Lots of people looking and asking about directionals here so i thought I'd give a shout out to Ashton Surf Design for doing such a great job on shaping my new board.
I'm ~205lbs, and have been wave kiting for 6 years now...and i have not found a wave board that really works well on a wave so I 've been using regular surfboards for years,( CI Flyer current ). I've had and tried many big company production boards that " are made with Carbon/Bamboo construction adding durability and performance ! " and " Can be ridden strapped or unstrapped ! " but they all seem to be too small, or have a wierd outline designed for upwind ability instead of ripping down a wave.
There are exeptions, yes, but overall, it just seems to be mostly marketing and hype thats out there..just confusing the wave newb looking for a thier first directional, and making it hard ( and expensive ) for the veteran wave rider to weed out the exceptional stamped producton boards from the garbage ones.
Bottom line.....If your a newb wanting to learn to ride in waves, concider paying ~100-200$ for any medium sized used surfboard that is preferably a tuflight ( but not necessary ) and just learn to ride and jibe the thing. Why pay 700 plus for something your not even sure what to do with !?!
And if your a seasoned vet or surfer whos just learning to kite, try a local shaper . They know how to build a surfboard that works in waves and just need a little input as to what your board needs to do for kiting...like go fast , or maybe have a little more volume if your a bigger person.
After riding this past weekend on my new custom kitesurfboard, I'm a changed man !! Thanks J.Ashton !!
http://www.ashtonsurfdesigns.com/about_us.html