Hi everybody,
this is my first post thought I was reading in your forum while researching and web-surfing.
I am still searching for a new board and after reading test reports and other comments I would like some advice.
To my person, I am 54 years old and started windsurfing when I was 18. I grew up in Germany and surfed the Baltic sea in winter and Sylt in summer time. Since 1993 I live in Ireland and do surf the west coast throughout the year. In wintertime we are blessed with good conditions but during the warmer months the wind is often rather light and the waves are rather small.
For cross off and good waves or strong onshore wind with good waves I sail an Angulo Chango 88 litre board which I like very much.
By the way I am 184 cm tall and 87 kg heavy.
Now I am looking for a board for light onshore wind [ 5.8 sail] and weak waves. If we have a good swell and light wind I can choose a more side or cross off spot and use my Angulo.
Now my questions:
Would a Reactor 2016 99 litre or a black box 87 litre plan earlier than my Angulo or my Evo 2003 92 litre?
Did anybody used a bigger Chango eg 93 or 101 litre in light onshore condition and found it possible to turn them tight and not loosing speed in more narrow turns ?
Would you rather go for a more traditional fast board or for one of the new stubby ones. My preference really lies in riding and an ideal board would plan early and should go upwind well. Does such a board exist?

I hope you understand what I am looking for, please excuse my English.

Best wishes from Ireland,
Torsten

For DTL sailing in light winds and cross onshore waves I've heard the Black Box has no equal, but I've also heard it is not an early planing board. There are also reviews on the internet that the 2017 Reactor is a lot faster to plane than the 2016 Reactor. Which implies the 2016 Reactor is not early planing.

For a couple of years I got discounted prices on Quatro boards from a shop, so most of my experience is with Quatro boards. My last 2 boards I bought without a discount (ouch). Quatro makes some amazing light wind boards (Cube) and some light wind duds (Sphere), but my latest board is a 2016 Goya Custom Quad 116 L and I love this board in light cross onshore conditions. It is relatively early planning compared to most waveboards. The bottom turn is back foot biased, but it holds speed really well in cross onshore conditions. Has a really snappy top turn. Haven’t sailed it in cross off, but in ultra light cross onshore sailing this is by far the best waveboard I’ve sailed.

The 2015 Goya Custom Quad 118 L was a very different board, much wider tail, much more tail rocker. I'd describe it more as an extra large man's normal wind waveboard than as a regular man's light wind waveboard.

Sorry, I didn't answer your question. For light cross onshore, go stubby.

These should work very well (JP All Ride), I have the '14 97Lt. which I use in light conditions with weak waves and I love it, but I'm lighter than you, so one of these at 106 or 116 should suit you well. They don't make the 97Lt. anymore but that would be a bit small for you anyway, mine is set up with a centered single rear foot strap and a wave fin. Many have tried mine out and they love it, good early planer, and much better on the waves than expected.
http://jp-australia.com/2017/products/boards/all-ride/

Go the 99 Reactor, doesn't necessarily plane super early. I'm same weight and height and it planes for me around 16-18 knots with a 5,8 which I think is ok.
But the more important thing is that it turns super tight and jumps great and really feels like a "small" board.

Mastbender I disagree. I think he meant a board to ride waves - ie wavesailing, not sailing in waves

I can't see an Allride being anything like a waveboard.

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philn said..
so most of my experience is with Quatro boards......Quatro makes some amazing light wind boards (Cube) and some light wind duds (Sphere), ....

Hi Philn, Can you comment on your opinion the "Sphere" is a light wind dud and elaborate on that. Does that apply to the 115 litre version? Thanks in advance.

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Mark _australia said..
Mastbender I disagree. I think he meant a board to ride waves - ie wavesailing, not sailing in waves

I can't see an Allride being anything like a waveboard.

Don't tell that to my board, it might say "ride me!", you'd be surprised, it's called an "All" Ride for a reason.
An action shot on a small day, the only pic of me on that board,,,,,, eh.
Sorry it's not a pic me screaming down the line, coming out of a bottom turn, which it easily does, but I don't have one of those pics yet.
Trying leads to believing.

I haven't tried the 115 L Sphere. But with the smaller sizes they don't release quickly onto the plane, they don't turn well at low speeds, they don't like quick snappy turns and they struggled to change the radius of a bottom turn once committed to the turn. All attributes needed to get the most out of shyte light cross on conditions. I only liked them in cross or cross off with decent power in the sail and with a decent wave. Basically if the wind wasn't strong enough to go bump and jump sailing with that size sail, then they sucked in the waves too.

But this is from the perspective of someone who puts wave riding above jumping, and wants to go DTL even in cross on.

Many thanks for all your replies.
My budget is ending at around £900 [ most new stubbies are out of range] but I got some good offers on new boards.
I am now looking at a Reactor 2016 99l, a Quatro Cube Quad 2014 110 l and an Angulo chango 101.
The Chango is not a stubby, but I am impressed with the wave performance of my Chango 88 as it turns as tight as my Quatro Twin Tempo 76 l and has more control in faster waves or overpowered condition. There seem to be very little reviews on the larger Changos. They have a faster rocker line than the smaller ones, but are still classified as very turn able wave boards with early planning . I think Angulo boards are somewhat underrated.
Does somebody out there sails a Chango 101 or a Quatro Cube Quad 2014 in weak onshore conditions?

Best wishes from Ireland

Torsten