Mike has been getting to grips with Ho’okipa too, a pretty daunting and tricky break to sail as many of you will know, but what’s helped Mike? A brand new custom Quatro, that’s what! You can check out a full blog post about Mike’s adventures here and check out the gallery below.

Well we couldn’t have timed it better… as after nearly a month of crap wind in Maui, we got straight off the plane and scored it right off the bat. A solid swell and good wind meant Hookipa was firing but due to my Shoulder (and me being a pussy) and with it being Justyna’s first time to maui, plus her 2nd -3rd time ever on Starboard tack i thought it would be best to go easy and sail Lower Kanaha.

Ben Proffitt

With there being such a big swell running it was still pretty big down there (Logo.. mast + sometimes) but it was super fun and great way to ease Ourselves in.. my shoulder wasn’t great but it was doing the job and so nice to be back on the water!

Justyna Sniady, a small day at Spreks

We sailed down there for 3-4 days in a row. Which looking back was probably the best days of the trip… the rest was a real mixed bag of conditions.

So when the Simmer shoot kicked off we really had to work it… as the conditions didn’t play ball… But it all came together in the end and i think we nailed a couple of good days topped off with a nice Heli shoot right on the buzzer… (I’ve seen some of the pics and they look great!)

Check out the rest of the story of Proffitt’s blog here, trust us it’s worth a read and includes locking keys in cars, shovels, hitch hiking and some very cheesy photos!

If only all things in life were as easy !…
Quatro – The Boards of Now.
Click here for participating dealers.

Air Time from Bernd Roediger on Vimeo.

Over the winter many of the UK’s windsurfers head to sunnier climes, but who’s going where and why? In this feature we will regularly catch up with a variety of windsurfers who are seeking some winter sun and wind.

Next up Quatro and Goya rider, Tanya Saleh has been on some incredible trips of late and she now reports from Puerto Rico.

Tanya Saleh

Where are you? 

Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. This place is insane! Like a cross between Mexico, South America, and the Carribean with sick waves and really friendly people.

What conditions have you had recently? 

The main spot to sail here is called Shacks and it’s usually float out and ride in wave sailing. It’s not the most consistent place which is probably why PR isn’t famous for windsurfing, but we’ve had it pretty good and been on the water about 60% of the time. The waves have ranged from small knee high to well over mast high close out bombs.

The best days have been those somewhere in between when it’s cleaned up nicely. Shacks can’t handle a big swell so it just resulted in giant closeouts everywhere. Getting out with the flukey wind on the huge days was like the gauntlet. Shacks is on our doorstep but if you want flat water you could drive to Dorado (two hours) which has a big lagoon inside the reef. The only way to drive here is just like the Puerto Ricans; break lights and indicating are not necessary and if in doubt, floor it!

I’m really loving getting into surfing these days and there are some great waves around the north west of the island. Because of the inconsistent wind, this is probably a better destination for windsurfers who also like surfing, kitesurfing, or island exploring. If you are expecting to be windsurfing every single day then this definitely isn’t the place for you.

Tanya Saleh

Who have you been sailing with?  

Darin unfortunately broke a rib during the first week so he’s been beach bound with the camera for a few days

Tanya Saleh

What equipment have you been using most of the time? 

I’ve been using my Quatro 78 litre quad LS and a 4.7 Banzai. I am in love with this combination; 78 litres is usually a pretty big board for me but this one is something else. It gives me the extra volume to get out easily in light winds, but I don’t feel over-boarded at all on the way in. It always used to be a sacrifice on the wave if I went out on a larger board; I knew it would feel like too much on the wave, but not anymore. This board is awesome, and the Banzai’s are super light and really responsive. Thanks Zero Gravity!

What’s in store for you next?

We leave here at the end of this week and then back to Bristol. In a couple of weeks I’m heading to San Diego for a little surf and hopefully by the time I get back to the UK again it will be warming up. To be honest I’m then planning on staying put in the UK for a while, I’ve finally gotten to know some of the South Wales windsurfing crew (who are awesome) and getting the spots dialed so I’m looking forward to some sailing around home over spring. In the pipeline for summer could be a revisit to Baja; I miss it so much after having left San Diego, and we might try to time that around the AWT.

LS THRUSTER from Ocean4Hawaii on Vimeo.

Check out more about Quatro in the UK from Zero Gravity, the UK distributors for Quatro, Goya, Point7 and more!

Adam Lewis enjoying the condition for the BWA in Ireland last year.

LEADING ferry company Stena Line has announced a super spring sale, giving customers the opportunity to save up to 20 per cent off, with its lowest fares now available every day of the week.

This fantastic offer is available for travel up until Sunday 30 June from Holyhead to Dublin, Fishguard to Rosslare and on the Holyhead – Dun Laoghaire seasonal service from March 22^nd.

Spend St Patrick’s Day on the Emerald Isle, discover the delights of Dublin, go west to Galway, visit family and friends, or take a rural retreat in the lush countryside of Kilkenny or Kildare.

Stena Line’s Diane Poole OBE, Head of PR and Communications said: “With Easter just around the corner, plus school holidays and half term breaks, we’re offering customers the chance to enjoy a short break without breaking the bank. With this great sale, our lowest fare of £79 is now available every day of the week allowing people to save up to 20% on travel when they book by February 28.

BWA on mass to Ireland with Stena Line!

“There are lots of ferry good reasons to travel with Stena Line this spring including no baggage charges or restrictions on what you can bring with you and no lengthy airport queues. What’s more, the holiday fun starts as soon as you step onboard with our free movies, games and Wi-Fi, as well as Curious George themed play areas for the little ones and a great choice of restaurants and bars for the adults,” Diane continued.

For further information or to book, call Stena Line on 08447 70 70 70 click on www.stenaline.co.uk/sale or visit your local travel agent.

*Terms and conditions apply. Available on selected sailings when booked a minimum of 7 days in advance of travel. Credit card, non web booking fees apply.

So if you’re the lucky owner of a Quatro quad here are the golden rules; Keith Teboul talks you through how to get the most out of your board.

Quatro Multifins Setings from Ocean4Hawaii on Vimeo.

All the tests for the 2013 Freewave edition are now online on Boards, you can check out the introduction and all of the individual tests by clicking on the images below.

Introduction.

Quatro Freestyle Wave.

RRD Freestyle Wave.

Fanatic FreeWave.

Goya One.

Witchcraft Chakra.

JP Australia Freestyle Wave

Tabou 3Style.

Starboard Kode.

Quatro Freestyle Wave

Quatro Freestyle Wave

Graphically the Quatro is a great looking board and comes complete with high quality fittings.  It is a single fin design and is supplied with a 28cm MFC, the biggest in this test group.  At 95 litres, it is one of the biggest boards, but perhaps surprisingly the width is actually the narrowest in test by nearly 1cm.  The tail width is fairly standard, giving it quite a narrow, straight-sided profile compared with the other boards within this group.

On the water, the Quatro has a fairly unique feel to it, perhaps down to this narrower, straight-sided profile and larger fin set up.  It’s not particularly quick to plane, but once the board does release it really accelerates well.  That narrower width does pay a penalty when the wind drops however making it one of the first to drop off the plane.  Top speed is one of the slower within this group, but the ride is easy and fairly comfortable.  Once the wind picks up, the bigger fin does start to overpower the tail of the board, so we would definitely recommend a smaller fin option if you are planning to sail well powered.

Unique board – has a really nice bottom turn, feels quite small and you can really crank it in to the turn.

Quatro Freestyle Wave

In a straight line, it’s fair to say that the performance of the Quatro isn’t really up to the rest of the group.  Bank the board into a bottom turn however and it’s a whole different story.  This board has probably the most radical bottom turn of the whole group, allowing a skilled rider to carve tightly and get really vertical back into the wave.  Off the top it suffers against the tri-fins in the same way that all the other singles do by not turning as tightly or with as much ease.  In fairness to the Quatro, it does transition well from bottom turn to top turn, a point at which some of the bigger boards get a bit stuck.  It also has a really nice backside snap.

The more gunny profile makes it quite good for jumping, once up to speed although for pure freestyle, the same attributes make it less stable in the slide. Despite the higher volume, the Quatro definitely feels one of the smaller boards within this group.

Has a really nice backside snap.

Quatro, whipping round a top turn.

Quatro, Freestyle Wave

TARGET BUYER

The Quatro is a wave riding board that excels in the bottom turn for more skilled riders.  Unfortunately this skill-set, probably steers it away from what most Freewave buyers are looking for from this style of board.  However if you are a heavier rider, looking for a larger single fin to ride waves on, then the Quatro would be a nice fit.

Not really competitive with the better boards when it comes to straight line performance, seems to be more about the riding.

RIGHT TO RESPOND – Zero Gravity, the British importers of Quatro, give their response to the test.

“The Quatro Freestyle Wave 95 is a great choice for anyone who is progressing in the waves but still needs a board for back and forth blasting. The test states “most radical bottom turn of the whole group and is able to carve tightly” which are attributes which translate to an amazing board for carve gybing, perfect for riders wanting to master gybes in rougher conditions with a more front foot weighted stance. It inspires and rewards in equal quantities and is without doubt a board that will take you further.”

A full list of UK dealers is available here on the Zero Gravity website.   You can also find out more about the One and other boards in the Quatro range of their own website here. 

Check out the rest of the Freewave testing series:

Keith is now off in the Marshall Islands with none other than British photographer Si Crowther, UK wave sailor Tanya Saleh and a few more names too. We look forward to seeing some awesome shots and yet more video from the trip, but for now check out the video below.

Freewave test 2013

Whether you are a wave sailor, high wind freerider or a freestyler, freewaves used to be the ‘standard’ board of choice between 85 and 100 litres.  However the advent of multi-fins, allowed wave boards to get bigger, drawing away many of the wave aficionados, whilst dedicated freestyle boards got smaller and more dedicated, leaving freewaves largely the domain of high wind freeride sailors.

Having spent a few weeks testing these most recent 95 litre Freewave versions, we are left with a feeling that the majority of buyers may be missing a trick by overlooking freewave models.  Here’s why!

The Fanatic Freewave in action

One of the clones taking the Goya for a spin.

WHAT ARE THEY GOOD AT?

We have all heard the expression ‘jack of all trades and master of none’.  But what you must bear in mind is that when the wind is lighter and you are on say a 120 litre board, the conditions are generally flat, so it’s worth having a dedicated board for these conditions.  Conversely, when it’s windy, say 80 litre weather, usually the sea state is rough and it’s worth having a dedicated wave board for these conditions.  However the interesting thing with 85-100 litre weather is that the sea state can be anything from completely flat, through extremely chop right up to full down the line riding conditions.  And that’s why we need a ‘jack of all’ trades in our quiver.

Most of our Clones haven’t ridden freewaves for a few years, having been drawn away by the larger dedicated wave boards, but they were all very much in agreement that these boards, without a doubt, offer the most fun possible in the conditions we normally encounter in 85-100 litre weather.

In Tenerife, these boards plane and accelerate much quicker than a wave board, so we were getting much better jumps in the waves straight off the beach than we could get on the dedicated wave boards.

Once past the first peaking waves, the boards became great high wind blasters and we all had a huge amount of fun drag racing each other all the way out to the rolling swell out the back where the boards were able to oblige with big jumps, carving moves on the swell faces and aerial freestyle moves in the flats between the waves.  Then on the way back in, we were able to mix proper front-side riding with more freestyle. What other board in windsurfing can offer so much versatility?!  I can quite confidently say none!

Witchcraft tri-fin

The RRD single fin

SINGLE FIN OR MULTI?

When we first received these boards and saw the Fanatic, JP and Witchcraft offered tri-fin set-ups, we have to admit to being a bit sceptical.  After all, freewaves are supposed to plane easily, be fast and exciting to sail, do we really need the extra drag of two extra fins?

Well, we were certainly wrong!  Having spent a fair amount of time on these boards in a wide range of conditions, I can confidently say that tri-fins have really revolutionised the way these freewaves perform. On a wave, the tri-fins were in a different league for turning when it came to tightness and ease of turning. The fact Victor Fernandez used the Fanatic tri-fin to score some of the highest wave scores of the day in PWA Klitmoller this year is testament to how well these boards now turn.  In a straight line, they do have a more planted feel, but they still have an exciting ‘off the fin’ feel to them and at the top end have a lot more control with the extra fins keeping them from flying out of the water.

We are struggling to see any real consequential draw back of the tri-fin configuration.  Sure, they may be a tiny bit slower to get planing and at top speed, but the shapes of the boards within this group seemed to more than make up for this.  And of course if you aren’t convinced, you can always use the tri-fins as a single anyway!  We quite expect to see a lot more brands jumping on the tri-fin freewave bandwagon next year…and rightly so!

The Clones have been hard at work...image credit Si Crowther

THE TEST

The test was conducted in Tenerife thanks to the Official Test Centre, who were able to cope admirably with all the diva requirements of our test Clones and their huge array of equipment.  Tenerife has to be the ideal testing location for freewaves with everything condition you could ever want to put the boards through right off the main beach – cross-on jumping, chop, flat water and side shore waves up at the harbour wall – its all there!

We would like to thank North Sails for supporting the test with sails, so that head to head comparisons between boards could be made without worrying if the sails were making the difference.  We had a selection of identical Volt and Hero sails between 5.0m and 5.7m to test these boards on.

Simmer supplied the booms for this test.  Their Blackline carbon wave boom has built a solid reputation for being one of the best on the market and delivered faultless performance throughout our testing.

The full comparative test with scores and graphs will be released on Boardseeker at the end of this week.  In the meantime, enjoy the individual write-ups right here on Boards.co.uk!