step at the tail is ~ 1/2 inch.
