Review: SOLjah
Summary: The SOLjah is a good inflatable SUP river surfer for intermediate to advanced paddlers. Continue reading for the full review…
The SOLjah has a no-nonsense shape that works surprisingly well on a wide variety of small waves and holes. Like most inflatables, the Jah won’t out perform a hard board, but is indestructible. It is best suited for low flows where hitting rocks is a concern.
For beginners, the SOLjah is a decent choice. The durability of being an inflatable removes the worry of dings (which is a great attribute of a first board). The five quick-click fin boxes allow a lot of fins to be added to the board to make it easier to paddle. And the high volume makes it easy to surf most small waves and holes. For intermediate to advanced paddlers, the SOLjah allows you to remove fins for quicker turns or even grinds and spins.
If you are considering an inflatable SUP for surfing, you are probably also looking at the Badfish IRS. The IRS is slightly easier to learn on, however less fun for the intermediate or advanced paddler (due to the fixed fins). The SOLjah has a slightly steeper initial learning curve, but will be a board you enjoy surfing for longer as your skill increases.
If you consider yourself an advanced or expert SUP river surfer, you should also consider the Hala Milligram. The Milligram is a higher performance board, but is more difficult to surf.
Similar to the IRS, the rocker profile of the SOLjah can be inconsistent. Depending on the board you end up with, you could get a board with a lot of rocker (good for steep holes) or a board with very little rocker (better for slow and flat waves). For a board like the Jah, you typically will want one with more rocker. Lots of rocker, combined with its high volume and durable construction make it an ideal low water board. If you get one with very little rocker, it’s not the end of the world, but you might be jealous of your buddy who also got a Jah but with more rocker.
The only issue I had with this board was a faulty valve. It would unseat itself during inflation, and let a ton of air out when trying to remove the pump. After a few emails with SOL, and an attempt to fix the valve, they ended up giving me a replacement board. Solid customer service in my book!
If you’ve been a SUP river surfer for a little while, but still consider yourself a beginner or intermediate surfer, the SOLjah is a good board to consider. Even as an advanced surfer, this can be a good, indestructible board for low water.
This is some serious SUPing. I need a mini version for my son lol, hes recently taken an interest
I pre ordered one of these after checking this review and chatting with John at Sol.
Stoked to get it!
I surfed the new Jah the other weekend. I think it might be a good choice for you. It has plenty of volume and surfed well on a small foamy wave/hole.
Nice!
Ok, have had some time to learn this new critter. Low water has me limited but my time has been well spent. The improvements to this board are excellent, most notably the release edge which gives it trim and tightness to the back end.
It tracks well and in spite of meself being a tad over weight for this craft i am able to get it to give up good rides.
This board is a worthy addition to any quiver and the ease that it fits inside my Toyota 4R gets it a fast pick off the pile this summer.
So having spent more time on the Sol Jah I am finding it is a squirrely board to get going on. For my weight and size, 6′ and 215lbs, it is a handful. I am sure it would do better on waves with more cfs but we have not had that kind of water since I received the board. The effort required to get the board into position to ride a wave is considerable for me. Its like fighting for it as opposed to flowing it onto a ride.
I really like the edge release improvement that wraps the entire 5 fin area. I would like to see this on more boards as I could feel it immediately. The shorter length of the new design, mine is 6’5″, combined with less rocker in the bow may be better for someone 150 lbs instead of 200+. By my calculations there is plenty of volume and the 6″ thickness is what works well for me but some how its off the mark.
I am gonna continue to work on this one and hopefully I can develop/aquire the skillz to make this one work better for me. Until then its will spend more time in the bag than on the water and that is a bit of a bummer.
Cheers and fin side down.
Finally finding the fit for this board and its a real blast once you get going. John has them on sale and imho its a best bang for the buck board.