Hi all,

I very confused as to what the differences are between the freeride, freestylewave and crossover boards of the same size .. 100lt p.e. when it comes to handling, handling chop, planing and so on ...

In addition, I have a tabou rocket 125 and I weight 72 kg.

Looking to make a step down and try the 95-100 lt boards. For flat - small chop - big chop, which of the following would behave better for general windsurfing purposes (planing, jybbing and small jumps) ?

Tabou rocket 95 or 105
3S 97
naish allterain 95
RRD freestylewave 95 or 100
JP funride 100

Thanks !

I would scrap the JP Fun Ride off that list and replace it with a JP All Ride in either 96 or 106. I have a 106 Pro Edition which i stepped onto after my Fun Ride 130 and it is so much better in every way it's not funny. It is very easy to ride, gets on the plane quickly and is quite fast. I also have a 93 litre Single Thruster Pro but have no problem pulling out the All Ride and at times i choose it first. Don't get me wrong the Thruster is awesome but i LOVE the All Ride because it is faster and more relaxing to ride especially when i'm getting a bit tired after 4 or 5 hours on the water. Just a great all round board

The rrd fsw would be the best allrounder for sure, and they look sweeeeet !!!

www.windsurfingmag.com
Heres a bit of info on the latest Tabou Rocket 105.I know its bigger than what you are after but I imagine its probably similar in the smaller sizes..now all I need to do is win lotto and I can upgrade..

spyros said...

Yes, I am looking for a friendly board since i ll be jumping from my Tabou rocket 125.

So I want a friendly and a bit forgiving board compared to the others with the same volume and my main target would be to blast from flat to choppy sea water and occasionaly do a littlejump while blasting (no freestyle moves or any kind of serious jumping)...

It seems that I should be looking at the freeride boards of around 100lt volume for my needs...

SO perhaps a JP xcite 100 , tabou rocket 105, naish global freeride 104 ??

Any thoughts / suggestions / comments are MORE than welcome !

Thanks guys

You'd probably be better off with a FSW as suggested above. That sort of general purpose sailing is what they're designed for. Especially as this is appears to be your first move down to this size of board, implying that you are not yet a seasoned sailor.

Freeride boards are designed to perform in flat water mainly, though are more tolerant of chop that slalom/race boards and gybe a bit easier.

An FSW will be more versatile - you'll be able to sail it anywhere, opening more opportunities for you to explore new spots and enjoy sailing with your mates. They will also be more forgiving allowing you to focus more on enjoying your sailing. If you get one with a powerbox you can use a variety of fins, and it will be fast enough to scare you when you want to push it.

Don't let the "freestyle" part of the nomenclature put you off, these boards are not freestyle specialist boards, the companies have dedicated FS boards for that. FSWs are designed for blasting, gybing, and jumping in a variety of conditions - just what you want.

RRD FSW is one of the easiest and nicest boards I have ever ridden, truly a great all round board.
It has quite a flat rocker in the back half so it planes up easily and is quite fast. Lots of V so it is great in chop, really smoothes the ride out and the thick spongy pads make it very comfortable.
It gybes extremely well and is fairly loose and grippy, but note that it is not a true wave board. These type of boards are about compromise, trying to get an all round performance, so it is not going to be as radical as a wave board in surf or as fast as a slalom board on the flat. However the RRD designers have done a great job balancing this boards performance out.
With a couple of fins you can get fantastic range out of these boards, I have used my 96 with a 4.7 Wave sail and a 7.5 KA Koncept Slalom sail on flat water and it felt comfortable at either end, pretty amazing.
Highly recommended.

+2 on the RRD - brilliant board, they have won so many FSW tests over the years. Love mine, will always have one.

The JP is liked by heaps of ppl too but traditionally it is a little more freeride oriented - just a bit faster than the RRD and not quite as turny.

Really for bay blasting B&J and open ocean etc, unless you are going to ride waves you would be very happy with either.

^^ I'd the the opposite - the Rocket is his freeride for lighter winds, when it is really starting to blow and looking for a smaller board, I'd go the easy handling of a FSW

Mark _australia said...

+2 on the RRD - brilliant board, they have won so many FSW tests over the years. Love mine, will always have one.

The JP is liked by heaps of ppl too but traditionally it is a little more freeride oriented - just a bit faster than the RRD and not quite as turny.

Really for bay blasting B&J and open ocean etc, unless you are going to ride waves you would be very happy with either.

+3 - I've had both RRD FSW and JP FSW, both good boards but preferred the RRD. You won't go wrong with either.

Just bought a new all ride looks great, but sad today it's not been wet yet