Jimmy Lewis UBoat 12’6
Zac Wharton has been racing for the Jimmy Lewis UK and Ireland SUP team for a month now so we wanted to grab his first impressions of the board he is riding, the Jimmy Lewis UBoat 12’6.
So how did you find the board now you have been on it a few weeks?
First impressions were that I was really impressed with the build/finish quality and how light the board was.I have e tried some carbon boards but they feel fragile. The Jimmy Lewis UBoat 12’6 is light but has a really solid feel to it.
It comes with good quality bag and honeycomb fin and I like the handles that can be placed in various combinations. They are soft so don’t hurt the feet and you can easily move around them. I’m currently using handles placed on either side to keep deck area clear to move around and this makes it easy for grab runs. They are also really well balanced so the board doesn’t tip.
In the first week of use I tried the Jimmy Lewis UBoat 12’6 in both flat and light up/downwind conditions and although initially found it quite tricky and had a few falls whilst turning and dealing with side chop, soon found the balance limits and felt a lot more confident. I know Paolo, the European team rider had told me it would take a good month to really get into this board so I’m pretty confident I’m getting there.
I had my first race after just one week after getting on the UBoat 12′ and was really pleased how easy it was to get up to speed off the start and managed to gain and hold a good race position against some solid paddlers. Coming home in a respectable 5th overall (4th in 12’6) felt confident on all the buoy turns and didn’t lose any time getting around them.
Since joining the team we have had a great team training day and worked on drafting and buoy turns. Really happy with both.
The Jimmy Lewis UBoat 12’6 doesn’t leave a large wake so hopefully that”ll make it harder for others drafting me and tracks really well so should be easy to hold a line in the draft of others!
In summary, I feel that the Jimmy Lewis Uboat 12’6 will be a fast competitive race board for me. The more time I spend on it is on ly going to help me to get to grips with it and I am spending time in less than perfect conditions to really improve my balance on it. Saying that balance is only really an issue when at slow speed so it’s important to keep speed up and attack buoy turns with confidence to maintain momentum.
