What are the best kiteboard ranges?
When looking for your next board, it is important to understand board design. Different kiteboard ranges are used to launch. You’ll immediately be able to see what a board is for.
What kiteboard is best for me?
Today, we will be discussing a topic we receive a lot of questions about. It’s one of the most important things you should think about when purchasing a kiteboard. The question is which kiteboard is best for you? Or, a different question is: What kind of kiteboards do you have? In this video, I will explain the range of kiteboards. Then in future videos, I will go deeper into the various aspects that make a kiteboard behave in a particular way.
Three ranges of kiteboards
1. Kiteboard wave
A kiteboard’s outline is one of its most critical parts. The board will be more maneuverable and curvier if it has a rounded outline. However, you may lose some upwind ability. It makes the board behave more like a regular surfboard.
This is a squash tail. It’s very reactive and can be used for kite surfing with medium to large surf. If you are looking to go larger, I recommend a pintail with a shorter profile. This will give you more control when riding upwind.
The boards are usually full length, like this 5’8″ board. This is great for kitesurfing because you don’t need the volume and length because you don’t have to padel when you’re on a kiteboard. The board’s full length provides a smooth ride on the waves and prevents it from nose-diving in steeper surf. It also has a great balance all around. The board’s single concave looks very basic, but it is balanced and nice.
2. The length of a pure freestyle form is often much shorter.
Why is it so short? Because it is easier to spin if you are doing rotations in the air. A longer board will give you a lot more swing which makes it difficult to do freestyle.
Rocker refers to the curve of a surfing board. However, a board that has a lot of rocker can become twitchy and nervous. This is what freestyle guys love because they can easily pop off the wave or the surface of the water and do those spinning maneuvers.
A pure freestyle kiteboard will have a stable platform for landing on. The construction of a pure freestyle kiteboard is stronger so that you can land on it with ease. We prefer a lighter construction for pure wave boards. This gives the board more flexibility and allows it to feel more alive, which isn’t so important on a freestyle board.
3. Hybrid kiteboard
These boards are called hybrid shapes. Hybrid shapes can be anything between pure freestyle and pure wave models. You can see that people are drawn to hybrid shapes because they offer a great all-around board.
Pure freestyle is not something that many people want. We all want little waves to play with. There aren’t many people who want to do pure freestyle, but it’s fun.
Hybrid boards tend to have flatter rocker. This board is great for riding upwind. This type of board has a great track upwind. You can mount either four or three fins on some models. It has a flatter tail rocker for a more relaxed feel.
This post was written by Aaron McClearnon, Owner of Elite Watersports. At Elite Watersports, We strive to provide exceptional service and genuine interactions with those interested in watersports. We hold dear our passion for being out on the water and maintain this as our foundation for all business practices.
