Review: Badfish IRS
Summary: “The IRS was developed to make river surfing more accessible to more people.” This is an excellent first SUP river surfing board from Badfish. Read on for the detailed review…
Erin Livingston surfing the IRS
In depth review: SUP river surfing is expensive. You need a paddle, helmet, PFD, and many other pieces of gear… but the biggest expense is always the board. Prior to the IRS you had to shell out over $1000 on a board alone. On top of that, most river boards are made of fragile foam and epoxy which often gets destroyed while learning to surf.
The IRS is the solution to both these problems. With an MSRP of $899 it is cheaper than any other SUP river surfing board, and it is inflatable making it nearly indestructible. It is also setup to be as user friendly as possible for learning.
Benjamin Smith shredding at Library Hole in Golden, CO
The board does have some issues however. On my 5th or 6th session on the board, a submerged rock broke one of the side bite fins off right at the base.
Badfish was quick to exchange the board for me. According to them, of the 100+ boards they’ve sold, this has only been an issue on 2. They are also working on fixing the issue entirely for next year. My replacement IRS hasn’t had any fin issues whatsoever.
The other “issue” I’ve had with the board is not so much an issue, but more of a consistency thing when compared to other IRS’s. Take a look at the difference in the rocker between these two IRS’s:
The board in the foreground (mine) surfed better on slower, flatter waves. The board in the background (my friend’s) surfed better in smaller, steeper holes. They both surf well on a variety of waves, but their strengths are slightly different.
I surfed the IRS most of the season on almost every wave I visited. The ability to roll it up and bring the IRS with me meant it always had a spot in my car. I found it could surf almost every wave, but was rarely the best performing board.
That being said, it was almost always one of the easier boards to surf. This is why the IRS is my new recommended board for anyone looking to get into the sport of SUP river surfing. The IRS can surf most waves, is often easy to surf, and won’t ding.
The only board which was consistently easier to surf than the IRS was the Badfish MVP-S. The shape of the MVP-S made it easier to surf and was more capable of surfing steeper holes than the IRS. As such, the MVP-S is technically an easier board to learn on. The problem with the MVP-S is it is fragile (when compared to an inflatable) and way more expensive.
Earl Richmond surfing the IRS at Staircase Wave in Buena Vista, CO
If you’re not looking to purchase your first SUP and instead want to increase your quiver, the IRS is a good option if you do a lot of low water surfing. If there’s a low chance of getting dings, then the IRS will probably disappoint when compared to hard boards. If you’re going to hit rocks, then this board is a great option.
I love having a quiver of boards to choose from. The IRS will definitely stay in my quiver, but I’ll only bring it out during low water or to lend it out to beginners. For anyone looking for their first board, the IRS is my recommendation.
Good to see that you have experienced with that board on different spots and situations, well I would say that at least here, in Europe, where we have a lack of river SUP boards, inflatables are the way to go, as they are strong enough for try river surfing in almost every situation and they do not take a lot of place while rolled.
Great review Benjamin.
Thanks! Hopefully there’s a distributor of the IRS in Europe.
Just wondering if you also have durability problems. Mine has been used twice and is almost new. Cracks have started to appear at folds and the vinyl is starting to delaminate…
Andy, I haven’t seen any durability problems in the vinyl myself. What year is your IRS?
A good friend who has one the IRS has tore off both of the side fins. The center fin will probably not last much longer. When he runs shallow stuff he flips the board around and steps back so he can save the last fin. He has had it for little over two years.
Is it a yellow IRS? Those boards were notorious for breaking fins. The white version of the board is much better, but anything is breakable. I really prefer removable fins these days.
It is yellow and white, very similar to the board in your review but looks slightly different in the deck pad. He says he would have paid a bit more to get removable fin box/base. He loves the board other wise.
So after much webbernet study and seeing that BF got these back in stock I put down coin on one. So far I am impressed, the picture online shows a fairly flat boar but in fact the new craft has a ton of rocker. In fact it is fully rockered along the entire length. The boar I received had a bent center fin, I was able to fix this with a hot air gun in about 10 minutes. It has in addition to side wall reinforcements two stringers of pvc on the deck and hull. The glue construction is very evident with some ripples here and there. I would expect at this price point there should be a welded seam but this is not so.
The extra long center handle will easily lay flat but I have also seen pics of BF team pilots using it as a make do front footy strap. Interdasting.
I am considering adding a handle to the rear and a 4pak of webbing D rings on the front for minor gear stowage. I may also add a spare diamond pad up front after water time as the installed pad seems a bit short . Alas I am doing more rain dancing as the last storm missed us a bit and the local wave has not come back in yet.
So I put a review up on the BF site but I only gave it 4 out of 5 stars, it has yet to be included on the webbysite. Anyway I got this board out on a local wave for first impressions. In spite of the initial learning curve it performed well for me. The wave also seems a bit changed and was less retentive than it had been before at a similar level.
My 215lbs large frame puts the 5″ thick board deck nearly awash, the upper weigh limit of 250lbs on the BF site seems very much fantasy to me. This however did not prevent me from getting good rides. In fact the copious amounts of rocker this board has prevents any diving on even a steeper wave. Almost too much rocker. It feels very nimble, it will carve and turn with ease. The modified egg shape is a winner for sure. The perma 4.5″ tri fins work well but at the level I had they were touching rocks. Annnnd here we have the major failing of this craft of no replaceable fin boxes.
It is critical to have a range of fin options for the rivers we have here in WV and the mid Atlantic area. The need to swap out appropriate fin lengths is very important. I find myself wishing for a quad click fin set up on this board. This will not prevent me from having fun on it but it does limit the range this board has. Other minor short comings would be lack of some gear bungees on the bow and a handle on the rear would be nice. I did add a handle made from a woven length of 1″ NRS cam strap to the rear double D rings.
Other items I would like to see on a future board besides the click fins are a 6″ model and perhaps a release edge wrapping around the tail fin area.
This board may be a nice river runner for a small adult or youth. It will ride the slower steeper waves with no problems. Faster flatter waves may be difficult for this craft or require more effort on the pilots part. It has no bad habits that I can tell but being this early in my quiver time will tell. Paddling around the eddy and currents to get where I wanted to be was not overly problematic.
A buddy who is 180 lbs tried this board also and he looked good on it. He took to it even quicker than I did not hampered by an extra 30+ poundage.
All in all I like this board. It has short comings but for a destination surfy conveyance it will be a pleasure to have and use.
I have modified the board to suit my use, ended up grinding down the perma fins(.75″ on sides/.5″ center)and adding a 2’x2′ patch of deck pad to the front.
Its really annoying to be catching fins at waves that are shallow, not being able to swap fins is a major bummer. This board does not need a 4.5″ fin IMHO. I may shave them down more in the future. Due to the extreme rocker I often find myself working the front of the board and my foot would be off the front of the deck pad at time, not a lot of traction of the pvc surface even with booties.
Not much I can do about the 5″ thickness of the board, I am sure its great for the BF team pixie riders but us real world people need that extra layer of air.
Still have it in the quiver and enjoy using it, particularly for low water levels.
Got out the hot air gun and extra wide putty knife and removed the two side fins. Installed two click fin bases. The center fin will need more care since the double stringers on the hull are directly under the stoopid perma fin. Gonna go for it when the additional click fin bases get here.
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Well the cell phone picture failed to upload but the 5 click fins are installed and work great! I can finally mix and match fins. I see now BF is putting release edge on these and a couple other boards well over a year since I bugged them about it.
The board works fantastic with the new fin box arrangement. The only thing holding it back is the excessive tail rocker.