colas said..

SurfKiteSup said..
Maybe something like an Infinity New Deal? 8'6x29@114L or Infinity B-Line 8'[email protected]

Yes, exactly.
I was mentioning Gong but this is of course not brand-specific.

As Colas and others said. If you are after the glide you want long and narrow. At your weight - 65kg - there is no point of going over 100l. So long board(ish) style like Infinity New Deal 8x28 or 9x26, Starboard 9x26, Kalama 9x28, etc.

Some really interesting comments on the Spice from Supboarder...my reading of it is that the Spice isn't that Spicey and you are much better going for a SMIK Hipster.

Slab said..
Some really interesting comments on the Spice from Supboarder...my reading of it is that the Spice isn't that Spicey and you are much better going for a SMIK Hipster.

Hi mate, I watched that review, and the tail area of the board looks like it works better as a quad.

When the Spice first came out I thought that the Hipster had some influence on it. The gap between the Spice sizes helped staying with my original choice of the 8'6" Hipster easier. And after riding it for a week I don't regret adding another SMIK to the collection, it's riding as good as if not better than I thought it would.

Cheers.
Steve.

slsurf said..
I didn't think the spice review was very negative at all and more importantly I thought he looked really good riding it, and obviously the pros did well with the 6'9. One of the main complaints was no board between the 6'9 and the 7'11 and I agree with that, same problem with their pro range also. Sometimes I wonder how much you can really extrapolate from the smallest sup model ridden by a pro to the 8+ boards, seem totally different to me.

I do like the hipster design concept better though, but not easy to get one here in the states and I never tried it.

Beau comes across as a very positive sort of guy and finds all the good things he can say about a board..but it was pretty clear to me that he found the board a disappointment. And for all of them to say the same, as they all tried it, then obviously there's something there that brings the Spice down the ratings. Not sure if you subscribe to the Pro version of Supboarder...Beau explained what he didn't like in more detail. In a nutshell he couldn't put his finger on what the problem was but said there were livelier boards out there that surfed better. I think he's a good benchmark to go by. My take away was the Spice isn't as good as the hype and there are more fun boards out there in the size range...I think the Hipster seems to be his fave but he also said the wider Jimmy Lewis surfed better. I've bought a longboard shape on his recommendation and have to say he was bang on. Still, the board might not gel with him and the rest at the Mag, but work well for others.

Kisutch said..
I was surprised by Spice review just cause they've given Starboard the top score in every head-to-head review I've seen, multiple times for shortboard and longboard and for the wide body too if I recall correctly. So I wasn't expecting them to list other boards that had more spark or suggest the design features don't work together to be more than the sum of their parts. But also it's hard to know how much someone else's experience will map on to yours. They were a bit luke warm on the 10x27 New Deal's turning but I really love the 9x28, which one of my friend loves but another not so much.

the Paddlewoo blog was informative for this how he would revisit boards he had and draw new inferences- Iike I think he didn't like L41 board at first but then did after surfing it differently.

Think he gave the top marks to the Starby Wedge over the SMIK in the last widebody reviews but on the longboards he opted for the Casey Revolution over the Starby and gave the Stylemaster the best improver title for about the third or fourth year running. Thing is, none of the boards are bad boards..all good but you can tell which ones he gets most excited about.

colas said..

Slab said..
Think he gave the top marks to the Starby Wedge over the SMIK in the last widebody reviews

For me, that's an example on why you should ignore their rankings between boards.
On a test of "shortboard" boards, he inserted the wedge, and make it "win" the test because... of its longboard features! (glide, stability).

Each of their test is quite interesting and relevant taken separately, if you "calibrate" them of the context of the test (fins used, type of waves, rider/board sizes ratio...) but how they rate boards one against each other seems a bit arbitrary and inconsistent. E.g: Of course a board with a big center fin will feel stiffer than a twin+trailer, but it is not a caracteristic of the board themselves, they could at least use the same fin setups to compare them.

That's true to a certain extent, but boards are also designed with a fin setup in mind. It would be ridiculous to surf a Smik Hipster twin and then say you have to put a big centre fin in it so that you can compare it to another board. Also different surfing styles lend themselves to different fin setups and board shapes. Different boards lend themselves more to some type of waves than others. Impossible to create a perfect testing scenario.

colas said..

MickMc said..
Impossible to create a perfect testing scenario.

Actually, I think Noel Salas (Surf n Show on Youtube) has a nice approach: On his board tests, now he devotes quite a bit of time playing with different fin setups: thruster, quad, twin, keels, twin + trailer... And it is interesting to see how it transforms a board, and also that boards can work very well with fin setups they were not a priori designed for.

But there may be hope. I see that on the last SUPboarder, Beau made an additional video on the Spice where he, at last, try other fins.
Too bad he tested only a quad setup, as testing a twin + trailer would have been a better setup to compensate for the kind of "deadness" he perceived on the board.

PS: I have no interest in promoting Starboard or SMiK boards. But I would like that more people would be more open to experimenting with fins...

Yep I agree with experimenting with fin set ups. For instance I tried single fin, pure twin no trailer, thruster and cdrive setups on my hipsters. Funnily enough the best results for me were with the supplied fins. My point was that it's impossible to create a perfect test, there are infinite variables. Noel Salas approach sounds good though I'll have to check it out.
As to Beau Nixon's test, the review I watched said he tried thruster first and was not so keen and then tried quad which worked better for him .... which I believe was the recommended setup in the first place.
I have no affiliation or preference to any brand whatsoever. You can call me a board slut if you like. Just love trying new boards and experimenting, although my dodgy knees are starting to influence my choices.

I guess at the end of the day the only way you will know if you like a board is by trying it yourself. I still think though that having someone like Beau testing out a load of boards you can get an indication if it has a few strong or weak points. If you have no opportunity to demo boards then it helps. Let's see if they make some tweaks to the Spice next year after feedback from many others.

I like the supboarder channel and I enjoy watching Beau surf, but the review tells me nothing. I was hoping for some kind of perspectives and comparisons between the Wedge, Spice and Pro. Like for example, is it really good for progression? Or should a person just jump to a Pro?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of picking the Spice over the Pro? What are the differences and similarities if look at the similar boards in the range, such as the Spice 7'11" x 29" x 106l and Pro 7'10" x 28" x 104l

I hopefully have there opportunity to test the 7'11 soon, being an owner of a Smik hipster 7'10 I'm looking forward to trying it.
Reading between the lines I think the Spice will offer a huge amount of progression to those who haven't quite mastered the bottom turn/top turn combo but are confident enough to paddle a smaller board and get some benefits. If you're pushing hard off the bottom and hitting the lip you're going straight to the Pro anyway, if you're still wiggling down the line but aspiring to hit the lip the Spice will take you through that progression and offer rewards.
Beau is a super nice guy, great to see an open and honest review after Starboard generally cleaning up everywhere else it's hard not to get suspicious sometimes!!

rekit said..
listed at 9kg which seems on the high side. How important is this as factor in the decision?

heavier is harder if you want to progress into vertical(*) or aerial surfing
It is also detrimental to aggressive performance in small waves.
And it is not fun to carry on long distances

But heavier smoothes the ride, especially in chop, and helps styling your carving. And it is not really a problem for casual surfing (i.e., you dont hit the lip hard, do floaters, ...)

Also, weight can be a major nuisance for a 50kg petite woman, but not really a problem for a 100kg fit dude. Especially since heavier boards are most of the time more impact resistant, so will probably will be more durable under a heavyweight.

Nowadays, a moderately priced sandwich board in 8'2" 120L should be expected to weight 7 to 8kg with pads.
9kg is a bit on the heavy side, but not unreasonably so, especially if this weight includes pads.

I love featherlight boards, but I reckon it is kind of a luxury: I crave the feeling... but I know good SUPers can get vertical even with heavy barges.

(*)


In a nutshell: 9kg seems OK for how most people will use the Spice.

Scotchman72 said..

MickMc said..

32Sixteen said..

grgd said..

colas said..

grgd said..
It seems that none of the manufacturers are interested in intermediate boards for smaller surfers.

Most of the US manufacturers, I guess due to the average weight of the US customers.

Try to look at non US brands.

Gong Karmen 8'9" 140 litres.
Smik Hipster Twin 8'6" 134 litres.

For my weight at 65kgs (add board, paddle and wetsuit and call it 75kgs) a Guild factor of 1.5 would be 112 litres. In the Spicey range the 8'2" would put me at 1.6, same with the Gong

A readily available board where I live is the Allwave, new or used. The 8'7" comes in at 135 Litres. That is only 10 less than my 10' longboard. I'm afraid that it would feel really corky for my weight at a generously calculated factor of 1.8. The way most people seem to work it out without board weight it would be GF 2.0.

When I first saw the Spicey I thought it might bridge the gap between their pro board and the Wedge. It does to some extent but the volumes are just too high for smaller intermediate surfers who want a smaller board but still not not much under 9'.

I have the 8'2"Spice and weigh 76kg, no problems with the volume, turns absolutely fine, more stable than my 8'5"Fanatc pro and catches waves easier. Less grippy/drivey than the fanatic pro but easier to adjust your line off the bottom, even managed to get myself a small barrel on it the other day. Best SUP I've had so far and I've had a few.

Good to get some feedback on the spice. Not many people riding them yet. Don't suppose you've ever surfed a Smik Spitfire or Hipster Twin and could make a comparison with regard to the stability.

MickMac

Great query mate I'd love to hear any feedback or comparisons on the Spice how's its stability compared to hipster or Spitfire

Rode a 7"10" V1 hipster years ago, my recollection is that the Starboard is more stable particularly front to back and that the starboard is also easier to paddle in a straight line, Hipster felt more "chunky"if thats a thing! The surfability of the hipsters cannot be denied though. Still loving the starboard!