So today the Surfboarder arrived via UPS. Here is the review that I wrote for Dave at SoCal Skater about it.
If I had to choose one single word to describe the Surfboarder, that word would be this:
AMAZING.
I purchased a 39.5" Pintail from Dave about a month or so ago. I got it quickly and was very impressed with the product and the overall service. I then purchased a product from a company called Kahuna Creations called a Big Stick. The Big Stick is used to emulate stand up paddleboarding on land, and it does an excellent job of that. I was using the Pintail with the Big Stick and having a lot of fun, but I wanted something a bit larger so that I could move my feet around a little bit more.
I contacted Dave via e-mail to ask him if he had any longer or larger boards available, and he got right back with me and let me know he had a "surfboard style board" that was over 47" long and 14.5" wide. I loved the length, but the width caught me off guard. I was like "Say what?" So I asked him if he had any pictures, to which he almost instantly sent me the images that are listed on his site now. I was instantly in awe at the looks of the board. Holes for the wheels?? Really?? AWESOME!!!! I asked him how much it would sell for, and he told me, and I bought one right away. Keep in mind these questions about prices and pictures were all asked because the board was not yet on the site.
I got the board today, about one week after I ordered it, and according to Dave I am the first person to actually own one of these boards. I ripped it out of the box and stared at it in awe. It looked even cooler in person than it does in the pictures. Long. Wide. Sturdy. It's an amazing board to look at.
So I took it out to the street with my Big Stick, which was the primary reason for buying the board. I stood on it and it was instantly ready to carve. The standard trucks on it are a bit more carvy than the revers kingpin trucks that are on my Pintail, and the board dives into turns with ease. I was easily able to do circles in the small street that I live on, which I can't do with the Pintail...yet.
I then decided to give it a go with the land paddle...and it's amazingly awesome. It's a bit slower than the Pintail, more than likely because of the added weight and the smaller wheels, but nothing that you can't make up with an extra paddle here and there. It turns amazingly, maintains it's momentum well, and is nice and stable.
I was instantly impressed with how sturdy the deck is. I could put all my weight in the center of it and get hardly any flex, which is good for someone paddling. If you have a lot of flex while you paddle, you'll be wasting a bit of energy when the board flexes.
Another thing that I thoroughly love about the deck is the ability to move my feet around to where ever I want them. I tend to want to paddle with my feet almost as if I'm just standing and facing forward. On the Pintail this is impossible because of it's width, but on the Surfboarder you can stand pretty much however you want. I found that I would keep my left foot just in front of the rear wheel hole and my right foot just behind the front wheel hole and I had amazing stability, but also didn't have to twist as much when paddling on my backhand side as I do with the Pintail.
When I made it to smoother pavement, I was actually able to do something that I didn't think I'd be able to do on a longboard. I was able to actually stand with my feet right next to each other and paddle down the road, just like one would do on an actual stand up paddleboard. I was able to do this with ease and without feeling unstable at all. However, when I got onto a bit rougher streets I found that this wasn't very confidence inducing, as I felt that if I hit a large crack I'd just go flying forward, so I just moved back to my other foot position and continued right on paddling away.
Another awesome thing about the board is the fact that the wheels are completely covered by the deck. Because of this fact, there is literally no way that you can get the Big Stick stuck in the wheels, which always leads to a fall.
I used the board for only a quick trip this afternoon, so I can't comment on it's long ride ability. I have a trip that I take that is about 3 miles, and I'll be doing that soon on the Surfboarder...however, I don't see any reason at all that the board won't function perfectly for that trip.
I can't say enough good things about this board. It's quite simply surreal. I can't believe how awesome it is for land paddling, which was EXACTLY what I was looking for. I also can't believe how awesomely it turns.
This board is, without a doubt, a perfect product to match up with a Kahuna Big Stick. I can't say enough good things about it, but the fact that this review is now about 25 pages long, I think I'll go back to that original word:
AMAZING.
AMAZING.
I purchased a 39.5" Pintail from Dave about a month or so ago. I got it quickly and was very impressed with the product and the overall service. I then purchased a product from a company called Kahuna Creations called a Big Stick. The Big Stick is used to emulate stand up paddleboarding on land, and it does an excellent job of that. I was using the Pintail with the Big Stick and having a lot of fun, but I wanted something a bit larger so that I could move my feet around a little bit more.
I contacted Dave via e-mail to ask him if he had any longer or larger boards available, and he got right back with me and let me know he had a "surfboard style board" that was over 47" long and 14.5" wide. I loved the length, but the width caught me off guard. I was like "Say what?" So I asked him if he had any pictures, to which he almost instantly sent me the images that are listed on his site now. I was instantly in awe at the looks of the board. Holes for the wheels?? Really?? AWESOME!!!! I asked him how much it would sell for, and he told me, and I bought one right away. Keep in mind these questions about prices and pictures were all asked because the board was not yet on the site.
I got the board today, about one week after I ordered it, and according to Dave I am the first person to actually own one of these boards. I ripped it out of the box and stared at it in awe. It looked even cooler in person than it does in the pictures. Long. Wide. Sturdy. It's an amazing board to look at.
So I took it out to the street with my Big Stick, which was the primary reason for buying the board. I stood on it and it was instantly ready to carve. The standard trucks on it are a bit more carvy than the revers kingpin trucks that are on my Pintail, and the board dives into turns with ease. I was easily able to do circles in the small street that I live on, which I can't do with the Pintail...yet.
I then decided to give it a go with the land paddle...and it's amazingly awesome. It's a bit slower than the Pintail, more than likely because of the added weight and the smaller wheels, but nothing that you can't make up with an extra paddle here and there. It turns amazingly, maintains it's momentum well, and is nice and stable.
I was instantly impressed with how sturdy the deck is. I could put all my weight in the center of it and get hardly any flex, which is good for someone paddling. If you have a lot of flex while you paddle, you'll be wasting a bit of energy when the board flexes.
Another thing that I thoroughly love about the deck is the ability to move my feet around to where ever I want them. I tend to want to paddle with my feet almost as if I'm just standing and facing forward. On the Pintail this is impossible because of it's width, but on the Surfboarder you can stand pretty much however you want. I found that I would keep my left foot just in front of the rear wheel hole and my right foot just behind the front wheel hole and I had amazing stability, but also didn't have to twist as much when paddling on my backhand side as I do with the Pintail.
When I made it to smoother pavement, I was actually able to do something that I didn't think I'd be able to do on a longboard. I was able to actually stand with my feet right next to each other and paddle down the road, just like one would do on an actual stand up paddleboard. I was able to do this with ease and without feeling unstable at all. However, when I got onto a bit rougher streets I found that this wasn't very confidence inducing, as I felt that if I hit a large crack I'd just go flying forward, so I just moved back to my other foot position and continued right on paddling away.
Another awesome thing about the board is the fact that the wheels are completely covered by the deck. Because of this fact, there is literally no way that you can get the Big Stick stuck in the wheels, which always leads to a fall.
I used the board for only a quick trip this afternoon, so I can't comment on it's long ride ability. I have a trip that I take that is about 3 miles, and I'll be doing that soon on the Surfboarder...however, I don't see any reason at all that the board won't function perfectly for that trip.
I can't say enough good things about this board. It's quite simply surreal. I can't believe how awesome it is for land paddling, which was EXACTLY what I was looking for. I also can't believe how awesomely it turns.
This board is, without a doubt, a perfect product to match up with a Kahuna Big Stick. I can't say enough good things about it, but the fact that this review is now about 25 pages long, I think I'll go back to that original word:
AMAZING.
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