I managed to get my hands one of the very few Naish Catalina race boards that are in existence right now.
This one was just used at the Battle of the Paddle race in Hawaii a few weeks ago.
It has a few “war wounds” from being shipped across the ocean a few times – but fortunately they are all on the top and are mainly cosmetic. The board is 12’6″ x 27 5/8″. The large “out vents” work really well for keeping water out of the foot well area.
I took it for a good hour long training paddle this morning and was amazed at how stable it was for being as narrow as it is.
It terms of speed on flat water – it was very similar to the Starboard Surf Race (with a hint of the Starboard NEW) – which makes sense as they are both designed to do a similar type of paddling.
The Catalina should be available in early 2011.
