Jimmy Styks SUP

I've been making some pretty nice boards recently. I'm overseas right now until the 23, when I get back I'll send you some pics and might be able to come to an agreement on something.
cheers

 

almost got my head knocked off by a SUP on Saturday! Guy paddled right in front of me on the way back out and then realized he wasn't gonna make it over the set so he ditched it about 20 ft in front of me. Didn't realize he had like a 12 f.t leash on. I don't know how but it didn't hit me. I made sure he knew he could easily kill someone by doing that. He was like, "there was nothing I could do!"

I told him if he cant hang on to it he shouldn't be paddling in front of people.

 

Hey Naturalmystic,

I've flatwater paddled and surfed (in smaller waves) both the 11'6" and the 10"6" Jimmy Styks boards. They're not exactly high-performance SUP surfing boards, but they work in smaller waves just fine. And for flatwater SUP, you can paddle just about anything.

These boards are what I'd consider a second-tier SUP construction. They're made pretty much like an EPS surfboard, with a stringer and a few layers of glassing. The top SUP boards are made in a wood veneer sandwich construction method, which provides a much "thicker skin" and they are more durable. Also, the board shape of the Jimmy Styks boards is pretty basic and really just designed for flatwater. This particular brand is also made overseas, so that brings in some quality issues that you should consider. Primarily, the FCS fin system they use is prone to loosening within the foam. Unlike on surfboards, where the FCS fin boxes go all the way thru the foam and attache to the top deck of the board, on thicker SUPs, the fin boxes just sort of sit in the foam (and thus will loosen up over time). On the durability front, having just a few layers of glassing means that you can penetrate the outer shell of this board pretty easily with a collision with something sharp (in or out of the water). That can lead to water absorbtion issues, so be very diligent if you get one.

I'm pointing out some the deficiencies of these Jimmy STyks boards, but really they are made in a similar manner to many top SUP brands on the market. We carry Jimmy Styks boards, but we sell them for what they are and don't pretend they're on par with some other top brands such as Coreban, which we also carry. Some use sandwich construction, some don't. It's not a "brand" thing totally. These boards are inexpensive, so if you just want something to get you on the water, it may be a good solution. If you want a more durable board that will last a long time, or you want something more surf-centric, I'd recommend going elsewhere.

Here's an article we authored on determining between the quality of stand up paddle boards.

Hope this helps you out in your SUP search,

Stephan
Tower Paddle Boards