2012 Fanatic Skate 109L Team EditionI want to clarify that I know nothing about freestyle and have no skills in this area of windsurfing. Despite this I decided to buy the Skate as my light wind do all board - ocean, river, lake sailing and wave sailing in v.light onshore winds. I have spoken to a couple of members on seabreeze who have done the same. I am 91kg, and also use a 2011 93L JP Single Thruster when there is enough wind.
The Skate comes in a basic glass edition, or in TE (team edition) which is lighter and stiffer. Graphics are slightly different between the two, and the heavier glass model comes with positions for outboard straps and inboard straps, whereas TE just has the inboard straps.
Out of the box impressions: this thing is short and wide, but what surprised me was the thickness, especially in the tail with almost vertical rails. The board is 5cm shorter then my 93L waveboard but almost 20 litres larger in volume!!!! Now for freestylers this thickness apparently gives good 'pop', but for me I was hoping it would get me in the straps and planning super early. The deck is really domed at the rear strap which looks odd and of course adds to the volume as well.
Hows the thickness at the back in this picky - and check the vertical drop on the rail 
The board looks fantastic – the team edition shows the carbon weave on the deck and the bottom is sprayed and sanded with a matt finish - gone is the spunky look of last year's gloss/polished bottom, but all the same it still looks Bling Bling Ca-Ching!. Straps are inboard only, Dunno why, maybe because it is only the hardcore freestylers that usually buy this model and this is the stance they use?
Straps on and fin in, pick up the board it feels so light compared to my 93L 2011 JP Single Thruster!
Bottom shape looks to pretty flat flowing into a little Vee towards the back half of the board
Nose rocker: The deck is relatively flat compared to a waveboard and the nose rocker comes up from underneath as the picky shows. This initially worried me for ocean sailing over waves and chop, but the lack of rocker was expected prior to purchase and I kept telling myself I would deal with it.
Not Much rocker anywhere as you can see
Flat water: The thing is pretty fast, it jumps up on the plane real quick with the volume in the tail - even in light gusty wind. It actually planed so quick I could have sworn it must have had more volume, although due to the short stature, it didn't actually feel like a big board at all. I thought the thickness in the tail might prove to be a little awkward, but it didn't feel unusual at all. Took a little getting used to sailing off the front foot more with a smaller fin then I had been used to with a board of this volume. Wanted to get some leverage for a hit of the GPS, so I threw in my 32cm freeride fin and wow, pushing off the fin this thing is quite fast. Sailed in the river behind the tavern at SWR with Needsalt and there were some very large stretches of extremely smooth water and got a good top speed on a beam reach for the arvo of 32.71kn. Before buying the Skate, a shop manager in Perth said that one of his instructors did 33kn on his 2010 Skate 110L model at Safety Bay, and I initially thought that may have been an urban legend, but now I have almost done it myself I reckon with a better and smaller fin, more wind and a smaller sail it would push perhaps faster. Joined The Marauders (my local GPS team) and hope to get some runs on the board with them and even better this speed when the rain stops and we get some wind again.
Gybes very well, and I can see how those wanting to improve their gybing could do so on freestyle boards. It is deceptive how fast you are going when you come into the gybe until you are exiting the gybe at quite a pace….when pushed hard it feels like it is on rails during the carve, so very secure and EASY. I put this deceptiveness of speed down to the short length (for it's volume)
A negative: The board gets to be a handful when overpowered with the sail in big gusts as the straps are quite inboard for more of a freestyling stance, but it is still manageable when under duress, just have to sail more conservatively in the real big gusts. Would have loved a set of straps on the rail to really push it like the cheaper/heavier glass edition.
Ocean: Piece of cake. Lack of rocker didn't make me plough nose first into chop or swell, I think the shortness allows the sailor to sail with confidence despite the lack of nose rocker as I didn't notice any issues. As I was sailing through swell off the front foot it worked very well with the smaller 23cm wavefin. Again - plane away baby. Using a 6.5m Firefly in around 12+kn (ish), this baby pumps onto the plane no worries, and once on the plane it tends to stay there through gusts, unless it completely dies out. Coming in on a swell as soon as she sniffs a bit of downward motion, pump the sail, it planes and I slip back into the straps for a bit of wave riding or speeding to the beach. I was concerned as well how comfy the ride would be in the ocean or choppy conditions given the pretty flat bottom, but the ride is very comfy... yes the pads are thick and the straps are too, but the ride was just surprisingly smooth - the shaper is really onto a great shape here I feel.
Lightwind Cross-on Waveriding: the first day I went to use it in the ocean it was about shoulder to head high sets, gusty 9-12kn (according to a kiter with a windmetre), and the waves weren't really peeling, they just crumbled all along so I wanted to give it a go as I was fanging to let her loose in the surf. 23cm wave fin in – pops over the white water with complete stability due to the width.... so getting out the back when not planning and when there aren't any easy rips or channels was a cinch so long as there was some wind for the sail. On the wave it worked surprisingly well, the shortness allows you to get away with the lack of rocker, fitting nicely in the pocket backside on the wave. Frontside bottom turns are like she gybes, on rails and with speed allowing one to hit the lip with pace. I want to point out that the volume in the tail and rails makes it difficult for me to leave the back foot in the strap on the BT, but back foot slightly forward in gybe position is super comfy due to the domed deck and rail shape and allows me to crank it around……with practise I guess I will get the back foot in the strap happening on the BT. The top turn if done off the tail was surprisingly snappy for the size of the board and the fact that it is not a waveboard by any stretch of the imagination. Not Angulo “SICK” but Fun. Three kiters who were ex-windsurfers came up to me afterwards telling me how surprised they were that it rode waves so well. When they were looking at it in the carpark before I went out they all were commenting on the thickness and lack of rocker and wondering if I was doing the right thing taking it out. Overall – a great fun board for riding some waves, but by no means a replacement for a big volume waveboard if that is what you are after
Jumping: So light it pops off the wave and using the windward rail it seems to sail through the air nicely. Popped my first complete backy in a while and was surprised how quick she came around, I thought the stumpy fat nose might have been an issue on landing but if anything it made the landing feel softer and easier to sail away from. I was surprised and delighted for how she runs in light wind and small waves, much better than I had expected.
All up: Stoked with my new light winder. it actually does everything that I expected it would, but surprisingly better than I thought it would. It would be an absolute fantastic all-rounder if it had the outbound strap positions as well for 100% flatwater fanging sessions in real overpowered conditions. Responds well to different fins depending upon what you want to do, freeride, GPS, Ocean, wavesail etc. So far I have only run it with a 6.5m Firefly (my biggest sail anyways), but this size seems very comfy and i wouldnt bother going bigger. Next sail down for me is a 5.8 Atlas which I also reckon would work well. I will come back after I have sailed it more (only 6 times so far) with further info if need be. An absolute delight to sail as a light winder. Even though I am not a freestyler, I admit, I am keen to try a few of the easier moves now that I have found the board so nice to sail.
AJEaster
> 9 months ago, 22 Dec 2011
As the owner of a pure freestyle board myself ('09 99L Mistral Joker) I can only echo your comments on how easy to sail and fast most freestyle boards are, why they aren't marketed more as such I have no idea. I also dabble around with mine in the surf when it's super light and why the hell you would ever sail a SUP when you can sail the same conditions with a FS board is beyond me. While the FS board is for sure no 75L quad it is still a hell of a lot more fun in the surf than a barn door (SUP).
