I've got an itch i cannot scratch.
I started downwinding in November 2014. In that season i took 20min off my time over 6k's on the local course... i love it. I was going 2-4 times per week, and having a ball. Even dropped about 12 kgs!
At the end of the season, i ventured out of the bay, and into the open water. Only one go before the prevailing nor'easter disappeared for another year.
But boy did i get an itch.
Only one year into downwinding and i feel like i want an unlimited.
I've looked at a Bullet 17. Looks awesome and today, frankly, its winning.
But i notice that there are others around.
Can anyone compare the Bullet with something else? I would like to hear about the DC unlimited if anyone could spare a review? And indeed any others that are around?
can't help you with an unlimited comparison with the bullet 17'4.
CAN help with comparison between bullet 17'4 & bullet 14, naish glide14, dart (14), dart pro (14) -
for 10km or less, loading & off-loading, steering systems, storage, etc. the unlimiteds are not worth the hassle...
however if you go over 10km the unlimited has better glide or carry in the water and this pays.
for open ocean conditions the bullet is the shiz... I recently paddled from Hangklip to Fish Hoek (50km) across False Bay in CT (South Africa), I was on the bullet 17'4, & my buddy (fractionally better paddler than I) was on the dart pro.
I waited for him more than he waited for me... and this became more obvious the longer we paddled (5 hours total).
On the Millers or Milnerton-Blouberg runs (both 10km, both perfect dw conditions, CT South Africa) the 14s seem to have it over the unlimiteds (all bullets).
One thing to note: the bullet 17'4 doesn't seem to reward effort the same way the 14s do... paddling harder on a 14 usually means I go faster, paddling harder on the bullet 17'4 just means I get tireder quicker.
The bullet 17'4 is definitely quicker, especially over longer distances but that speed kind of comes to you in spite of yourself (at least for this paddler).
interested to read other's opinions.
Sean
That's an interesting observation that on the Cape Town DW runs the 14s are as fast, or faster, than UL boards. Why do you think that is the case?
I find that my 17 goes extremely well when conditions are good: nicely lined up and a decent blow behind you. But you can quickly lose that advantage if you have sections quartering short period wind and swell, or upwind, or the wind drops, or there is a decent size shorebreak on the way in and out. I kinda imagine it like the contrast between a Top Fuel drag car and a Go Kart. You are only going to be faster in the Dragster on a flat course with no corners. But maybe this is more an issue about the conditions the boards were designed to work in. The SIC Bullets were honed presumably pretty much exclusively on the Maliko run, M2O, M2M and similar. So the more you depart from those kind of conditions the less likely it might be that they give an advantage. In other words, maybe there might be UL boards of a slightly different design that would work better than a 14 in eg. Cape Town, but it's just that they haven't been built yet because Maui in particular dominates the shapers' consciousness.
I can't speak for SIC or other Unlimited boards, but when it comes to the Starboard Ace GT, I am fully aware that a 14' x 23" Ace is quicker in a lot of circumstances, but the GT is undoubtedly much more fun. Isn't that why we do it? I think if you are down winding just to beat everybody else back to the car, maybe you aren't doing it right.
I wouldn't disagree with you, PT. But were we really focussing on speed? Speed will be a natural consequence of a good fit between rider, board and conditions, so it is a convenient shorthand. Speed certainly isn't my focus: I'm usually either downwinding alone, or I'm spending a time waiting for others, and there aren't any regular downwind races here, so speed doesn't matter at all. In fact yesterday I chose to DW a 12-6 rather than any of my longer boards. But when I got to a cross-wind and upwind section I was surprised after not paddling a 12-6 for a while how much easier to handle it was than the longer boards. So, as I said, while I also find the drama and top speeds of a UL board addictive, sometimes you can find yourself on a putting green with a driver.
Oh totally, I agree Area10, you can definitely find yourself oversized for the conditions. I was briefly flirting with the idea of getting a 12'6" Ace for the putting green style DW days. Opted instead for the next model inflatable 12'6" race board - maybe that will do the job.
a rider/proviso/disclaimer to above:
"On the Millers or Milnerton-Blouberg runs (both 10km, both perfect dw conditions, CT South Africa) the 14s seem to have it over the unlimiteds (all bullets)."
is simply an observation of the status quo...
The unlimited bullets (only 6 or so, we do have 2 F16s) are mostly paddled by bullets (we call us "ballies" here) with the exception of chris bertish who isn't playing on the short courses with us mortals. The rest of our top paddlers are all on 14s.
I also think our regular dw race - the Milnerton-Blouberg dw dash every weds night in season - out through the surf, turning dw & driving after each bump, inside or outside line(?), negotiating an entry through the surf again, and final run up the beach - favours the quicker acceleration the 14s offer...
also, the top sups (14s) are much closer to the top ss guys on the Milnerton-Bb than on our Millers run (slightly longer at 11.5km, often bigger swells, swell & wind usually less lined up).
