Here we go, Fanatic have released the information on their exciting new board for the 2016 range. The STUBBY!Available in 8'2" and 8'6".We had the chance to test it out in early June and were very impressed with the speed and snap of the new Stubby.
So... it official, everybody's got one....Fanatic was the hold out.... it looks like the did a nice job on this board.
And once again, named their SUP range after their windsurf range.
Someone really needs to give these guys an Internet lesson.
They FAIL year after year with this.
of course you could spend $$$ on one of those or get a decent stick from Deep, Gulliver or other local and better alternatives.
Nice, but seems a tad long for the low rocker: Airton keeps raising the nose a lot out of the water... and they even had Kai Bates stand on rocks next to it so he wasn't dwarfed by the board :-)
As they say, it seems designed for small waves, could be very interesting, with a lot of glide.
The compact inflatable could be a killer for rivers.
Yeah seems a bit long to be called a "Stubby" in comparison to Deep, Gulliver,Naish, JP etc
Phil
Select to expand quoteRossall said..
Yeah seems a bit long to be called a "Stubby" in comparison to Deep, Gulliver,Naish, JP etc
Phil
Yeah its all development of the concept.......
Select to expand quoteGrenfell said..
of course you could spend $$$ on one of those or get a decent stick from Deep, Gulliver or other local and better alternatives.
Probably a tad negative if you haven't tried one..
Select to expand quoteBrisKites said...Grenfell said..
of course you could spend $$$ on one of those or get a decent stick from Deep, Gulliver or other local and better alternatives.
Probably a tad negative if you haven't tried one..
I was actually being quite tame. Given what we know to date about such shapes and designs this will be a dog. Its way too long and defies why u would attempt to utilise the design in the first place.
well.... for starters, not everyone is young and 80 kg....
Not everyone can ride a 7'5
but is it ok if we "utilise the design"?
One thing that Fanatic has always done well, is provide stable boards, for big guys that are still looking for some performance.
I'm 98Kg
Did I ride an 8 x 29 at 113 L traditional shape last week? Yes
Would I want to do that all the time?..... not hardly
At 98kg + gear that would put me around 107 k, making my "number" on the 120 L board at 1.18
That's not "too long" for me. Just sayin'
I think 2016 will be a great year for Australian home grown board design, its cutting edge, high quality and cost effective. DEEP come out at $1600 for a custom with pads and Shaper fins, compared to the larger international brands you can actually buy two Australian customs for slightly more than a carbon international Brand X board. In addition you are getting an up to the minute design, not a 6-8 month old design.
Just a thought
Phil
Select to expand quotesupthecreek said..
well.... for starters, not everyone is young and 80 kg....
Not everyone can ride a 7'5
but is it ok if we "utilise the design"?
One thing that Fanatic has always done well, is provide stable boards, for big guys that are still looking for some performance.
I'm 98Kg
Did I ride an 8 x 29 at 113 L traditional shape last week? Yes
Would I want to do that all the time?..... not hardly
At 98kg + gear that would put me around 107 k, making my "number" on the 120 L board at 1.18
That's not "too long" for me. Just sayin'
I'm neither young or light but the vid doesn't exactly show it's catering the larger/older market does it? even has one kid standing on a brick to elevate him against the board I presume. The key to these shapes is keep'em short - make them wider, even fatten them up for the more distinguished, larger gent if you like, they are meant to be more manoeuvrable as a result. Fanatic misses the mark here and the cost I bet is double that of other/local and in my mind better options; companies and shapers that have really done their research and tried and tested the product for years.
Select to expand quoteGrenfell said..
Given what we know to date about such shapes and designs this will be a dog.
Actually, I do think that nowadays, very few boards are complete dogs. What you have is people not satisfied of designs because they do not fit their expectation, surfing style of conditions.
For instance, this board could be super fun in weak waves to give the glide of longboards while fitting in a small car, but could be a bad choice for performance surfing in hollow conditions.
if marketed as such then fine but it's not is it and upto 8ft hey Airton? the Longneck would still be strapped on the roof anywhere near that (not in the back of any small car Colas).
Opinion from someone (me) who's actually surfed the 8'2" version is that it is a bucket load of fun anywhere, any time.
Longer than a minion or a jp Slate? Yes and it paddles, glides and flows on a wave a s*** load better.
Paddled it 1km from longy to Butterbox and it did the journey easily, paddling much more like a 9' to 9'6" board.
On a wave the board can be surfed in a longboardy fashion but the real fun is when you step back on a steeper face and she accelerates down the line like a much smaller board. To me closer to the little slate rather than the mid size one.
On the rocker front, it's got more than your think making the slates and Raptors look flat by comparison. Maybe this is why i feel the length doesn't affect it on steeper take offs or tight cutbacks.
Takes me from my 92l slate through to 10'6" nalu making it the closest thing I've found to a one board quiver so far. Far from a dog and It'll be the board in the back of my van all season.
Come demo then slag it.
An ad from a retailer followed by comentary from another...... Thats fine fellas but aynone digging slighlty beneath the surface will find that longer boards of this design defeat the original purpose and the customer (your favourite person) is getting shafted on price/value for money (not your fault) by comparison to other, better researched and developed local products. No more for me I'm done.
Grenfell....says you:
"The key to these shapes is keep'em short - make them wider, even fatten them up for the more distinguished, larger gent if you like, they are meant to be more manoeuvrable as a result"
Says me:
The reason I was attracted to the "Vanguard" style shape in the first place, was the potential to get on a narrower board. Period.
Short and fat is not my cup of tea....neither is a flat, wide tail, but that is loved by many, maybe even some less distinguished, smaller lads
I want to drive and carve.
Which is exactly why I chose the 8' 10 x 29 Sunova Speeed
For me, that is narrow.... and I don't want or need shorter..... the board absolutely rips for me..... and....it's maneuverable 
If I was 50 years old and 70kg, I'd be on the 7'6 x 24 3/4" Speeed..... but I'm not.
Different strokes, for different folks.... if that's ok with you.
I agree.... Fanatic struggles to accurately market their boards.....
I also think they made a mistake by not offering the Stubby in HRS as well.... that would make it affordable for a lot more people.
Well, being a medium skill paddler, bleessed with copious amounts of windswell with chop, chop, chop... that 8'2x29 is perfect. For someone weighing less than 80kgs it start to get big pretty soon though. I see smaller models coming up real soon. But all that talk about this design not being suitable for other than really short boards is utter nonsense and b-s. I paddle a Naish Nalu 10´10 on the really weak Days, A SimSUP S3 8'4x31.25" for choppy, decent days, a Loco Surf 7'10x29 when it's getting more vertical and a Starby HyperNut 7'2" when there's less chop and wind.
Without competition, the SimSUP gets most time on the water and really good quality surfing. I weigh 85kgs.
If you have great waves and no wind all the time, sure - short and fat or even short and narrow is just fine. But for Euro conditions and many other places around the world too small is just an effective way of not catching waves. This is a perfect board for people to get into waveriding. As for the name? A Little German perhaps. Descriptive, functional and slightly boring.
Select to expand quoteGrenfell said..
An ad from a retailer followed by comentary from another...... Thats fine fellas but aynone digging slighlty beneath the surface will find that longer boards of this design defeat the original purpose and the customer (your favourite person) is getting shafted on price/value for money (not your fault) by comparison to other, better researched and developed local products. No more for me I'm done.
just had a look at the retail prices for the big brands, **** they are getting expensive. I think there is a lot more value in local board shapers like deep.
Select to expand quoteWINDSURFnSNOW said..
Dimensions are
8'2" x 29" at 105l.
8'6" x 29.5" at 120l.
8'2 x 29 sounds perfect to me, and having owned and surfed a minion and an AW in these shapes I can tell you that a little extra length in these Thommo styled boards is no problem and actually an advantage a lot of the time. Can't wait to try the Stubby. Any idea on prices?
Who is the new target group for SUP sports?
Also it seems like the big brands want to open the market for local shapers and brands by raising the prices every year. 
Anytime someone bags a boards ability by its outline is hilarious and shows they are living life in a preconceived, superficial state. Not to mention different strokes for different folks. I don't SUP much but surf like an addict. I rode this board for a week in fun waves and my take was that it is fast, paddles particularly straight especially chasing down an insider. Surfs unreal, you can go bottom to top and really lay into turns. Price will be a stumbling block but I think Fanatic have made a real good interpretation of the "Vanguard" design...
