I have been riding twin tips for years, but am interested in getting a versatile directional for light to medium winds, small waves and just for variety.

My weight is 190 lbs and I will use this board mostly from 12-25.

It must:

- be fun - good carving
- plane pretty early but still perform well in moderately high winds
- work in flat, chop and small waves (3-6 ft)
- work with and without straps

Please advise of fin configuration (quad vs tri) .

Thx,

Ed

Bws Drifter 5'9 thruster,

Great board

Check out the Litewave DV8. There is a demo in Boston with Jean Dunoyer.

http://www.litewavedesigns.com/products/kiteboards/dv8-freestyle-surf.html

Also more videos on http://www.youtube.com/litewavedave ....subscribe and you'll get all the latest Litewave vids.

I'd personally buy a few used surfboards cheap, see which sizes and shapes you enjoy riding the best and then shell out the money for a kite specific directional in the size and shape you desire.

That is one of the best advices I've seen

One could probably recommend almost every single brand and board there is, as long as it is not too small - for what you ask for

But you will have no idea whatsoever yourself, really - till you have tried some boards, and it might take many years till you find out what you like

Another way could be to just buy "something" as soon as possible and get out riding - it is not important what you get IMO.

I dont like quad fins myself - feels like a boring twintip to me, and no surf feel slash in the cutback, so I swear to thrusters.

Peter

+1 just get any cheap surfboard in about the right volume and go ride it till it breaks
repeat till you find one you like

3 or 4 fins is secondary, part of trying cheap stuff is to try a lot of it and see what fits you for now, it will change over time

i prefer my short board to be a quad with straps and ride it very powered up for small waves and junk
i prefer my large board thruster and strapless and ride slightly under powered for a real surf feel in bigger waves

until they crazy big, then it is just survival for me
and every body will have a different way to go
find yours

Take a look at the new Cabrinha sub-woofer; made for what you want
Steve

+1 to get a cheap used board.

I got a Tokoro 6'6"x20.5"x2 5/8 big guy board with a pretty flat rocker, had extra glass, for $100, it is still going, used it about 9 months. There is a lot to learn on surfboard, gybe to toeside, switching feet before and after the gybe, tacking. After learning some of that stuff I rented a few of the production boards and it was really easy to transition to those, less than an hour, so don't think you need to learn on a particular board to get good with it. I've heard a lot of people say learn to gybe strapless first, then if you want straps start working on a gybe and moving your feet around/in the straps.

... I can highly recommend the Airush Cypher 5'10".

Its a great board, handles a bigger range of wind than the size indicates, super easy to gybe and can be slashy or stiff depending upon the fin configuration choice. The board suprized me in how it handles choppy water and can be ridden really fast too. My preference is strapless in tri-fin config, not sure how it rides with straps yet, haven't tried it that way. Biggest complaint is, it didn't come with front deckpad as wax kept wearing out quickly and coming of. Don't think I'll paddle surf it so not having wax isn't bad even though the feel was good, kiting with deck pad grip is the go!

Have fun checking different boards out!

cheers,

Robbie

As far as fin setups go, what are the advantages of quad-fin versus tri-fin setup? I realize that the fin setup is integral to the board design, but are there any generalizations?

Thx,

Ed