Board Suggestions_ freeride / 10-15 knots / chop / 155 lbs

[NOVAAN]

Tabou has a 106 and a 116 3s.. I have the 96 3s These boards have super thick pads, and a narrow tail with cut outs. For me, this board is by far one of the smoothest ride over chop. Maybe not as fast as the Rocket or a fast freeride board, but much better control and turning. Just ask anyone that has one...

[dllee]

In general, fast freeride planes up the earliest, as early as wide freeride, but just goes faster once planing.
Wide freerides jibe the easiest, almost autopilot planing past downwind, but do seem to hit a lot of chop due to it's wider width at the front foot area.
Regular freerides and NOT intended for light wind sailing, as the softer rails, shorter flat rocker, tend to make them more controllable in medium wind conditions as an all around board, not for lighter winds only.

[gvogelsang]

[scargo]

I like my Rocket 115 a lot. Planes up fine notwitstanding the double concaves, which iron out the chop. Mine feels perfect with a 7.0, so would be fine with sails on either side of that.

[Arrgh]

[NOVAAN]

Yep. That's why you rarely see one used for sale. The Rocket 115 is my lite wind board. As soon as wind permits, I grab the 3S. Steady 6.0 down to 4.7 this board is a blast. The smooth ride and thick pads extend my time on the water. No need for the LTD construction on the smaller boards. The CED is plenty lite without the extra 400 bucks. I might consider the 3S 116 next time for my lite wind board if my local lake ever fills up again...

[boardsurfr]

The Fanatic Hawk is a fantastic board, but probably the wrong choice if you are looking for comfort in chop. I replaced my older Hawk 95 with a 3S 96 a few years ago, and that made a huge difference in comfort. The 3S 96 handled chop so well that I never have a reason anymore to go to a smaller board, even in 35 mph wind. The 3S 116 would take your 7.6 without problems, and should get you going quite easily. Finding a used one will be nearly impossible, though.

[pmlct]

Jacques, reading your initial post you are looking to freeride in the 10-14 or 10-22 knot range that you see when it isn't blowing over 22 knots the rest of the time. I own a rocket 125, a 3S 116 and a Syncro 114 along with bigger and smaller boards that are not relevant to this discussion. I have also ridden briefly a rocket 115 and a Hawk 108. I think the rockets are more comfortable than the hawk, my older 2008 syncro is smoother than my 2014 rocket and my 2013 3S is the smoothest of them all by far. I also consider my 3S 116 to be slow and that is why I picked up the Syncro-to replace it. The 3S has a narrower tail that makes it harder to plane in light wind, compared to any modern freeride board. I weigh 185 lbs. At your weight I would tell you to stay with freeride boards for those sail sizes, stay with the newer short/wide designs versus the older longer no-nose designs and with comfort in mind stay away from freerace designs as well. If you have flatter water in light winds then the rocket, syncro or exocet cross boards around 115 liters all ride smoothly and would be good choices. If you have rougher water in those conditions and you don't want to be flying off of every piece of chop or swell then you have to sacrifice some speed for control so consider large freestyle/wave designs. Some good choices in bigger sizes that aren't real slow would be the RRD, Fanatic and JP models. If others disagree with me about my 3S being slow then include that as well. I hope this is helpful

[dllee]

Well yes, severe chop in winds of 12-18 would just present a huge problem for almost everyone.

[boardsurfr]