Exocet Marlin 14" AST for Sale

Yes, I'm selling the Marlin. Here's the Craigslist entry. It comes with an almost-new Epic board bag. The total price is $1,050. This is $450 less than what I paid for the board and bag. The board is available in Peekskill, NY.

You can see the points of repair on this underside shot.

Here are pictures of the repairs. All were done professionally at East Coast Surf Products.

This is the main point of damage.

This repair is the second location from the event that caused the above repair.

This damage happened during shipping. It was repaired last June.

Exocet Cruiser: Sold

Yup. I sold my “sailboat” to a guy named Ismail. Go figure.

Goodbye Cruiser.

I might have a paddleboard for sale soon.

Pants on Fire, or Maybe Not

Well, I just wanted to get off my chest the whole accusation of lying thing. My friends at Progressive Sports accused me of being a liar and, saying instead of babying my boards, I was mistreating my boards. I wanted to post some pics just to make it clear how careful I am in this rocky environment. I took these picture on Wednesday, August 21, 2013. There may be a little shimmering because I just washed it.

Here's the board. Doesn't look too bad. The one hole is on the right side, not far down from the NSP logo.

Some scratches very minor scratches and paint chips. They're easy to see against the blue background, but this is basically the condition of the board across the entire bottom.

Here is the repaired hole up close. It was done by East Coast Surf Products in Larchmont, NY. This is the one I mentioned several times and was told I must have several holes.

Here is the first impact I ever had with a rock. This happened in 2011. Notice the scratches across the NSP logo? There is no repair here. BTW, this impact threw me forward, off the board. The far worse impacts to my Exocet occurred without any feedback at all to me! I just took the board out of the water, and whoops!

The last this I want to mention is that this NSP board has been in the water for three seasons. (I bought it late spring 2011.) It has gone to Florida once and Cape Cod twice. This is the kind of construction I expect from my boards, and the level of construction I asked for.

Letter to Exocet

I'm sending this letter to Exocet. This was my friend JP's suggestion:


Hello Exocet,

I recently (this past May) purchased a brand new Exocet Marlin 14' from Progressive Board Sports in Daytona Beach, Florida. I live in Peekskill, NY and paddle on the Hudson River. I also blog at peekskillpaddler.blogspot.com.

I bought this board to be my every-day board. I really liked the design which seemed right for the touring-type paddling I do. I also have had great luck with Exocet boards. I own a Kona One windsurfer, which I love, and also an Exocet Cruiser 150. Unfortunately I have not had the same type of luck with this board.

To be blunt, it's fragile. I recently emerged from my last paddle with major damage to the bottom of my board which I never felt happen. There are five substantial holes on the bottom of my board, each one bad enough to require a repair. Now I understand that accidents happen, and you are not responsible for these, but this is a level of damage which is shocking. I have had impacts with my Kona (sailing from the same launch) and the board just absorbed it. I have run into rocks so hard on my NSP SUP that the board stopped short and I was thrown over the nose. That required a minor repair, far less than this mystery damage.

This board also sustained some damage during shipping. It was a smaller than the holes here, but enough to keep the board out of the water with a repair. I don't know how that happened either, but that's some evidence as well to the general fragility of this board. I would add that on your website, you say:

A real fish on the water, the MARLIN are quick boards for down winders or just the perfect board for cruising around. The board also features several extra inserts on the deck situated in the front and behind the riders standing point for the optional addition of a net for gear, cooler, or life jacket storage. Perfect for a day trip around islands or cruising along rivers!

My experience has been that this board is not suitable for river paddling and cannot take the rigors of this environment.

I'm a school teacher who loves standup paddling and blogging about it. I was hoping that the Marlin would be a great river board, but it doesn't have the durability. I'm not in a position to purchase new boards whenever my old one displeases me, and now I'm stuck with a board that doesn't work the way it is supposed to.  I'm hoping you can do something here to help me, because otherwise I have a big problem.

Sincerely,

Ian Berger

Nice Paddle, Then a Disaster

I had a lovely paddle with my friend Gowan on Sunday. He only gets up to Peekskill a few times a year, and he likes to get out on the water. I try to have a nice paddle each time he visits when the weather is pleasant. He's not a standup paddler, but he enjoys paddling along in my Bic kayak.

Great paddle, until my board was stove in!

Name:		Swamp Hole Disaster
Date:		Aug 11, 2013 3:16 pm
Map: (valid until Feb 9, 2014)		View on Map
Distance:		4.04 miles
Elapsed Time:		1:27:23
Avg Speed:		2.8 mph
Max Speed:		3.8 mph
Avg Pace:		21' 36" per mile
Min Altitude:		0 ft
Max Altitude:		0 ft
Start Time:		2013-08-11T19:16:54Z
Start Location:
	Latitude:	41º 12' 23" N
	Longitude:	73º 53' 40" W
End Location:
	Latitude:	41º 12' 23" N
	Longitude:	73º 53' 40" W

We did four miles from Swamp Hole (Croton Landing) to Croton Point then north then south. We had a blast on the beautiful day, but then when I pulled my board out of the water there were some huge holes in the bottom!

A lovely group of four holes near the front of the board. They were about an inch deep.

My finger went right in.

A fifth towards the back.

Here's the map of the damage.

This is very serious damage, and I'm baffled that I didn't feel it. I usually feel every little eddie under the board, so that fact that it was perforated like this without me knowing about it bothers me.

I'm also having serious doubts about this being a good river board. The design is great, but if it can't take a serious hit, then I don't know… NSPs are pretty tough. My NSP hit a rock so hard I flew off the front of the board. There was a small impact crack, but nothing like this. My Exocet Kona is pretty tough, but this Exocet model doesn't seem to be made from the same stuff.

I took the board into East Coast Surf Products in Larchmont today. Bill the proprietor is going to fix it, but even he was impressed with the damage. He also showed me that the skin of the Marlin is pretty thin. He was peeling away the damaged areas an he could just chip away the skin with his pocket knife. He said he could not do that with an NSP -- there are a lot more glass layers.

I highly recommend East Coast Surf Products for board repairs.

Exocet Marlin AST 14' on the Land

Note: I wrote this initially for the StandupZone form, www.standupzone.com, where I post as Ichabod Spoonbill. As well, while this board is a good shape, I have found it's construction unsuitable for where I paddle.

__________________________________________________________

This is my new Exocet Marlin 14’. I had gone through a year-long search for a new flatwater board to replace the NSP 11’ that I’ve been paddling. I outgrew that board on the flats over a year ago, but unfortunately a new board wasn’t going to come soon. I’m a public school teacher so it’s hard to slip a new board into the budget on a regular basis.

I needed a board for the Hudson River. The Hudson is an odd place to paddle. It’s brackish for much of it’s length and very rocky. Any river board was going to have to be tough. The board was also going to have to be good in chop. The tides plus current plus winds can create some weird local conditions. It can be perfectly flat, then 100 yards away you have foot-high chop. The winds can also be very variable. I’ve seen five mph go close to twenty in minutes. It also had to have tie-downs for distance paddling and just carrying gear.

I went around with a few ideas, originally thinking about a 12’6” board, mostly because of the price, until I saw the Exocet Marlin. At $1,299 the price was right and very competitive. It seemed to fit all of my criteria too. Plus, it was made by Exocet, which is a company I like. I come from a windsurfing background, and my remaining two boards are Exocets. I’m especially fond of my Exocet Kona One, which is a great, tough, versatile longboard, the perfect board for the variable Hudson.

The Marlin comes in a carbon as well as an AST version. I went with the AST version -- mostly for price -- but there was also the durability factor. I don’t mind a little extra weight if that means extra strength.

I’m going to talk about the board with little experience with boards of this type. If I miss something or are inaccurate about a description, that’s where I’m coming from. As well, this is a virgin, never-ridden board, so I can’t talk about paddling it yet. That will come, but even when I do discuss the board on the water, I won’t have the experience to compare it to other boards of this type.

The board has a very nice shape. Looking from the top, it’s quite concave at the nose but that shape gradually changes to be completely convex at the tail. I assume this is to get the rider lower on the board but to also allow drainage at the tail. The deck is padded with a waffle pattern which seems fine for feet, giving maybe a little extra friction than a flat pad. That waffle pattern is probably good for drainage too.

The Marlin has a standard handle plus it’s tapped for a windsurfing mast or camera mount, which is nice. I could actually use one of my sails on it. The tie-downs are integrated into the board and there are fourteen of them, nine in the front and five in the rear. The rear tie-downs are nice, because I could mount a kayak seat there and take my nine year-old son on some of my longer expeditions. I’m going to be teaching him  how to kayak this year, so this might be a great way to give him a chance to learn paddling under my supervision. (Note to self: some rail tape might be a smart purchase.) The tie downs in front are enough for a bag plus some netting, or a PFD.

The nose is rounded with some rocker. I don’t know enough to tell whether that’s a lot or not, but there’s a definite curve to the board in general. It looks like it will pierce through chop pretty effectively, at least compared to the all-around board I’m used to. The bottom is pretty flat and the rails are reasonably sharp.

I rather like the green color. I would have preferred the all-green look of the carbon board, but that’s the choice I made. There’s a pretty peach-colored hibiscus pattern near the nose, reminding me of the pattern on my Kona One. The specs of the board are printed below the flowers. Above the model name “Marlin” is a... flying fish. Why is it not a Marlin since that is the name of the board? Flying fish are certainly pretty, but it seems a bit odd to have one on a board named for a completely different species, one that actually preys on flying fish! And it’s not like a marlin is an ugly fish either; they’re quite beautiful, so why not put the right fish on the board? Same with the wing pattern on the footpad. What does that have to do with the board’s name?

The fin is an Exocet model, and it seems a little small for such a big flatwater board. I made a comparison shot with two other surf-style fins, and it’s the smallest of the three. It’s also very translucent. The trailing edge almost seems to disappear. Those of you with more experience than myself with fins can tell me how well-matched this fin is to a 14’ board.

The board came with two accessories: a carbon Epic paddle and a long black “sock”. The Epic paddle seems like a standard low-end paddle. It felt an ounce or two lighter than my workhorse Kialoa Pupu. I wasn’t sure what to make of the sock. It’s a little short for the Marlin’s fourteen feet, and it’s a strange shape. I wonder if it was made for something else. Is the odd shape to accommodate the board’s rocker? I also got an Epic bag to protect the board on the road.