Coreban Wood Stand Up Paddle Board 10' Icon

The Coreban 10’ Icon classic wood veneer series is part piece of art and equal part hi-performance stand up paddle surfing board. Seriously, it’s a stunner! I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple of these are bought just as artwork to hang on the wall like any other piece of fine art. But don’t mistake it’s beauty as being one-dimensional.

There seems to be a trend towards wood veneered boards in the surf industry, but the typical offering is a wood or bamboo veneered deck and maybe a bottom veneer with standard rails. This trend is partially a style thing, but the wood veneer is also a strength building component. Coreban’s 10’ Wood Icon takes this concept to a full wood veneer wrap masterfully feathered together at the bottom of the rail, then shows this off with a clear epoxy covering which protects and proudly displays the wood grain beauty beneath. This board is a conversation piece. Whether hung prominently within your beachfront home, or being carried under your arm down the beach, you’ll get plenty of looks with this beauty. Then when you paddle out into the surf, it will become clear that while it’s a beauty, it’s not just a novelty. It’s as serious of a hi-performance SUP as any out there.

From a shaper design prospective, the Coreban 10” Wood Icon is designed for serious SUP surfing. From the swallowtail popular with the hardcore surfing crowd in the tail, to the many options afforded by the five fin configuration underneath, to seven inches of rocker up front to counter nose diving on the drop-in, this board was made for surfing but also offers enough volume (162 L) to easily support larger riders with a little SUP experience behind them. Unlike smaller “surf only” SUPs, the Coreban 10” Wood Icon is equally suitable for recreational flat water paddling. It’s not going to win any races. It’s not a flat water racing board, of course. But it will serve just fine for paddling around for exercise and exploration.

From a construction perspective, here is where the Coreban 10” Wood Icon stands out from the crowd. A full wood veneer wrapped sandwich construction board eliminates the need for a wood stringer, and better yet improves the strength, responsiveness, and durability of surfboards as well as stand up paddle boards in the process. Wood stringers, which have been used throughout the history of surfboard design, are actually a pretty poor design solution. Wood sandwich construction is two layers of epoxy fiberglass layers that sandwich a wood veneer layer. The wood sandwich construction boards, which were developed initially to create a tougher skin around the inner foam core, actually resulted in performance and responsiveness gains as well. The resulting design is more like an exoskeleton “stringer” which flexes more in unison with the enclosed foam core. See The Board Lady’s explanation of this for better insight. Many of the high-end SUP brands use similar construction, but all a little differently. The Coreban method is a sandwich as follows:

• Inner core – A 20 gram (density) EPS foam core – many low-end SUPs use 12-14 gram cores, which results in a board that is considerably lower in strength and durability over time.
• 1st layer – The first inner layer of epoxy biaxial fiberglass
• 2nd layer – A second inner layer of epoxy biaxial fiberglass
• 3rd layer – A 0.6mm wood veneer layer
• 4th layer – The first outer layer of reinforced epoxy biaxial fiberglass
• 5th layer – A second outer layer of epoxy biaxial fiberglass
• Outer shell – A high gloss clear epoxy finish

Additionally the rails, nose and tail areas of the board are reinforced thru a proprietary process and all inserts are set into high-density foam blocks (instead of directly into the weaker EPS foam core as in many SUP brands, which creates durability issues long term). The result is one of the most durable and responsive hi-performance stand up paddle surf boards on the market, and also one of the most beautiful!

About Coreban

The Coreban company has been making high-quality, high-performance stand up paddle surfing boards since 2005, longer than most every brand of SUP on the market. Their primary focus is on stand up paddle surfing performance. Their secondary focus is on high-quality, durable boards. They’re not the cheapest boards on the market. In reality, they may very well be some of the most expensive stand up paddle boards on the market but they make a product that is widely hailed by those who do “EPS board repairs” as some of the best made boards out there. And when you spend $1000+ on a piece of sports equipment, it’s not really supposed to be a disposable product. It’s a product that you will take to the repair shop if you get a major ding or puncture. Coreban gets this, and they design their boards for long term durability in addition to performance.

To bring this concept of quality and durability home to you, here is a personal experience I had while attending a board retailer’s seminar at a recent ASR (Action Sports Retailers) tradeshow. During the lunch break I had the fortune of sitting at a lunch table with a couple of well known surf shop owners from Southern California. These are guys that have been in the surf industry for decades and each own several major surf shops. Funny, for as much perceived tension as there is between surfers and stand up paddle surfers, it seems all of the shop owners are huge SUP fanatics. That’s what they do in their off time. I actually learned to SUP from a local San Diego shop owner. Anyways, at lunch they were discussing SUPs and I asked them what they thought of Coreban boards. The consensus was that they were some of the best boards out there. They commented that while many of the high-end board brands are all made in the same factory overseas, the Coreban ones seem to do something differently and the result is a board that can take abuse and show virtually no signs. While almost every other board out there (no matter how big the brand, or how expensive) seems to get the rails dinged up over time, the Coreban’s just don’t. From that conversation, my mind was made up about which high-end board to carry in addition to our own Tower stand up paddle boards. Coreban’s may not be the best priced board out there, but if you’re the type of person who is much more concerned with getting the “absolute best there is” versus getting the “best price”, you can’t go wrong with a Coreban.

• Weight: (Wood Construction) 30 lbs
• Dimensions: 10’ length by 29.5” width by 4.5” thickness
• Volume: 162 Liters
• Fin Configuration: 5 fin options for thruster or quad configuration
• Onboard Accessories: Double leash plugs and standard hand slide carrying handle
• Included External Accessories: A single 8” carbon reinforced wood center fin, four side fins, a black “Coreban” branded deck pad, and a Coreban board bag.
• Construction: Depends on Series
• Core/Pro Series: This standard series features a high-gloss epoxy finish painted board with wood veneer sandwich construction around a 20g EPS foam core. There are two layers of inner epoxy biaxial glassing and two layers of outer epoxy biaxial glassing. This series represents the origins of the Coreban name, and the boards are extremely durable with a beautifully polished finish.
• Wood Series: This classic, throw-back style wood series construction represents the high-end of the Coreban SUP quiver, and they are quite striking. This is an enviable board to own. These boards feature a 0.6mm “full wrap” wood veneer sandwich construction (sandwich entails two layers of inner epoxy biaxial glass and two layers of outer reinforced glass) over 14g EPS foam core, completed by an outer high gloss epoxy clear finish. Additionally noteworthy are the reinforced rails, nose and tails areas and various carbon reinforcements. Compared to the Core/Pro series, choosing wood construction adds about 15-16% to the price tag.
• Pure Series: The Pure series, while also the most economical choice in the Coreban line-up, is also quite a striking board from a design prospective. The Pure series features a visible wood veneer on the top deck, with high-gloss epoxy painted white finish on the sides and bottom deck. It’s a sandwich construction similar to the Coreban wood series with a 14g EPS foam core, but the board does not feature the expensive full wood wrap. Compared to the Core/Pro series, choosing Coreban’s Pure construction will save you about 7% on the price tag.