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Sea Lotus said..
Exotec Cross Silver 84 looks really suitable for choppy water blasting for lightweights, anyone have experience with their glass construction and bottom shape?
I've got a Exocet Cross 90 v1 I bought in 2005, which was glass, but not heavy. It lasted well, I've used it lot and only bought the 94l last year after I dinged the nose. I wore a small hole in the deeper 'v' towards the front due putting the board in the bag, running it up a sandy beach when landing, sliding it onto the rack in my van etc. I certainly got my monies worth out of it. I think other Exocet boards like the x-move and S-line in glass construction are quite heavily built, for centres etc. The Cross glass boards look a lighter build for performance.
I've now got the Cross 94l v4 2016, it hasnt change from 2013-2019. The shape tends to stay more or less the same across the sizes, so would have thought the 84l is similar. The bottom shape is flatter than boards like Severne Fox, Dyno and Tabou boards which have deeper 'v'. The Cross is flat 'v' at the back going into shallow double concave under the mast. The pads look thin, but the double density foam is recessed into the deck and its really comfortable, soaking up the bumps. The rocker flat is about 85cm (+/- 1cm), no tail rocker, rails are sharpish at the back up until roughly the front straps then become tucked forward of that. 25cm of rocker measured at the front, so its not going to catch on swell or going out through waves.So its good for early planing, speed and control, but less good for doing tight turns, but its more of a blasting board for chop/swell and medium turn carve gybes. Good if you arent worried about wave sailing although you can still use it in waves.
I had the chance of buying a new discounted Silver (glass) board for ?1099, or a lightly used secondhand Carbon for the same price, and went for the Carbon as its lighter and stiffer. No regrets. I use it with a 6.5m 2 cam freeride sail (so long as its windy enough that I dont have to pump to get going) down to 4.5m which is my smallest sail. The OE 30cm fin is fin for bumpy seas with 6m+ sails.