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Where to start with this popular board? The 2023 Sportstourer is also available in a wooden design, with the shape and features remaining unchanged - for good reason. Two large nets also hold stuff for a three-day river tour, and four people can use the comfortable handle loops to carry the board at the same time. The sliding fin is quickly fitted - or swapped for a short river fin in shallow passages, for example. The valve is elegantly concealed under a cover.
However, the real recipe for success of the Sportstourer is probably the very good tipping stability in combination with the sporty look from the paddler's point of view. The large width in the centre runs into the very pointed, sporty aesthetic of the nose - which stretches out over the water more clearly than many other flat water shapes. Supported by the light weight, the board gets going very quickly, accelerates effectively with every paddle stroke, even against the wave and there is little water coming over. The bow glides freely over choppy waves and, with a little imagination, you can even get a hardboard feeling when you look at the wooden decor. The feet are very comfortable on the EVA pad with a fine structure without a coarse ripple pattern.
The Sportstourer reaches the speed of sporty 12'6'' boards despite the somewhat wasted water length at the bow, where the unusual length of 13 feet and the clean water cut-off at the round tail pay off. With the raised nose, the board turns particularly well, even with little paddle input, and when going back it is stable in the water, of course not like comparable hardboards.
Conclusion on the GTS Sportstourer 13'0" x 30.3":
Sporty, high-torque tourer in lightweight design with space for plenty of luggage.
Very light, lively and easy to turn, good equipment, good double pump.
Info:
- Price: 779 Euro >> available here
- Length: 396.0 cm
- Width: 77.0 cm
- Weight: 9.1 kg
- Volume: 350 litres
Stephan Gölnitz
Deputy Editor in Chief surf
Stephan Gölnitz comes from Bochum and had Holland as his home windsurfing territory for many years before moving to Munich in 1996 for the job of test editor at surf magazine. The materials engineering graduate worked as a surf instructor on the Ijsselmeer during his studies and competed for several seasons for the Essen sailing team in the Surfbundesliga and the Funboard Cup. He completed a traineeship at surf-Magazin in the test department and since then has actively accompanied almost all tests on the boom and for more than 10 years also as a photographer. Stephan has covered many thousands of test kilometers, mainly on Lake Garda and in Langebaan, but also in Egypt and Tobago. He gets his hands on over 100 new sails and boards every year as his company car. Privately, he prefers to surf with a foil on Lake Walchensee or “unfortunately far too rarely” in the waves. SUP is Stephan's second passion, which he pursued for several years at numerous SUP races. Today, he prefers to paddle on river tours with family or friends - even for several days.
