Sometimes there is just a graphic change with board brands, or another similar wave board released…..that’s pretty much as good as the last! But the most recent developments in board design, especially with shapers like Sebastian Wenzel and Keith Taboul leading the way…….really have brought us something special. Battling against steady price increases, we have actually seen these boards cover a much bigger wind range and more conditions with stacks more ‘ease of use’ built in, so you simply need less boards! Maybe the cost isn’t so bad after all?!

The new materials are light and strong, feeling amazing under foot with better planing characteristics for each size! At Puravida we see almost no warranty claims any more – so it’s a good time to buy a board in my eyes, especially if you can snag a deal before the 2017 price increases!!

Stubby concept boards are probably one of the most important shapes of modern wave sailing!! It’s the easiest wave board I have ever used, so much so that Fanatic have just released a FREEWAVE version that I’m pretty certain will change the free wave concept completely and Quattro now have the SUPER MINI that is the only other board on the market that comes close to the stubby in terms of that kind of easy to use format with such a huge/fun wind range!

The stubby concept works unbelievably well, and what makes it so good is that it is SO EASY to sail in the conditions we actually get 90% of the time, and I can guarantee you will get more turns on a wave than you think, plus they are so efficient to get going and tank upwind! Don’t think of this as being a rad wave board that’s hard to sail, it’s more like a free wave that makes you shred – there’s no question that I plane quicker, go upwind easier and ride waves better on this board than anything else I’ve used before! The wind range is massive from one board and it would probably make the ultimate first time or one wave board quiver for anyone!! I can hit the road with just the stubby 88 (for my weight), a 5.3 and 4.7 with one mast & boom, having 90% of wavesailing covered on a minimal quiver of kit, intact that’s exactly what I took with me on a recent trip to the canaries in just one board bag weighing less than 30 kilos……..wave sailing is getting closer to surfing all the time, there’s nothing like keeping it simple!

Here’s a great little vid from local ripper and ace camera man Screamer Dave with a few of the local boys enjoying the new style wave boards from Fanatic, Quattro, simmer and Goya – I had a lot of fun that day in the little waves on the stubby making the most of the conditions!!

I’ve tested the stubby 88 in conditions from 1 foot onshore much to mast high down the line in Mauritius and it’s delivered some of my best see ions of all time hands down!

The board specs from fanatic and some great vid clips are available here:

FANATIC SPECS

QUATRO SUPER MINI

Other boards to consider in the compact wave board range that have massive all-round appeal are the Fanatic Tri-Wave and the Quattro Cube.  With the 2 boards above these are by far our 4 most versatile boards on the shelf at the moment, and the ones all our testers have had the most fun with in the conditions we are most likely to actually sail in!  If you think of the versatility of the stubby concept, these boards loose a little bit of the bottom end and ‘shred ability’ in poor conditions, in favour of a bit more ‘down the line’ appeal in terms of how they ride.  They would make a great one boards solution or partner to a stubby in a 2 board quiver.

If you are looking for a slightly more dedicated wave board that has the edge in down the line conditions or bigger waves but still stacks of speed and all-round appeal, instead of or as a partner to one of the compact wave boards ….. our 2 most popular more dedicated shapes this year with team riders and customers alike have been the 3 Fin Quattro Pyramid and the 4 fin Fanatic Quad, both are real fast and loose, and surprisingly easy to sail too – standout boards!!  There’s quite a difference in style with the Fanatic Quad riding more off the front foot with a smooth and fluid turn, whereas the Pyramid allows you to push hard off the back foot and carve around hard rather than the more slashy feel and broken out turns you can get from a quad.

(At 13 stone/85 kilos I tend to sail the fanatic stubby 88 & quad 90 as my 2 main boards or Quattro Super Mini 94 and Cube 85 as a guide from 5.6 down to 4.2 – Jim)

If you’d like to find out more about any of these boards just give me a call as I’ve been testing them for some time now and have a good range of sizes in each model on our demo fleet!

With the ‘BREXIT’ effect hitting watersports industry quite badly this year, the drop in value of the pound coupled with some increases in price ahead means we’ve got a few special offers in limited numbers that should help keep you on the right side of the deal!  Also make sure you take advantage of our trade in scheme which guarantees you a minimum of £200 or more against any new board at rrp no matter what you have – why not bring us classic?!  Puravida Boardriders want your used boards!!

Don’t forget that the Fanatic Stubby and Quad shapes are so good that they carry through to 2017, making the 2016 graphic board a killer deal for the moment!