So I picked up a cheap kite board from a backpacker on gumtree. He had no idea what it was so it was a bargain (I think) at $70. Apparently his room mate left it behind when he went back home. I've never seen a board like it and wont get a chance to give it a ride until the weekend but I'm hoping someone can tell me what type of board it is and what type of riding its suited for.

I'm guessing it's an old style race board, it's really long, about 7 ft, and feels much narrower than a surf board should be, maybe 30-40cm wide. It has 5 fins on the bottom as shown and almost no rocker so I'm hoping it'll be a good low wind board or something to just muck around on (it's my first directional board). Although at 7ft long I don't know if ill be able to turn it around.

Who is the shaper / what brand is it?

I don't know what it is, but it looks like a surfboard with added fins and straps. Although a surfboard of that length would indeed have a fair amount of rocker.

Personally, I would have kept the $70

I've got a foot long brown kiteboard stored in my toilet bowl you can have for$50

Most in here are teeny-bopper grommets with no idea what a quad fin board looked like.

It's a relic from the 80s, for tow-in surfing big waves (bigger than 2 foot for some groms).

Not a true directional, but meh... worth a try.

Loftywinds said..
Most in here are teeny-bopper grommets with no idea what a quad fin board looked like.

It's a relic from the 80s, for tow-in surfing big waves (bigger than 2 foot for some groms).

Not a true directional, but meh... worth a try.

1. It's not a quad.

2. It's certainly not a tow-in board.

Hi Acitta,

This is definitely an old Windesigns board by Ian Young. This is an old board designed for the kind of kites that didn't pull particularly well upwind. The longer length and narrowness gives away it's age. Back in it's day, riding upwind was a trick in itself.

Teamed up with a modern kite, this board will be an express train to upwind ville. It's a piece of history and well worth the $70 purely in nostalgia value. Ride it knowing it was crafted by a living legend and definitely part of W.A. kiting history.

DM

Thanks Darren. Haha so i guess I should charge more than 300 for it. Na I couldn't be happier with it, although one of the fins needs replacement. Do you know if Ian still makes boards?

hey so I'm moving back to Victoria from whence I came. I don't have a board bag for this board so I don't think I can take it with me. I've been debating whether I should get rid of it or risk it in flight but I thought I'd let you guys decide. If there are any newbies in Perth that want to pick this up I'll give it away cheap. Or if anyone wants a piece of WA kite boarding history I'll give it away at an inflated price. Na I'll still give it away cheap. Or if anyone has a cheap board bag they can drop off in east Perth I'd take that option too :) I'm stuck without a car now so no deliveries

The final review.
The 5 fins make the board stick to the water really well and go upwind like nothing else I've ridden. With 5 fins you can ride upwind without really maintaining much of an edge which is a weird feeling. I can compare this to riding the board with 4 fins when one of the front fins came off. It still rode fine, but I had to balance my edge a lot more. The positive side of this was that it would turn a lot faster. Compared to my Twin Tip it kept me up wind in far lighter winds (on the weekend I was out on this on a 10m while others were on 17s). Unfortunately I broke a second fin, one of the back ones, in that session so who ever picks it up would need to replace one, if not both of these. I don't think it'd go great as a wave board because the 5 fins and length of the board make it a little slow to carve. If I were to place it on a scale of short board to mini mal in terms of maneuverability it'd come out in the middle of both.

Would love to take it with me but Qantas state that all boards need to be in bags to fly. Plus the bag would probably cost more than the board does in the first place.