Cheers, i spoke to a guy who has a SUP school based at my finish point who mentioned it's a trip he does often in training and that there shouldn't be too much to watch out for, other than potentially some Northerly winds around mile 10, which may make it a little tricky to get over to the finish. He suggested potentially doing the trip in reverse and aiming for a southerly wind, so i might just see based on the day.
He also suggested he had an ex demo Fatstick Bamboo hard board with paddle and bag for €695, it's tempted to just have a board to leave out there and i feel a hard board would be nice. I can't decide whether i made the right call on my Red Compact. I got it as mainly a travel board and a backup board, but the bag is still big enough to be classed as a suitcase rather than a carry on, so there isn't the cost saving there on reduced luggage as we've still booked 2 suitcases. Then i actually feel happy on my Gladiator even in a bit of chop so less requirement for a wider backup board, plus it doesn't actually feel overly stable given i'm so close to the weight limit.
I'm going to see how it is in the sea in Spain, and then when i get back i might see what i could sell it for. Given i got a decent deal and Red seem to hold value i'm hoping i'd lose minimal on it. I think i'd then look at a hardboard in Spain. If i didn't sell it i don't think i'd particularly be bothered. I'm hoping to get out and play on the Red maybe this weekend at a local Beach. There's one quite local which is often very calm and flat and should work nicely for just practicing moving around on the board in clean water where you don't mind constantly falling in.
I tried a few times on the Gladiator in the Lakes, but it gets really twitchy as you move backwards, even when i climbed back on and was just kneeling around 80% back it was really twitchy. I think because of the pin nose tail. I've read a few things commenting on that and so i'll see how i get on with the Red.
