adriatic, I think you need to do your own review of a HIPE ! Criticising others is so much easier than setting the fine example
I started watching okkiteboarder's video believing that he sells product himself and wondered if it would affect his review negatively. I'm sure as per his reply to you that he's immensly conscious of that fact. I suspect his poor experience with their customer "service" was of some personal relief to him that retailers have the power to have a good edge over Gong in customer service. There are good and bad retailers too but I'd buy from someone like okkiteboarder over another retailer on the basis that he is willing to step past blind brand loyalty to test the truths of real life behind the front of team rider hype.
We have a local retailer in Wellington New Zealand who doesn't use the product, ignorantly runs down opposition products and falsely extolls the virtues of his favoured product without understanding it's specific drawbacks.
I will add to okkiteboarder's review some things that I noticed when considering a purchase from Gong:
No rear footstrap however the HIPE promotional video shows someone doing a big jump. If you freeze the video right then, it's apparent that the board in the jump is a hard board.
The financial history of Gong on their own website is somewhat chequered, it did not inspire me with confidence to order 2 months ahead despite them having a superb looking product.
And re-iterating okkiteboarder's note about the shape of the board, there is very little curve up in the bow of the board making it more likely to catch. It's a dissapointment that such a rigid semi inflateable board has these weak links.
The weight... On the Gong site the shaper goes on at great length about the high value of the prepreg carbon US Box mounting plate, that they get great pricing in bulk. But in my mind, the high weight okkiteboarder is observing is indicative that this plate should be smaller and likely more care to taper it's thickness as it blends with the vinyl and dropstitch under-hull surface. I expect in their next version of a HIPE they will address these issues.
Oh... and updating my design link for inflateable foil boarders who want to improve release of the curved rear surfaces: https://pinshape.com/items/103319-3d-pr ... uNL8QhyyTM