Fanatic Fly HRS Allrounder 10'6"

The Fanatic Fly HRS is the most conventional style of board in the Fanatic lineup. They are wide and stable, easy to paddle and they glide well, they can be easily used in the surf and catch waves well.  The rounded pin tail gives them plenty of wave performance for the not so beginners and the full rails makes them easy to learn the basics.  These are the boards we use in our school and in Fitness classes. 

The HRS or High Resistant Skin is tough enough to handle the knocks or vigorous usage without showing blemishes or cracking the skin.  The deluxe deck grip is comfortable to stand on and offers great grip without the need to worry about waxing the deck.

The Fly HRS comes in 4 sizes and a variety of different constructions.

Sizes they come in are:

10' 0" x 30" and is most suited to light to middle weight riders wanting an allrounder which handles decent surf.

10' 6" x 31" and is more suited to middle weight riders looking for a board that will do it all and also handles the speed of a decent wave in the surf

11' 0" x 32" and is best suited to middle weight to heavier beginner riders.  Still with excellent surf rocker lines and tail it will be the one board fits all

11' 6" x 33" and is best suited to heavy weights and people who are also interested in windsurfing.  All Fly HRS boards come with a screw thread to adapt them to a windsurfing rig.  The 11'6" x 33" also has a windsurfing specific model with a center fin for learning windsurfing.

This was not the first SUP I had ridden and I rode it more as a part of due diligence when assessing the range.  It was excellent to ride and a real "no brainer" to paddle about without special skills.  I enjoyed the ride and felt that with some time spent on the board a complete novice would rapidly improve and have a great board to take to the waves and really be able to learn the art of surfing without the hassle of learning how to duck dive, stand up and take off, or the need to have great wave knowledge to ascertain the right position to be in for the take off.  When you consider you are already standing and have a better vantage point for assessing what waves are coming, it allows you to position yourself in advance and simply paddle at the right time, take a single step back and you are surfing.  It really is that simple - you're surfing.

The Fanatic FLY blew me away when I witnessed a rank beginner step onto the 11'6", paddle out into the break, and catch his first wave to the beach without falling off.  He was not young, fit, and didn't have any greater skills than that the average Joe.  It made his day and proved to me that skill, age, and physical condition had little to do with the ability to get onto one of these boards and have a unique and potentially life changing experience.

Fanatic Allwave 9'6"

The Allwave is made in the same tough skin (Hi Resistant Skin) as the other Fly boards so it is good and tough.  It's design came from the same CAD program that helped design the Airbus 380 and it has stunning good looks.  This was the first Fanatic board I tried and it just happened to be on a nice peeling right hand point break at about 2-3 foot.

The board is a thruster setup with a 1 + 2 setup.  The 9'6" was the one I grabbed (coz it was closest) and I raced to the water with a nice carbon paddle.  I stepped up onto the deck and straight away found it really stable.  I dipped the paddle and away I went heading straight out to the waves.  I had to negotiate the waves forst on the way out and surprisingly, found it really easy, I just paddles up and over, even waves that had pitched and broken were a breeze to ride over and I managed to stay on my feet the whole way.

Once out the back I relaxed and concentrated more on my paddle strokes and found the board moved really well when in flat water and I was quickly in the lineup for the waves.  A decent wave approached and I started paddling hard as the wave lifted the back of the board.  Half a second later I was stepping back to pull the nose up and leant over to turn like I would a short board.  Well, I immediately fell off and had to rethink this strategy.  Next wave I paddled quickly and again found the board quickly accellerate.  I moved aft and this time dipped the paddle, put more weight on the tail and rail and voila!, The board swung beautifully across the wave face and began to climb.  A quick weight shift and it was a nice cutback towards the foam for another turn.

I was hooked right there and then.  What a hoot!  I surfed this board for the next couple of hours and the more I rode it, the easier and more performance it delivered.  For anyone looking to get into a fun and easy perfomance SUP, the Allwave is the shot! 

AK&S; will have demo's available from late August on and you'll see me on the green boards as soon as they arrive.  Happy SUPper!

FANATIC FLY RACE WOOD 12' 6"

The Fanatic range comes with some amazingly fast race boards one of which is the Fly Race Wood 12' 6"  This board is a great place to start if you have never jumped onto a race board before and are also looking for a board you can use as an allrounder for early morning flat water cruising and even catching smaller waves.  The dimensions are 12' 6" x 30.5"  As far as race boards go, it's wide which is great because it makes it super stable and easy to balance allowing you to concentrate more on your stroke technique and get most of your power down to the paddle and into the water.  The volume is ideal for beginners and also perfect for riders of more than 85 kilos.  Me being 90 kilos, the board is a doddle.  The width will allow you to get out in the more choppy conditions of open ocean with ease due to it's stability.

The long waterline length allows the board to glide effortlessly through the water and carry the momentum for fast easy paddling.  The 12'6" length also qualifies the board for Battle of the Paddle style races where a 12' 6" class is designated to make it easy to transport the boards on aircraft and makes for an even playing field among paddlers. 

The nose of the board is vertical a bit kayak like in appearance, with a domed foredeck allowing the board to slice through waves and with the added volume in the nose, quickly disperse the water off the top and pop straight back up again without slowing.  The deck is slightly angled so as not to trap water and maintain speed.  Paddling out through small surf is easy as the bow of the board pierces waves as well as foam so easily (so long as you are square to the wave) that you barely even lose speed.  Very helpful when racing or just in a hurry to get through the surf to make it out the back.

My first ride on the 12' 6" Fly Race Wood was so easy.  I remember clambering onto the board and getting up to my feet and thinking that it was pretty stable although less so than that of the Fly HRS Allrounder and the Allwave.  But you have to expect that when you are riding a performance board with narrow nose and tail.  The difference between the allrounder and the Allwave is astounding in that the amount of glide or continuance of forward motion after the paddle has been pulled from the water is just amazing.  With some concerted paddling the board accellerates and really moves quickly.  Surfing smaller waves in to the beach is easy as the board carries it's speed and just so much as a lump of a wave can push the board, allowing some energetic paddling to propel you onto the wave long before it is ready to break.  A few steps back onto the tail to keep the nose us, reveals a board that is easy to surf and control and stable enough to "walk" the board for trim as needed.  For me at the time with less technique and more strength, I was clumsily able to put down power and straight away enjoy the benefits of a faster board that surfs well.  My participation in the Battle of the Paddle training sessions in the Gold Coast were made easier with a fast board that allowed me a few mistakes and compensated with good control and speed.

Th Fly Race 12' 6" will be the board I use mostly when doing our fitness training sessions or long distance paddles purely for it's ease of use and speed.  We will have a demo available of the Race Wood for those keen to get into something a bit quicker.  The Fly Race 12'6 x 30.5 is avaliable in Carbon and also Wood.