i m 78 kg and ride board 146x36 between 12 and 14.3 Takoon , i want something small ,but i m confused , some people say the width is the main thing ! any experiences or advises ??

tanks

Width is most important. I’ve owned boards ranging from 35 cm to 43 cm wide. All were between 140 and 150 long. 150 long goes upwind better than 140 long. 35 wide is easy to control in high wind, but makes the wind seem gusty because you quickly loose power with it. I weigh 83 kg and found 38 cm wide to be best all around for me in high winds. It’s the widest board I feel comfortable on in high winds. This gives me good power in wind holes and keeps the wind from feeling gusty. For light winds (10-15 knots) I like 41 to 43 wide x 150 long.

I did own some weird sizes when I was learning, like a 175 x 38. It was a poor light wind and high wind board.

I ride in salt water. These are all general differences in how size affects performance with boards of similar design that I have owned.

I found the same as Dwight. I am 90kg and rode a 140 x 36, but it was too on / off for me.
Although I once tried the lord of Hellfire, which is very narrow, but longer, which worked pretty well, too for me.

i ride 1.34 x 41 which starts planning really early.
in high winds it's hard to keep the edge in the water when using footstraps, but perfect with bindings.

another important thing is the rockerline!
if a board has a lot of rocker, it'll start late, but won't go too fast if heavy gusts hit you.

a board with less rocker is much faster, better for low wind.

flexing boards adept their rockerline to the conditions. the more pressure, the more rocker.

boards like the loose.it ax series will go upwind by themselves when there's enough pressure. this sucks when riding in waves.

I had a Jimmy Lewis Dominatrix that was like that. The flex made the rocker change with each gust of wind. It made the wind feel twice as gusty. The board was horrible. Too much flex is real bad for kiting.

it's definately a matter of taste


the x-shooter's flex is cool if you like it.
it works great in gusty conditions.


i too prefer boards that are rock-solid.