Vroom mode – Mistral Glide 14 ’ X 28 ” X 290L
Review & pics : Tez Plavenieks Mistral ’ s Glide 14 ’ comes along looking unlike most other iSUPs out there . In a world of all rounders this is a serious bit of kit , albeit with plenty of accessibility . Whilst not an all-rounder per se there ’ s plenty of all round appeal .
Price :
£ 722
Info :
https :// shop . mistral . com / pr oducts / m-glide-14- inflatable-sup
CONCLUSION
Knowing the history of Mistral ’ s design team , and where they ’ re coming from , it ’ s unsurprising the Glide is a fast machine . Who wants to go slow ? But those years of shaping experience incorporate subtle design features that make this speed easy to tap into without sacrificing usability . Experienced riders will certainly find favour with the Glide but any progressing intermediate could happily pilot the Glide 14 ’ without issue .
First up : Mistral ’ s dropstitch quality should be acknowledged . I know from extensive conversations with Mistral ’ s brand manager , Steve West , that there ’ s been a lot of focus here . With 13,000 threads per inch when inflated the Glide 14 ’ is super rigid . As inflatable technology improves comparable hard board performance creeps ever nearer .
Aesthetically the Glide is attention grabbing . The board ’ s needle nose is extremely pronounced . It looks like it ’ ll take your eye out ! But more than looks this design trait translates to super efficient glide and tracking .
The Glide ’ s squash tail is fairly narrow . But that means less drag when hammer down paddling . And the 14 ’ length of the Glide offsets instability . It might look like a high end , elite machine but it ’ s perfectly applicable to accomplished intermediates . As well as pro riders .
Straight out the blocks the Glide delivers . It has so much glide . Often I found myself smiling with how much ground I was covering off one paddle stroke . When you really rev things up the Glide reacts accordingly and vrooms off without a second glance .
kg ie t a r s h e d : i n f l a t a b l e s
89 s t a n d u p p a d d l e m a g u k