I've spent the last week riding this new board daily in OBX and wanted to pass on a few words about it to anyone who's interested. Disclaimer: I do not work for Shinn but I do know the guys at AOK (who are the US importers) and offered to write this up as I have been a fan of the Shinn boards for some years now. With that said, lets move on.
At first glance, you can't miss the rocker - this baby has plenty of rocker. I was concerned with that much rocker that the board would just not go upwind - but that's not the case. Certainly not the best board for going upwind, the Monk slots in about average in this discipline. The ride however is exceptional - smooth is the easiest definition. It just handles anything you throw at it, and the ride is calm and relaxed. Absolutely no fin spray at all - again it's like a hot knife going through butter. Carving turns is smooth and fun, with plenty of edge grip for hard carving. The pads and straps are very comfortable, much nicer then the older Nobile versions that came with the Shinn's a few years ago. The foot strap is covered in a thick neoprene, very plush, and the foot pad is seriously thick. The footpad took a few minutes to get use to because they were so thick, where I was expecting to feel feedback from the board through my heels, but with these pads is just a smooth ride. The finish of the board is high gloss on the top, IMO a cool top skin for the board. The bottom, well, I'll just leave it to you to decide whether you like the gorilla or not.
All in all, a very very good board. easy to ride, comfortable, good pop, great all around riding board.