need board suggestions

[Wavedave38]

I am looking at other options for my fanatic skate 108 te. I have owned 5 versions of it over 15 years. I love the board because it is quite fast, turny , and stable . Does freeriding to freestyle quite well. I was thinking of the 2021 fanatic freewave in the 105 to replace it . My goal is to still be able to do my basic freestyle moves like vulcans , jump gybes, lay down 360's, shove its but be able to enjoy some small to medium ocean sailing.
Most of my sailing on the skate is in a bay.
I am torn because I love the skate , but am uncertain is the freeewave will be able to deliver on what I love about it and add to that with more turny, jumping and more control in chop and still do my freestyle but add a little more ocean sailing to the mix.
should I stick with skate or go with freewave?
Try to keep responses directly to fanatic boards I mentioned if possible or to the disciplines I am trying to cover. ( freestyle to freewave boards)

Thanks

[isobars]

Have you ever tried a smaller version? 108L sounds gigantic for what you're doing (assuming you weigh less than 300 pounds). .

[grantmac017]

Sliding moves seem to be very hard on normal tailed boards. So if that's your focus it might not be great on a FSW.
On the other hand a smaller freestyle board can work fine in ocean sailing, it just won't be fun in proper breaking waves.

[dllee]

Maybe go bigger with Fsw to replace freestyle board.

[U2U2U2]

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it

[coachg]

Just get the FSW & keep your old Skate.

Coachg

[Wind-NC.com]

Fun question-

As far as the disciplines go, the things that make your freestyle board great for things like vulcans also make it not so great for wave riding- super thick, square rails in the tail won't grip so well in a turn and have a tendency to bounce out. Also, the super flat rocker which allows you to use small sails and plane up quickly doesn't fit into the curves of a wave face very well, so you might bury the nose by accident when trying to wave ride on a FS board.

Many free waves keep the flat rocker in the tail, but raise the nose rocker a bit. They also thin out the rails and usually narrow the tail, too. This makes the turning and wave riding a lot easier, but detracts from the freestyle backwards sliding performance.

Personally, I think it's easier to do basic freestyle moves on a FSW than it is to wave ride on a pure freestyle board. Swapping out fins can make a big difference- go single fin and stubby for freestyle sessions! Technique wise, you'll need to really exaggerate getting onto your front leg to land any of the sliding moves when using a fsw, but it isn't impossible. You will also need to exaggerate any sail steering techniques that you might employ, since the nose will be stickier when sliding.

You might find that you need a touch more sail or board volume to plane when using a FSW versus a pure FS board. Just something to consider if you're always milking your sessions in light wind... but if you tend to have plenty of power available, a FSW would probably be a lot of fun for you!

[loonie2]

I think what coachg said is your best answer.

If you have not done vulcans yet on your skate, it's not likely you will do them on the FSW. As far the old school carving moves (downwind 360s) the FSW is better. FSW will defnitely be better in waves of any kind. I've observed some FSW boards that do indeed have a sliding freestyle aspect, but that others that definitely do not. A couple of years ago I rented the fanatic freewave 105l. Definitely inferior with respect to sliding freestyle. Way better for cruising in chop and stable at the high end of the wind range. Good carving but mediocore "slashy-ness" (to be honest, only a couple of days on it with single fin and not conditions with waves or swell).

Keep your skate for flat water days you work on new school freestyle. Use a FSW for everything else/

Good luck!