Turned up around 12ish, finished what i was working on, unpacked it and was on the water by 12:45
It's crazy how much longer it is compared to my 10'8.
The quality of it seems pretty good. There's a few blemishes but the deckpad feels really nice. A little less grippy than the Bluefin so hopefully should aid moving around a bit.
The pump is excellent. It's the Bravo SUPer pump that tested even better than the Red Titan, despite being single chamber. I got the board up to 20PSI in a shade under 7 minutes which is much faster than i expected.
The paddle is also decent and all carbon, which you certainly don't expect on a £700 board! Not done a side by side test with my Enduro, but it certainly feels light. The blade shape feels a little more touring'y aswell. A bit longer and less rounded.
I also can't get over how light it is, it's noticeably lighter than my Bluefin board which makes carrying it around a breeze.
Got on the water, i get in from the canal bank, so have to step down ~2 feet from the edge onto the board. Was a bit nervous but needn't have been. It feels stable and i'm happy i went with the 27", had a few small wobbles when i had a fairly strong headwind but nothing major.
It's also crazy how straight a 14' board with a touring fin goes. At times, i found myself heading towards a band on a 60degree bend at pace and turning was a real effort!
Only managed circa 30 minutes as i needed to get back to work, but pace was ~16 minutes/mile compared to ~20/mile previously. That was also with a strong headwind for the first mile. So happy with that and i'm sure i'll only get faster as confidence improves.
Only negative i found and it's not the board, is that i developed a strain in my left shoulder/tricep. It's not something i've felt before. I presume there's a shift in technique with the narrower board that i'll need to work on, especially as i want to paddle longer and don't need to feel discomfort at 20 minutes in!
