Board Review: Paddling the Fanatic Fly Race on Lake Murray
Board Review: Fanatic Fly Race 12'6"
Length: 12'6"
Width: 30.5"
Volume: 254 liters
I have been paddling a Fanatic Fly Race 12'6" on Lake Murray for over six months now, and have put a lot of miles on it. I really like the board. It's an excellent cruising/touring board for the lake...and it's fast (it does have RACE in the name, after all). The Fly Race has done really well in races around the Southeast. It won the Columbia Canal SUP race and beat a Starboard K-15 in a race in the Atlanta area. But it's not a super delicate and tippy race board, despite its speed.
The Fly Race is a displacement nose style board--the nose is like a canoe or kayak, not like a surfboard--which is ideal for paddling on flatwater. A displacement nose extends the waterline of the board, which makes it faster. It also punches through chop rather than slapping like a surfboard type nose, which steals your energy. A displacement nose really is best for flatwater, but you do lose some surfing ability, which is not really a big deal if you live and do most of your paddling in Columbia, SC. And hey, if you want to surf down at Folly, you can always buy another board!
A lot of paddlers will really value the stability of this board. It's pretty wide for a raceboard at 30.5", which means you don't have to pay constant attention to not falling off the board. That stability also means it's not as tiring to paddle as a narrower board because your legs aren't working as hard. It's also very stable in the cross chop and boat wakes that are so frequently encountered on summer weekends at Lake Murray. The big squared off tail makes the board easy to pivot turn. I've noticed on boards with a narrow tail, like the Starboard Pin, you lose a lot of stability when you sink the tail to pivot the board around.
The Fly Race is fairly high volume at 254 liters, so it has good weight carry capacity. One thing I really like about the volume of the board is that my feet stay dry except on really choppy days. That's a nice thing when you paddle a lot in the winter like I do.
A lot of "race" boards will get a ding if you look at them too hard. Well, Fanatic builds a bombproof board. I used this board in a lot of demo days and lessons last year, and it got slammed into a dock on many occasions by SUP beginners. I cringed at this more times than I can count, but guess what...no dings! I'm still surprised the nose is intact and not banged up. Impressive construction.
I have found that the best standing position in glassy conditions is to have my heels level with the front end of the carrying handle. This gets the nose down in contact with the water (maximize that waterline length) but not so far water comes over the nose. In windy and choppy conditions I move back about 4-6 inches, so the nose doesn't punch straight into a wave. This is a good position for riding wind swell going downwind also.
So, it's a fast, stable stand up paddle board that you don't have to worry about banging up. What more could you ask for a SUP on Lake Murray?
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