Tabou Rocket Wide

scargo · Joined: 19 May 2007 Posts: 394

Anyone have any intel on this apparently new iteration of the beloved Tabou Rocket? The 118l wide version is 78 cm wide, a full 12 cm wider than the 115 regular Rocket.
Is Tabou messing up a good thing here, because it seems like 78 cm would get big in a real hurry. Then again, I don't know squat about board design.

dllee · Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Posts: 5329 Location: East Bay

Just conforming to other company's wider, and lower volume designs.
Added width makes up for less float, providing a lighter board, more responsive, quicker feeling, better in chop, and still able to slog provide minimum floatation is applied.
While some 4 year old freeride designs might be 135 liters and 71cm wide, the more modern boards are closer to 70 wide and 110 liters of volume.
Just copying the slalom board trend. Less volume, made up for more width.

U2U2U2 · Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2014 3:29 pm Post subject:

Your post is a little misleading..... in part to Tabou using the Rocket name for a new board.

According to them the Rocket in 115L will still be available in the tried and tested brilliant version , 242 X 66, as well as the ROCKET Wide at 240 X 78.

This without doubt is in answer to others , RRD Fanatic , Exocet who all have versions similar to the 'wide' Rocket version one already.

this version could suit you or not.

Rockets in 115, 140 and now 135L, owned Exocet SCross and ridden the X Cross.

The poor marketing thing IMO on Tabous part , it should have HAD a new name

adywind · Joined: 08 Jan 2012 Posts: 665

Tabou tried to be different in 2013 with the Thunder . But after just 2 years only it is now discontinued.
My guess is it didn't sell too well and now they are playing safe with the already established on the market Freemove shapes and the already popular name of the Rocket. After all nobody likes loosing money. That's just mine theory and I could be wrong.

joethewindsufa · Joined: 10 Oct 2010 Posts: 1190 Location: Montréal

wide , thin, maneuverable
they are calling this "freemove"
Fanatic is pulling their freeride Shark off the shelf - ONLY Gecko

guess "freemove rocket" would make more sense than "rocket wide" ??

J64TWB · Joined: 24 Dec 2013 Posts: 1685

Sailed a magic ride 104 today. 7.0, not lit up, but moving well. It felt as stable as a 130 board. Not sure it has a top end but would love to push it. It's 68cm.

LeeD · Joined: 12 Jun 2008 Posts: 1175

Been riding the 118 Magic for a month now, around 5 days. Easy speed, not quite the topend of fast freeride, but jibing ease and arc almost make windsurfing fun without being the fastest in the water.

gvogelsang · Joined: 09 Nov 1988 Posts: 435

IN the spring I picked up a RRD Firemove 122, which is 238 x 78, very close to the Rocket Wide dimensions.

It has replace two boards that I owned previously: X-Cite Ride 134 (251 x 72) and Allride 115 (245 x 65). The Firemove is surprisingly controllable in wound 6.5m conditions, and even doable in 5.5m. It is more fun to ride in the 7.5 to 6.5 conditions which I previously used the X-Cite Ride.

U2U2U2 · Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 9:19 am Post subject:

scargo · Joined: 19 May 2007 Posts: 394

No, my post wasn't misleading. I asked about the new iteration (i.e., version) of the Tabou Rocket, and never implied that the old (read: thinner) version had been replaced. In fact, I specifically compared the stats between the Rocket and the Rocket Wide, which was the whole point of the post.

In any event, my thought would be to replace two of my Rockets (115 and 145) with the Wide 118. I use my 145 with 8.5 and 9.5 sails, but I hardly ever rig the 9.5 anymore, so the idea would be to use the Wide 118 for 7.0 through 8.5, and use my existing 95 for 5.5 to 7.0.