I haven’t seen any comments on this board so far so I thought I would share my view as I have had my board now for 7 weeks and are very happy.
• Stats 77kg 5.9
• Sailed the board so far at Mets, the Island, and Lano.
Design wise the board has been completely reworked from previous years, they have really gone towards a custom style wave board.
My first impressions was how much stronger, rigid and lighter the board is compared to previous models. Speed is slightly down compared to the old 07 model but is heaps more controllable on choppier or bigger waves. If you want a board that will snap hard off the top of a lip as to small arks this will definitely suite. Even in smaller waves I am getting good tight turns in with plenty of drive for the next maneuver. I have dug the rail in hard and it just snaps harder (no sliding which I have experienced with older JP models). It does skate around a bit when going in a straight line but makes up for it once the rails are back in use. Despite this it heads up wind really well if you put pressure through the toes.
I have used a 4.7 sail in 20 knots through to a 5.7 at 14+ knots and the board handles both conditions beautifully. Surprisingly my 5.7 handles far better on the 08 Pro wave than last year’s 07 Radical wave.
The most noticeable change is the directness when on the wave as bottom turns are very smooth (far less bounce compared to previous models). I have sailed cross-on shore and swear I was sailing in side-shore as the drive out of the turns is very good even at low speeds in smaller waves.
Fittings are awesome and they now finally supply a G10 fin which I have already bashed against reef but you wouldn’t know because G10 is much stronger than previous fins supplied.. This is the first time I have stayed with their production supplied fin. Jumping is as good as any board I have had.
I have been happy with previous models but the 08 is definitely my favorite, a real radical wave board but not for super-fast or free ride wave styles in my opinion.
I see 3 out of the top 4 wave sailors on the PWA are now JP team riders and with Kauli Seadi joining the JP team I can’t wait to see a production twin fin later this year.
