North Whip or Wham

[marekmk]

have a nugget love it for low wind riding and reasonably smooth water.

looking for a board that is nicer to ride in strong wind, super choppy water.

avg size 6m kites, 73kg. these conditions 90% of the time, i.e. Prea Brazil!

thank you

[Dan-at-Duotone]

North says you should ride the Whip in smaller/crappier waves while the WAM will be superior in larger waves.

Personally I think the conditions matter less than your preferred riding style. The Whip is quite loose, so it's easy to break the fins loose and slash out a big spray on a top turn. The downside to this is that you tend to stall out and must use the kite to power you back up and head down the wave. In my opinion this board favors the guy who likes to go at a wave, hit the lip as hard as he can, send a huge spray, and then use the kite to come back in and do it again, rather than use the power of the wave to link turns together.

The WAM (at least in thruster setup) gives you much more grip and drive, so if you want to carve hard, lay out flat and have the board push back against you (rather than spin out and stall), the WAM will work better. In my opinion this board favors the guy who wants to get on a wave, park the kite, and head down the line linking his turns together and using momentum/the wave to keep him moving.
The advantage of the WAM is that if you aren't sure what kind of board you'd like, the WAM can also be setup as a quad which will loosen it up a bit to give it some of the same characteristics as the Whip.

So if you don't get good waves where you kite and you know you like loose boards (the Nugget is the loosest we make), the Whip is the definite board to get. If you think you'd like a board with more grip/drive and/or you ride bigger/more surfable waves, you might be better off with the WAM.

If you have a lot of experience on surfboards, the difference is pretty significant between the way the boards feel, but if you've just been using the Nugget as a lightwind board and haven't been on many other surfboards I wouldn't stress over the decision. Both boards will work great for the conditions you're describing.

As always, demos will help more than the advice of a guy on a keyboard, but if you don't have that option I hope this helps.

-Dan

[marekmk]

thank you dan. me inexperienced wave rider so whip seems to be the way to go?

[Dan-at-Duotone]

I think you'll be happy either way, but yes, probably the Whip will be the better option.

-Dan

[recoprianto]

North says you should ride the Whip in smaller/crappier waves while the WAM will be superior in larger waves.

Personally I think the conditions matter less than your preferred riding style. The Whip is quite loose, so it's easy to break the fins loose and slash out a big spray on a top turn. The downside to this is that you tend to stall out and must use the kite to power you back up and head down the wave. In my opinion this board favors the guy who likes to go at a wave, hit the lip as hard as he can, send a huge spray, and then use the kite to come back in and do it again, rather than use the power of the wave to link turns together.

The WAM (at least in thruster setup) gives you much more grip and drive, so if you want to carve hard, lay out flat and have the board push back against you (rather than spin out and stall), the WAM will work better. In my opinion this board favors the guy who wants to get on a wave, park the kite, and head down the line linking his turns together and using momentum/the wave to keep him moving.
The advantage of the WAM is that if you aren't sure what kind of board you'd like, the WAM can also be setup as a quad which will loosen it up a bit to give it some of the same characteristics as the Whip.

So if you don't get good waves where you kite and you know you like loose boards (the Nugget is the loosest we make), the Whip is the definite board to get. If you think you'd like a board with more grip/drive and/or you ride bigger/more surfable waves, you might be better off with the WAM.

If you have a lot of experience on surfboards, the difference is pretty significant between the way the boards feel, but if you've just been using the Nugget as a lightwind board and haven't been on many other surfboards I wouldn't stress over the decision. Both boards will work great for the conditions you're describing.

As always, demos will help more than the advice of a guy on a keyboard, but if you don't have that option I hope this helps.

-Dan

Most useable comparison review I have seen so far. Great info...

[leepasty]

Agree with Dan apart from the stall part.
The whip is much fuller in the rail and more suited to surf style in small waves allowing you to use wave power more the kite power. The wam is more suited to kite power in small waves as you need to keep the drive from the kite mainly due to the narrower more drawn in shape and this also makes better for strapped riding. In good waves you of course dont need to use the kite so much as the wave has more power to keep your drive.
For strong wind and chop you will be much better off with the wam or if you want to ride fast and lay down carves rather than snappy turns try the kontact.

[piccio]

if you have chance try proseries 5.8 or 5.11 .I had wam 5.8 and kontact 5.11 ....love proseries ...has quality of all other north boards altogether...
if you have super chops kontact is best but does not turn easy like wam or whip.
anyway if you change from that" strange thing with fins" everything is good!!!!!!!!!

[BigPaul]

Yep another plus one for the Whip.

It's simply a joy, to ride in mush and small waves.

An easy board to bring up your confidence levels. I listened to advice from the forum and stayed strapples and I'm glad I did