Hey Guys,
New to the board and I was trying to tap into everyone's experience with help in assisting me in making a decision regarding a new longboard search. I'm a decent SUP rider, 6'2" 180lbs; currently ride a 7'10" SMIK Hipster Twin (for my short board) and I have a 10'6" Riviera longboard (too large). I would like to replace the "bigger" Riviera longboard/all-arounder and find something that would fit for most condition days. I have been looking at 9' x 28" in all of the followin boards; Infinity ND(104L), Sunova Casey(115L) and Kalama(108L). It seems crazy but I think everyone would understance that I don't want to "fight" with the board. I'm looking at finding a great performance board that can catch waves and float a guy my size, without battling in chop. I hear great things on all of these boards, however, I have heard that the New Deal is tough to nose ride, the Casey Revolution is a great nose rider but has more swing weight in the nose and that extra nose size could catch on turns and I really haven't heard too many negatives regarding the Kalama. Also, I'm thinking that the 9' range is a great range for everything, should I be looking at a 10'? I was thinking I didn't want to go too big again? Thanks again for any and all input, it's a big decision for me.
At 190lbs+ wetsuit I've had a quick surf on the 108 Kalama and own the 115 Revolution. Haven't managed to find my way on to a New Deal yet.
I like the Revolution more than the 108 Kalama due to the rail design. I really feel as though the thinner rails on the Revolution surf like an absolute dream. I also came across a few comments saying to be wary of sizing down the Revolution due to this feature but in all honesty I think the wide nose completely offsets any instability when coming down in size from my other boards (126l Kalama and 120l Carve Pro). The Revolution has been easy for me to walk the board on while also being a ton of fun when I want to throw it around in small stuff. In overhead conditions it has a great bite on the wave face.
Sunova also lets you customize anything you want for a small fee. So, I had my Revolution made as a 5 fin and for yourself, if you wanted to drop a few extra liters out of the board you'd be able to.
BWalnut_
Thank you for the great response and input! There are so many great boards out there in the Performance Longboard category and sometimes it's hard to put everything together, especially when I really don't have much of an opportunity to demo a board before purchase. I like your take on the rails of Revolution and I have heard that it's a great board. I'm going down in size from such a "bigger" longboard (Riviera 10"6"), that it may not make much sense to bite off more than I can chew, in terms of stability. I mentioned that I currently ride the 7'10" Smik Hipster Twin and that is only 109L, this was a bit tricky for me at first. I want to be able to have fun on the longboard that I choose and I know if you get into the 26" performance longboards, they can have a pretty small sweet spot to stand on and I've heard that you almost have to constantly paddle to maintain your balance between waves; I don't want to have to battle too much between waves but at the same time have a board that you can walk to the nose and also make some great turns and cutbacks (probably asking for too much Lol). I think the small addition of liter increase of the Revolution from the Kamala, may help a bit as well. I'm curious what fin set-up you use on your Revolution (brand and size)? Thanks again for all of the feedback, it's much appreciated!
The New Deal. Best high performance longboard. It is light, great is the tiny waves and handles bigger waves. I have surfed it in way overhead wave. There is nothing out there like it for a high performance longboard. I'm 6' 205lbs and the 9'6 is super stable even in my winter 5/3mm wetsuit. You will love the board. Here is an example of the power of the New Deal. This day the waves were 2-3'+ and clean, local windswell... I got 75 waves in 3 hours.
I had a custom made by Sunova, based off a 10'6" Surf years back. I'm a 'short' boarder at heart and wanted a longboard for the point waves where I live. I wanted it to 'go' from the tail but still be able to noseride if I wanted to. This was before the revolution was designed. Mine is 10'4 x 28.5 x 140L - I've also been over 110kg - so it's pretty narrow for a lug like me.
Other than changing the width and length - when comparing to the stock Surf, we flattened the tail rocker to give it squirt when you put your foot on the tail (the rev has the same tail rocker) and we added more edge the rail in the tail to give it more speed. These 2 changes obviously detract from its nose riding, but you most certainly still can :). We also added a 4+1 fin set up.
On mine, the rail 1.5ft from the tail back is super thin, so it still performs at a super level when you are surfing it. The mid rail is a lot fatter, but I don't feel it actually hinders any on wave performance and it makes it a lot easier to stand on when waiting for waves.
I also prefer the slightly pulled in nose, when compared to a Revolution as it doesn't need as much nose flip to stop it catching a rail. It also allows a little more curve in the rail outline to let it pump from the middle.
My custom is the 1 board I have held onto out of all of the sups I've had. If / when I am to buy another sup, it'll most likely be a smaller version of this exact board. I would only make 2 changes to the design:
- go back to a 2+1 fin config - as i never liked it as a quad.
- put a squash or diamond tail on it in place of the rounded pin.
Something like 9'4 x 29 x 125L sounds absolutely mint (for me).
Have a chat to Bert @ Sunova - he's always been super helpful whenever I've asked him and he provides info that is super easy to understand for the average joe.
Hi All.
Has anyone tried the Naish Nalu 10 ft 28 and about 130 liters. I think it was one of the early performance longboards. Wondering how it compares to the boards mentioned above.
Yes, Loved how it surfed... It was one of the boards I referenced when I built my custom.
They just had the more than common problem of snapping in half very easily.
