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Thinking about getting my first surfboard. Ride a TT today together with Mako King as lighwind 75% and wave 25%.
The wave conditions is mostly onshore or cross onshore and often shore breaks and a whole lot of chop, so NO clean waves. Weight 83kg and have a 12 and 9 and don't go out under 12 knots.
Reading a lot in other threads and forums I have come down to these two boards.
All input on experiences are more then welcome on these two boards.

I have North Whip 5.7 (90Kg) and I think it's the best board for small mushy waves. The exceptional qualities are excellent planing even when inderpowered and excellent turning like powerful, slashing, back foot stomping turns (therefore the name 'whip').

The whip is not very fast and it's built for planing and turning. Never seen a Celeritas but I read it's not built for turning especially well - it's called celeritas (speed) not turnitas

Sarc, You should probably just stick to offering advise about the whip if that's all you've tried. The Celeritas is a great little board (5'8"). The extra width in the tail and nose help you generate a lot of speed and the board turns fine on small to medium waves. I had the 2011 6'2" Tyrant for the bigger days. The 2012 SS surfboards look really good and have some new sizes. I'm probably going to get the new 5'11" Celeritas as I think it will cover all bases so I won't need two boards.

Tip:When researching gear don't listen to anyone who says they saw a kite or board...The only way to really know what gear is like is to try it.

Thanks guys. Appreciate your feedback.
Sarc seems that you really like the board, seen your reply in other threads as well. What I'm afrId of with the Whip is that its going to feel like a boat to wide and trunky. Eventhough I would like to be able to do some airs as well i would prioritise how it behaves in waves.
Mattress75 are the 2012 boards released? Where can I find more info read about the 2012 kites but not surf boards.
(by the way, ifs fun to read all these threads with pimping and a lot of marketing bullocks, as long as you read between the lines and stop believing in Santa )

The whip is not a boat for sure, it's nimble and slashes like nothing I tried before. It's a fun machine and the harder you push it the more it loves you back.

But it's optimized for light wind, so the nose will give you lots and lots of dynamic lift. You need it when lightly powered or riding knee high slop. But if you are riding head high waves and are well powered up there are better boards than the whip.

hced,

Can't speak for the whip, but I'm 85kg and rode the 5'8'' Celaritas for my first year on strapless riding, 3 yrs ago. I think it's great, gets up and going quickly and early but also handles strong winds well. Very fast, but turns tightly or a wide arc depending on your back foot pressure, fairly stable to learn switching your feet on. You could do a lot worse than this as your first board, but doubtless there are plenty of others equally as good. I wouldn't fret too much, as your first six months riding a strapless surfboard is all about you learning rather than slight differences in board performance. 6 months on you'll know what you want and need in a surfboard.

Mike

2012 Slingshot boards should be available in Australia around the end of September. Not sure about other countries. If you are considering the 5'8" Celeritas just get the 2011 one as I'm pretty sure they haven't changed. I agree with other comments about not stressing too much about your first board. Just try as many as you can. I've just sold all my boards ahead of the 2012 onslaught of gear and I've been riding ny fish surfboard unstrapped and am loving it. Unstrapped riding is always good for developing technique so if you have an old surfboard lying around just have a carck on it.

Thanks for all answers.
Ended up with the Whip 5.7, have now been out for two sessions.
Absolutely love it, I will probably use this 80% of the time, the rest 20% will be with the TT in flat water conditions.

Since it's my first surfboard I thought it should be harder to ride, but as easy as any TT. So far the jibes isn't there yet, so it´s a lot of toeside riding together with some re-starts after attempting jibing.
I almost jump as high with this as my TT and doing smooth landings is no problem. Nice balance in the air.

The only downside so far is the Eva grip, which is extremly slippery together with my Mystic booths, which dosen't make the jibing any easier.
Wouldn't be to bad if North could have sent 8 screws instead of 3 for the straps. However got 8 spares in 3 days, so great customer support.

So far the conditions has been up to 5 foot waves, which it works great in. Will try some other strap positions to see what difference it will make, so far I have mounted the straps in the middle holes.

Had the chance to try North Wam 5.10 during the last session. It's a totally different board in my world. More surf like, cuts through chop differently more like a knife. Very nice board as well but perhaps a more genuine like surfboard where the Whip I feel is more bump/jump/surf.

Take it for what it's worth, since I only tried these 2 surfboards so far and not experienced riding surfboards. However one thing is for sure, using a surfboard instead of a TT in waves opened up a totally new sport in my eyes.

Hope that I get the chance to try more surf boards.

Hi hced
I am exactly in your same position!
After trying the Whip and the Wam, which one would you buy if you could come back?

My two cents.....I tried both. I favour the Whip 5'8. It get's going quickly,and is great on small waves and huge fun slashing and sliding. The Wam... Slightly narrower feel than whip. I found this better for larger more well formed waves. Get whatever suits your conditions. To be fair, whichever you get, they are not miles apart. 2012 range is lighter than 2011.