All boards in this test:
This should be good news for all freeriders: The boards in this group follow the last tested Freeracers very close to the tail or even in the middle of the field. This has been shown by the tests of the fastest freeriders against candidates from the freerace group. And even average freeride boards are only marginally slower, requiring less riding skill for good performance - and this with predominantly significantly higher riding comfort and easier jibing characteristics, which this most popular board class also recommends for intermediates.
The ideal sail types and sizes
Most freeriders opt for sails without camber with six or seven battens. Seven-batten sails already tend towards the high-performance freerace class - when performance is synonymous with speed and control in strong winds. Sails such as the 6.7 NeilPryde Speedster, which was also used to determine the performance scores in this test, are a perfect match for high-performance "fast freerace models" such as the Duotone Blast, Severne Fox or Tabou Rocket. Pleasure freeriders, on the other hand, often opt for slightly softer freeride sails with six battens or even freemoving sails. They mainly surf in the ideal wind range, i.e. not wilfully as close to the upper limit as possible. Six-batten sails such as a Duotone E_Pace or NeilPryde Ride are an excellent fit. But typical freemove representatives also come into play, especially in the smaller sizes.
The ideal sail size for these boards is around 6.2 to 7.2 square metres, depending on the average board width and the fins supplied. But even with a 5.5 metre freemoving sail, lighter surfers are still well on their way. Nothing speaks against a manoeuvre round with a five-and-a-half Severne Gator or GunSails Torro with only five battens. Some boards tolerate sails at the lower end of the range better, while others harmonise better with a larger 7.5 - perhaps even with a camber. The We One board, for example, looks quite compact according to the data and also subjectively, it offers a lot of comfort and control in stronger winds, so that it is well suited for smaller sail sizes under 6.2 square metres. This group also includes the Duotone Blast, Naish Stratos and RRD Firemove. Starboard Carve and Tabou Rocket, on the other hand, would be the boards on which you would be most likely to mount sails larger than 7.2 metres.
The loop options and positions
To get an overview of all the sensibly possible loop positions, it's worth taking a look at the deck of the Goya Volar. The board offers everything that is conceivable in this group. Firstly, the inside position with three loops. This is the position chosen by beginners or manoeuvre surfers. This option with a centre strap at the rear is also found on JP, Naish and RRD. However, on the tail, which is always quite wide, the four-position set-ups far inboard are also good for practising, comfortable freeriding or manoeuvre sessions. Only Severne does without this moderate step-up option.
All boards offer a third variant with four straps for maximum performance - i.e. far out. This setting is quite moderate for Duotone Eagle, Naish and RRD, i.e. with a little more distance to the rail. The straps on Goya, Severne, Starboard, Tabou and We One can be mounted particularly far out - as on freerace boards. There are no complaints about the foot pads, but the pads from Fanatic (firm) and Tabou (very thin) are somewhat more sparsely dimensioned. With Starboard you are standing on particularly thick, soft carpet.
The shapes of the freeride boards
With widths ranging from 67 centimetres for the narrowest board to 71.5 centimetres for the widest flounder, the boards in the group don't necessarily look like clones or copies at first glance. Each shaper follows their own philosophy and leaves a recognisable signature. However, in the mix with a fairly wide range of volumes, the boards in the group appear quite comparable in terms of perceived size, usable sail sizes and wind range. The widest board, the RRD Firemove, has to make do with the smallest volume, which results in a similar feeling of size on the water as a Naish shape that is almost four centimetres narrower but has ten litres more volume.
These two most extreme shapes also have the biggest differences in the underwater hull. While the Naish board glides on a fairly short, straight glide area of 75.5 centimetres and a subsequent 8.5 millimetres of upturn towards the tail, the RRD shape is based on a lush 104 centimetres of straight glide area underfoot with no discernible upturn towards the tail.
All shapes are slightly to moderately V-shaped in the planing area with double concaves of varying depths. The very pronounced "V" of the Severne Fox stands out among the immediately visible shape features, as does the slightly stronger tail curve ("rocker") of the We One and Naish Stratos.
Fin, foil suitability and features
In the freeride class, the power box (one screw) and the tuttle box (two screws) are now used almost equally often. Some brands such as Starboard have long favoured the solid tuttle box, which is common on race slalom boards, for freeride boards too. The tuttle box is designed as a deep tuttle, i.e. with a high head piece, and is reinforced for foiling in most cases. The power box, on the other hand, is generally not suitable for foil mounting - with one exception: JP-Australia also reinforces the power box for foil use and uses a screw size M10 instead of M8 for the foil attachment. To do this, the hole in the board is drilled out very thinly, which we were able to try out without any problems using the hand drill supplied with the foil.
For foiling, we generally recommend boards that are as short and wide as possible with a wide tail on which the double loops can be mounted at a large distance from each other at the rear. Due to the fin boxes, only two boards suitable for foiling remain: We would recommend the Duotone Blast from size 132 upwards and the JP Magic Ride from size 119 upwards. Experience has shown that the smaller sizes with a width of less than 70 centimetres are quite agile and sensitive with foil. Boards from the freerace class offer more choice for hybrid fin-foil use. They are often shorter, with slightly wider tails and equipped with the required foil box. When it came to mounting, the testers were pleased with the easy-to-fasten straps and fins with Torx screws (JP and Starboard) or Allen screws (Severne).
The grades of the freeride boards
The surf type recommendations for freeride boards 115
Gliding climbers and (pleasure) freeriders
The board should be easy to planing, offer many strap options for easy entry to relaxed heating and keep the course as easy and stable as possible in the power jibe. The following are highly recommended: Duotone Eagle, Goya Volar, JP-Australia Magic Ride, RRD Firemove and Starboard Carve (in alphabetical order). The board of We One is also very suitable for freeriders, but does not offer a loop option that is as far inboard as possible for absolute glide surfing beginners. And don't worry: the difference in top speed compared to the fastest boards is usually limited to a maximum of one to three kilometres per hour under real conditions.
Manoeuvre freerider
Carving jibes, really tight turns and the occasional 360 are the salt in your manoeuvre soup? Then the following boards are worth a look - with different manoeuvring qualities, but all with special pep in the power jibe: Duotone Blast, Naish Stratos, RRD Firemove, Tabou Rocket, We One We Ride.
Freerider with performance requirements
You disdain heavy or at least demanding racing equipment, but you don't like being overtaken by other surfers without a sail number either? With a Duotone Blast, Severne Fox, Starboard Carve or Tabou Rocket On your menu, the chances are good that every day of surfing will be a day of celebration.
All boards in the individual evaluation
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