We just returned from surfing in Hawai'i testing-out our first Infinity Surftech, 9'0". With confidence...the ski is just awesome...probably one of the most refined production paddle-craft I've owned!
Finish work is beautiful, the lay-up is very impressive - extremely tough and the overall outfitted weight v.good. Amenities are 'right-on' with belt, footloops and thigh-straps all refined and integrate well. The adjustable foot platform definately adds to the useability of the ski.
My personal opinion after using the ski in Hawai'i for a couple weeks: it's a very fast paddler, stable, rolls fine, provides more than enough nose-kick for even Hawaii style drops and paddle-outs, is very very tight on the wave-face with 'no' slippage (using standard issue Infinity single fin), carries plenty of speed 'down-the-line' and accelerates extremely well off both the bottom and top of the wave.
What impresses me most about the design is that is has one of the cleanest releases of any production paddle-craft out there...tell-tale...look at any/all of the photos of the board in action - it sucks/holdsonto very little water! Immediate advantage!
Steve Boehne and Infinity have put a lot of effort into this project and it shows. Infinity's surf-industry prowess speaks for itself and their promotion of paddle-surfing and support of paddle-surfers, especially with this Surftech project, brings a lot to the sport.
I've been surfing in Hawai'i for a long time and can hold my own in most line-ups. During a couple south-shore sessions last week I even had old-timers, some pretty heavy locals, asking lots of ?s about the ski and calling me into waves, 'I think', just to see the Infinity Surftech board in action...the Stinger definately holds it's own in the line-up too!
The Infinity Surftech boards are now one of the mainstays in our instructional and expedition fleet here in Alaska and have a permanent place in my Hawai'i quiver.
A little bit of a SOFT-SELL here...If you are looking for a 'true' performance oriented surfer-first design backed by decades of design and shaping expertise (without all the bullshit hype), advanced construction from one of the top manufacturers in the surf industry , the safety and surfer-first provisions provided by a sit-on board...then the Infinity ski will make a surfer out of you. If you don't have one in your quiver you are missing out on one of the key-strokes/stokes in our paddle-surfing community. Most importantly, Infinity has the shipping/freight scenario 'wired' and will get their product to you without killing your bankaccount or timeline! We're outfitting our skis with Infinity's custom travel bags...they work great!
Website description is very complete:
http://www.infinitysurfboard.com/surftech-waveski.htm
Martin Leonard III
Exec Dir. Alaskan Outdoor Center
