I have discovered that the SIC F16 is a great board for my wife and I downwinding on Maui. After SUP surfing for the past couple of summers, we are just getting into downwinding and have done a half dozen runs in 25 to 30 mph winds and some fairly rough seas with some cross swells. What we have learned so far is that 16' boards catch bumps easier and glide longer for connecting bumps than the 14's that we have tried, so we are kind of sold on that length. The rocker of the F16 fits really well into the short period swells on the southside Kihei downwind runs where we live, so that seems like a good model for us. We were considering getting the hollow molded model that they make here on Maui, but we discovered that it is ½" narrower than the production model we tested; 26 ? instead of 27 ?. Not sure if we can handle that width. On the 14 footers that we tried, we were pretty shaky with lots of falls on 27 to 28 inch widths, but rock solid on 30" (our surf SUPs are in the 29" to 30" widths). With the extra length of the F16, 27 ? was very doable, but still with a few falls each run; something we could grow into.
We would really like to hear from anyone who has ridden both widths (V2 and V3) and can give us a sense of how much of a difference we should expect, both positive and negative. As for us, we are light weights at 165 lbs and 125 lbs; but to balance that out we are 65 yrs old with some metal parts and more on the way, so our balance is not what it was when we were young pups in our 50s.
Many thanks for any insights that can help us to decide on widths for the F16.
