The first impression that I had was "this board is small, and heavy!" It weighs half a ton. I also thought that the fins were tiny, and it had much more rocker than I'm used to. The graphics looked nice though (bright red).
First time I rode the board there was hardly any wind, and the board went shit. Too small and heavy so I was just sinking. I wasn't fazed, but was still skeptical about how it would perform when I was powered up.
Next time was in wind around in gusty 20knot winds. The first hour or so I spent trying to stop the nose from going under, but once you get used to it, it's great. I was powered up quite a few times, and once you get the feel of it, and can stop it from sliding out (which I did a few times to start with) it's actually an extremely fun board to ride. After riding fully powered up, I found myself absolutely hooking but still holding an edge even through chop and small waves.
Quick summary, I don't know how it works, but it is the funnest board I have ever ridden. It's much easier to move around than the underground WT's and FD's, and while it's a bit harder to hold an edge initially, after a few sessions you can just go nuts on this little thing. A very fun board to ride.
One problem - I want to hit sliders on this thing, but I'm worried about the channels and stuff in the bottom. If anybody knows how it will stand up to this please post something about it. Thanks.