JiberJohn said..
It seems to me there are now four kinds of free ride boards. One could argue with my classifications, but I would say the first is the relatively long and narrow free rider, such as the Tabou Rocket, Naish Starship, and Goya Carrera.
The second is the free move category, such as the JP Magic Ride, RRD Fire Move, and Fanatic Gecko. Most manufacturers moved from the old school to the free move a few years ago--for example, Fanatic phased out the Shark and replaced it with the Gecko; and JP phased out the Xcite Ride and replaced it with the Magic Ride.
The third category is the stubby (very short and narrow) category and includes the Fanatic Blast and JP Super Ride. It is too early to tell, but I suspect this new category will replace the free moves such as the Gecko and Magic Ride.
The fourth category has the free race boards such as Starboard Futura, JP Super Sport, and Goya Bolt.
There are also some boards that are hard to put into a category--such as the Goya Volar. It is longer than the boards in any of the other categories but moderately wide side to side and thin top to bottom like the free move boards.
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When free move boards came out, we were told they would plane earlier and be easier to jibe than the older style long and narrow boards. That is not my experience with them, but if that is what you experienced, please share.
Finally, are the stubby boards such as at the Blast and Super Ride really thick top to bottom? If they are short and wide, the volume must go into making them thicker top to bottom. Does that make them hard to tack and slog? (I am terrible at tacking.) Since they are so short and narrow, are they harder to get planing or do adjustments to the rocker, V, concave, and rail make up for the short and narrow outline as far as planing is concerned?
That is a lot of questions, probably too many. But I included them to stimulate conversation. Please don't feel like you have to answer them all (or any of them).
And thanks in advance for your thoughts.
You probably got already too many replies but here are my takes.
Race vs Freerace. A Race board is designed to come into its own when sailed overpowered. It will not work well if just powered up. In the same conditions a Freerace will be ok with smaller sails. A race board will win at the expert/pro level over a slalom course, it might not on a long distance race. The difference is fairly irrelevant if you are not racing.
Freeride/freemove. Depending on the model you are giving up some uptake and speed in exchange for easier jibing. They might be, depending on size, easier in chop/swell ... hard to tell if it happens because of the shape or simply because you will be going slower. Note however that they will be harder to sail if overpowered.
Stubby. Is not a category, in the100-140L range it is marketing. A Fanatic Blast is actually longer than a Starboard Futura/Isonic. What you are looking at is a board with a cut off nose and tail.
Finally quickness to plane. It has nothing to do with the length of the board. There is maybe a 15 cm variation in length between the longest and shortest board in the 100-140L range. A 245 vs 230 hull has the staggering displacement speed advantage of 3.8 knots vs 3.7 knots ...
What matters is volume, and volume distribution, rocker, and rails.
