"just got back from an amazing honeymoon in barbados, which just happened to coincide with the best season for wind and waves in the last decade!! managed to score decent wind and waves to kite with
every day for three weeks!! this is a seriously undervisited spot!
even managed to find a little point break that i mostly had to myself for down-the-line riding!! had a chance to get on two of the new waveboards in all sorts of conditions.
the Asso is definitely the 'go-to' board when it's lighter and smaller, mushy conditions. it planes super early, and its got enough volume to make the lulls easy, but a performance tail that still lets you make some pretty good turns. it does feel like a pretty big board underfoot once you're going, but once you realise you need to move the feet around a little more than on a gunny board, you can really pull out all the turns and hit pretty heavy sections just as well as most brands high performance boards. it's gonna be a serious summer south coast board for those classic sea breeze 9m sessions when everyone on a twintip is having to resort to a 12m or bigger!!
when it does get bigger and heavier the Maquina offers custom board performance with decent pads and fittings and bombproof construction. the narrower outline, especially in front of your feet, means you can really get vertical in the critical section of the wave without having to worry about the board losing its grip just where you need it most. the tail shape will let anyone throw some spray or slide to their hearts content. They get going easily thanks to the rocker line and stiffness.
have had the religion II for a while now, and i can't understand why anyone would want a different kite in waves!!! the power is delivered sooo smoothly so you can deal with the improved low end even if it
gets up while you're out. they definitely seem more stable than last year when you're overpowered. the silly turning speed remains fantastic, and the construction is so much better than any other surf kite!! all that's amazing, and just makes riding much easier, but i reckon the best bit of all is just how fast you can relaunch these things when you cock it up!!! on the big days its all too easy to concentrate on the lip a bit more than usual and drop the kite, but when you can just pull on one of the back lines and then with a bit of trimming launch even from straight downwind in seconds, it just gives you so much confidence to go harder and later at the section!! this is a smiling kite!!! you just can't stop grinning at the performance you can get out of yourself with a religion II backing you up!!'
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