Looking for some advice. I am keen to move on to a smaller pocket board. Below are some pictures of my current board with its dimensions. JShape have a board that is 120cm x 46cm I have marked this in the photo. My questions are:
1) Is this reduction in size going to be big enough to make a noticeable difference? 2) What other options do I have? As you can see JShape have a deep Tuttle connection for mast. I can find no other pocket foil boards that have a deep Tuttle. 3) If I look at a pocket board with other attaching systems is buying a Tuttle box converter unit going to diminish performance? 4) What would you do? I am happy with my mast and foil just wish to move onto smaller board.

1. I would go 1m personally ( I ride 100cm & 94cm and next would be maybe 88 or 90)
2.Mate have a look at the J Shapes "tombstone" and also there's a Ketos pocket board with deep tuttle.
4.Generally the kite world has moved to plate mounts. I would trade the lot of what you have and take the opportunity to get exactly what you want in one hit. Just my 2c because you asked.

I have the 120cm J Shapes. It is excellent. Shorter. Lighter. Less swing weight. Stronger if you buy a new one and ask for stronger construction (they put extra layers of glass on the rails).

The 120 is still big enough to cope with light wind starting, but you need to get your technique right. You'll be sinking the nose to start with unless you're well powered up. Touch downs are harder as well to start with.

I still use my 155cm for fun. It's like riding an aircraft carrier, so forgiving of technique errors. I have plans on trying to wingding with it in strong winds.

You could buy a different brand and go for plate mounts. I wouldn't. I think the industry is going for cheap aluminium to increase their profits. Any of the high end race foils are deep tuttle. I cringe watching people dealing with lots of screws on plate mounts, heavy weight and corrosion.

I ride my J Shapes almost every day and get about 300 hours a year. I can do everything everybody else does (tacks, jumps, etc) on a kit that weighs less, is easier to assemble, lasts longer.

I have one issue with J Shapes. They haven't brought out any new gear of ages. I believe Antoine is fully occupied making custom surf foiling boards. He has made some new products but is too busy to bring them to market. It would be nice to have new stuff to look forward to. Nothing coming from other brands is appeal, or affordable (Mike's Lab, Chubanga, etc) Having said that, my Cruzer foil is such a reliable thing I don't think I am missing out on anything.

I also have the J Shapes 120 after previously having the 155. Everything the above poster says is my experience.
After having the 155 it took a little getting used to the 120 but the change was quick. I'm not sure if the 100 would be a plus or minus but the 120 is super light and strong with enough volume to be of assistance... I wouldn't go smaller.
I think an adapter plate would work fine if you wanted a different board but obviously less components would be preferred. J Shapes also sell deep tuttle boxes which you could easily get fitted.

The 100cm board disappeared from the J Shapes web site some time ago. They'd probably make you one if you ask them.

Ketos and Horue do them, but they're Euro brands so ...


Definitely go for a smaller board, so much more freedom of feeling underfoot. Light wind might be a little tougher to get started and you'll have to avoid being lazy and relying on the board when it goes on the water, but you're supposed to be foiling not bouncing about on the water

I love hearing different viewpoints on topics like these. But to address some points re Aly, I've owned a few of both Aly & CF. Rig below weights 4.8kgs, I'd can't see a 120+cruiser being less, but let me know. My carbon Moses was within 100g of same weight. Corrosion has never been an issue thanks to Tefgel once every few months. Yes you have 4 bolts on a plate mount vs 2 on Tuttle but they're much shallower so similar or maybe less turns required. All in all the differences are probably less than you think.

Get at 120 if that's your comfortable length but I wouldn't call that a pocket board

Get a plate adaptor then you can add it to any pocket board you like.
Personally I like my pocket boards around the 1m mark.
I have seen a friend try the J Shapes tombstone he sold it pretty quickly, the Tuttle box seemed a long way forward on such a small board.

I think the fundamental design issue with a Tuttle box is that as a kiter we have something that will lift us straight out of the water onto the foil. We don't need board volume to paddle, pump a wing, or bump around on the surface getting up to speed. Yes, racers need their battleship boards because their wings have a super high stall speed. For the rest of us that volume is just.. wasted. Unless you go the Ketos way, the whole board design becomes what it is just so you can house a big fat connection.

Ketos get around this by having the tuttle box mounted on a keel under a thin board. Which makes them downright lardy at nearly 3kgs.



Crazyfly have nailed the essence of the pocket board here - However I rather tracks in case bolt hole placement doesn't suit wing balance. If I tried one though and the bolt hole placement worked with Axis wings, I'd be down. I'd struggle to pick 88cm or 77cm though.

For perspective my Axis tray 94 is about 2.2kgs including tracks and pads which is awesome as well.

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KBGhost said..
I think the fundamental design issue with a Tuttle box is that as a kiter we have something that will lift us straight out of the water onto the foil. We don't need board volume to paddle, pump a wing, or bump around on the surface getting up to speed. Yes, racers need their battleship boards because their wings have a super high stall speed. For the rest of us that volume is just.. wasted. Unless you go the Ketos way, the whole board design becomes what it is just so you can house a big fat connection.

Ketos get around this by having the tuttle box mounted on a keel under a thin board. Which makes them downright lardy at nearly 3kgs.

For what I know Ketos has created the KF Box and left it as open source expecting it would become an industry standard. This is NOT a Tuttle and therefore these board are not compatible with J shape.

I haven't seen one in the flesh for a long time but for what I recall, the boards where like 10mm thick with that lump underneath to accomodate the 50 or 40mm KF box (can't remember the exact depth).

www.foilever.com/en/content/9-kitefoil-box-fastening-systems-foil

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olyowl said..
Looking for some advice. I am keen to move on to a smaller pocket board. Below are some pictures of my current board with its dimensions. JShape have a board that is 120cm x 46cm I have marked this in the photo. My questions are:
1) Is this reduction in size going to be big enough to make a noticeable difference? 2) What other options do I have? As you can see JShape have a deep Tuttle connection for mast. I can find no other pocket foil boards that have a deep Tuttle. 3) If I look at a pocket board with other attaching systems is buying a Tuttle box converter unit going to diminish performance? 4) What would you do? I am happy with my mast and foil just wish to move onto smaller board.

I had the exact same conundrum Oly although I already had the JShapes Tombstone Pocket board. I loved the mast and the Cruiser Wing but wanted a different board. The deep tuttle is not a universally accepted system. I loved the simplicity of the 2-bolts however.
i ended up selling the entire kit as I thought it would be worth more to someone else as a complete kit.If you want to keep the mast and wing, check out the Manta or Groove deep tuttle adapters. They'll facilitate you fixing your mast to any board with track mounts.
if you buy a smaller JShapes board, I'd recommend customising the JShapes 120. Order it with the standard deep tuttle plus track mounts allowing you to ride plate masts in the future.

Cheers

I think tuttle to plate converters work fine. Most GoFoils on surfboards are tuttle masts with plate mounts. They seem to go ok.

When you think about it most plate systems have a mast end going into a socket then the plate is bolted onto the board. A tuttle mast just gives you a bigger insert into a bigger socket.

I am aluminium phobic and most of the plate adapters are aluminium. You can get carbon ones but they're stupid expensive and out of stock everywhere.

Just one point about converters and plates and all that. The screws in those systems are taking all the load. The screws in a tuttle mount aren't under much load at all. The taper on the mount is doing all the work.

I also have the jshapes 120, for about 2 years now ...about the same hours as Gorgo , it has been great fun and I have never, not once , felt I needed to change to something else.

I ride in flat, ocean swell and waves when I can . No jumps, just smooth swell and wave riding. Not to say that I don't sometimes wonder about it's extra buoyancy due to its thickness... could it be thinner ? , or that the Tuttle box is mounted seemingly too far forward as I don't use straps ... so don't tend to put my rear foot behind the mast anyway. Maybe I would enjoy a smaller board ? I probably would

Then sometimes I like the buoyancy when it's ultra light! It helps to get me up and foiling in sub 10 .. which is often here.
I've never felt the need to go back to the 155 I learnt on , so maybe the buoyancy thing is a good thing The cruzer foil and mast are great. So I wouldn't overthink it to much... you won't regret buying the 120...it just works. But you might wonder.