All Around Wave Recommendations

[isobars]

[jingebritsen]

beware of too much rocker.

i have the exo-wave 105. it puts me to sleep on flat water/bump and jump. best board ever for me in all types of surf app's except dead onshore.

newer x-waves have a faster rocker by a mere smidge. excellent all around.

lots of draggy bits (fins) and lots of rocker will make one only wish to use a board in side off waves. be careful about this.

not saying you just gotta have the x-waves, but seek boards with a speedier orientation. too wavy, you'll be like me my exo-wave 105. wouldn't trade it for the world for waves, but ended up needing a bump and jump/onshore board as well.

[sailwave]

[adywind]

It may be a good idea to make sure if the chosen board comes with blanks for the side fins, so you can use it in a single fin mode with a bigger fin when you want without resorting to DIY.

[sailwave]

[isobars]

[U2U2U2]

pray tell
which boards are the US mainland wave boards ?

Did they originate here or live here ?


Are they designed for California, Oregon, Texas, Great Lakes, Outer Banks ?

[zeppy]

I faced a similar dilemma last winter/spring. Like you, I'm about 185 lbs and have many years of sailing under my belt. I had a quatro quad 110 for light wind wave sailing and a 2011 93 liter JP FSW (single fin) that I used as a higher wind B&J and wave sailing (both side-on and side-off) (5.8 to 4.2). I also have a JP 127 liter supersport for blasting on 7.0 days. I liked the JP FSW for B&J in the 4.7 to 5.2 range, but I didn't find it "wavey" enough. I was focused on the quatro sphere as a replacement, but was a bit concerned about its planing abilities for lighter wind B&J so I started reading reviews and talking to people about other options (including translating some of the European reviews with the help of the google translate app).

I settled on a 2014 86 liter Fanatic Freewave TE. I really love it, and highly recommend it for both pure wave sailing and B&J. As you know, the Freewave can be sailed as a single fin, but I have never opted to do so because it sails so well (planes well, and fast) in tri-fin mode. To me, it actually sails like a single fin with all of the advantages of a multi-fin board. As others have noted, multi-fin boards often feel a little sluggish, especially to get on a plane (e.g., the quatro quad 110 that I also sail), but, in my opinion, the Freewave jumps up on a plane and accelerates almost as well (if not as well) as my former JP FSW single fin, but turns and holds the rail a whole lot better then the JP, especially in higher winds at speed. It is on the shorter side, but has a lot of volume in the center of the board, so it is also good at eating up white water on the way out in marginal conditions in both side-on and side-off conditions. Again, highly recommend it, don't think you can go wrong with this option. Even at 86 liters, I find it has enough volume with the way it is distributed and the rocker line to schlog well on lighter or gusty days,

[sailwave]

Zeppy, sounds like you know my story well. How is the fanatic freewave in head to overhead side shore conditions. My fsw boards dont turn tight enough in bottom turns and i feel like i stall coming off a top turn.

[jingebritsen]

top turn is when the sail pull is at its weakest. i adjust my technique by making sure the sail leads. lotsa mast foot pressure while making sure i point the sail CE the direction i want to go. this while we have to direct the board too. more of that doing/directing 2 things at once, like in a jibe.

been on and seen lots of folks with FSW/freerides that are a bit too flat and cramped. how to describe cramped? too large of fin too close to mast base. cheapest solution if you have an opp, base forward, one fin size smaller, one at a time....

still, some boards are far more free style than wave.