This review is based on sailing mushy waves and light winds on the East coast of Florida. I weigh 85 kgs and have size 11 feet. My most used sail is a 7.5 followed by a 6.7, and occasionally a 6.1. The predominant wind direction is cross onshore to straight onshore. Cross shore is rare, and cross off is rarer still and anyway unrideable due to large condo buildings along the beach blocking the wind. Waves are usually in the waist high range, but a few times a year can get up to overhead size. (yes, your first question should be why the @#$% do I live in Florida)

I really enjoyed the Fanatic Freewave with a 6.7 and 6.1. I run the Fanatic with a 21 cm MFC thruster center fin and 12 cm K4 side fins. The Fanatic turns well for a FSW board. It can bottom turn off either the front or the back foot and can either carve a clean top turn or bounce off the white water. Neither the bottom turn nor top turn are anywhere close to as radical as my Goya Quad 118 L. The Fanatic is simply not capable of the quick redirects or the sharp gouging turns that a pure wave board is capable of. But the Freewave is just so much easier and more comfortable to sail that unless the wind is perfect cross shore and the waves are head high, I'd rather sail the Freewave. Overall, for 99% of the time wave sailing in Florida the Fanatic Freewave is a better choice than a wave board.

I've had the Kode 125 L for 3 months now, and during that time it has quickly become my favorite board. Prior to purchasing the Kode 125 I did not enjoy using my 7.5 as it overwhelmed the Fanatic Freewave 115. The Kode 125 carries my 7.5 with ease and makes bobbing out during light winds stress-free (if I remember to put an uphaul in the car). There is something so exhilarating about bobbing out when no one else can get out, then having fantastic swooping bottom and top turns on the way in. The board feels so comfortable wave riding that even on overhead waves in barely any wind I still aiming to hit the lip rather than just doing a carving turn in the safe zone of the shoulder.

In less than 18 knots it is by far the best board I have used for keeping its speed on the bottom turn going DTL in onshore conditions and being able to stay clew first for long periods of time if the intended section of the wave doesn't jack up and I need to carry on down the line for longer than intended. And because it carries speed so well, the onshore top turn is more satisfying than any other board (the next closest is the original Quatro Mini Thruster, but that board needs at least enough wind for a 6.1, while the Kode is equally at home with a 7.5). The Kode 125 L handles 6.1 winds in onshore and cross onshore conditions remarkable well but starts to feel too big at that same wind strength if the wind is cross shore. I have too much power in the sail on the bottom turn and can't sink the rail enough for a nice bottom turn.

When the wind is cross shore and there is enough wind for a 6.7 I am equally happy with either the Fanatic Freewave 115 L or the Kode 125 L. But if the wind is cross off (only sailed the Kode in cross off twice) then the Freewave is a better choice (but the Goya Quad is obviously an even better choice for cross off).

There is no doubt that the Kode 125 is a big board for my weight, but with use of mast foot pressure in cross shore conditions (knees bent, leaning forward, back hand as far down the boom as possible, keeping the mast tip pointed down the line and not pointed back at the wave), it can bottom turn extremely well for such a big board.

There are some things I hope Starboard changes for next year, but overall, I think they have a winner on their hands.
1) lighter weight (wood construction is heavy - not noticeable when sailing unless jumping, but very noticeable when carrying to the water)
2) move the powerbox center fin further forward (e.g. the Fanatic rear strap is right on top of the powerbox while the Starboard powerbox is 4 cm further away from the rear strap than the Fanatic). To compensate I bought a powerbox adapter and cut up a US box fin to fit right at the front of the adapter, moving it forward by about 2 cm compared to the fin delivered with the board. That made a noticable difference, but I think another 1 cm further forward compared to my Frankenfin would be even better, or
3) offer it with a US box for those of us that will never use it with a single fin (cuts down it's market appeal so will never happen)
4)better quality paint or maybe a sanded finish similar to what Quatro does. The paint on my board is already flaking after only 3 months of use.

Compared to other FSW boards I've sailed the Kode 125 L is definitely on the wavey end of the spectrum. It doesn't plane as early as the 2021 Exocet Cross 114 but the Cross doesn't even pretend to work in the waves. It's slightly slower to plane than the 2020 Fanatic Freewave. It planes about the same as the 2019 Goya One 116. It's more stable than the Goya to slog (the Goya feels "corky" and unstable slogging). The Goya One is fabulous in cross shore conditions with its narrow tail, almost like a wave board. But the Goya doesn't keep speed as well in cross onshore bottom turns as the Kode 125. Compared to the Severne Dyno V1, the Kode isn't as smooth at speed in heavy chop (not bad, just that the Dyno is better). But if wave riding in cross onshore conditions is your #1 criteria then the new Kodes are at the top of the FSW heap.

I really decided that this board was fantastic when I realized that even once the wind picked up enough to change to a smaller board I just stayed on the Kode 125 because I was having so much fun.

Great review. Thx

Awesome review Phil - thanks.

I think I am leaning towards the Dyno 125 vs the Kode 125 as a better b&j board to be sailed in chaotic great lakes onshore waves.

Joe

I have the Kode's forefather (Kombat 122) and it came with a forward set fin (which I don't have) because they set the fin box to use the outboard straps with an upright fin. I've thought about adding thrusters to offset this. Can you take a few pictures of the tail to see where they are set?
You could also try a smaller rear fin and larger fronts, possibly also trying the toed/asymmetrical K4s which in my experience are VERY turny.

The thrusters box rear should be level with or just in front of the centre box front edge, so fins have about 20 - 60mm between them

Maybe use pics of a few FSW boards as a guide and you'll see there isn't much variance. If u use 130mm slotbox you'd have enough adjustment
However, all you're trying to do is get the fin's centre of lateral resistance more forward.... so any thruster setup where u massively reduce the upright single centre fin (to smaller and more raked) and then add a couple of small forward ones, will work. You pretty much can't stuff it up, it will be more wavey

I liked the comparison review, but was rather shocked to hear just how heavy the large Kodes are in the wood construction.

Phil,

Thank you for the detailed review. Which sail brand/model do you use in your quiver? Safe to assume Mid East coast Fla is your home spot ?

Great review, thank you
As you say a US fin box would be better but I like what you've done with PB adapter.

Ditto for the 2020 Kode 115L. Super chippy paint. I think the problem is that the paint doesn't stick, not that it's particularly weak paint. I say this, because when I taped off a section to touch it up, the blue painter's tape pulled off more tape. I've never seen anything like it. I filed a issue/claim with Starboard, and haven't heard anything back. What are they thinking? I can see something like this coming up in one single year, but in two consecutive years? Great board otherwise. Because of this issue and the weight in the larger sizes, I went with Severne for my next board.

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philn said..

4)better quality paint or maybe a sanded finish similar to what Quatro does. The paint on my board is already flaking after only 3 months of use.

Yeah I also had issues with paint falling off them they're a nightmare to repair

Great on the water performance cancelled out by poor construction quality: