I briefly tried the 404 downwind board, I got told that it was a pre-series model as it was 24' wide
It looked nice quality with a great pad. The shape look a bit old school( no offence) to me, huge nose kick ( almost like the old javelin) and pintail.
lots of volume and pretty stabile. catches bumps with ease
That bit looks like the Riviera DW board. It is totally old school and works like a proven design works - great. I love mine for the conditions we have here. Short period, confused chop, limited wind. My Riviera is also really light at 24 lbs fro a 14x26. It gets me through the muck and when wind and chop align then it goes flying. Initially I was not too sure, as the trend is more toward hybrid boards with very little rocker but after trying it, the comfort of the nose and tail rocker fit in short period is just too much to pass.
Cheers,
Luc
That bit looks like the Riviera DW board. It is totally old school and works like a proven design works - great. I love mine for the conditions we have here. Short period, confused chop, limited wind. My Riviera is also really light at 24 lbs fro a 14x26. It gets me through the muck and when wind and chop align then it goes flying. Initially I was not too sure, as the trend is more toward hybrid boards with very little rocker but after trying it, the comfort of the nose and tail rocker fit in short period is just too much to pass.
Cheers,
Luc
Luc, the production model doesn't have any where near the forward kick of the Riviera Downwind board (which is dramatic) To me it looks more like the V2 but has a wider pin tail (26.5") and less tail rocker. I've seen that Riviera in action and it looks like a blast in large swell. SurfNiels, possibly the one you tried was based on the old custom design which was also 24" wide, the one I've seen on the rack has nose kick, but nothing dramatic. Thanks for the feeddback!