"I have a freeride board, but now I'd like something faster. Should I buy a slalom board, a freerace board or will I not be able to maximise its potential anyway?" We hear this question regularly, and answering it is not quite as easy as you might think. We know from our numerous tests - and this is neither surprising nor a secret - that slalom boards are naturally faster than freeriders in strong winds.
But if, as in our freeride test in Dahab, you overtake other surfers with a camberless sail and freeride board who are travelling with a slalom board and race sail, the question naturally arises as to whether even an ambitious hobby surfer can surf just as fast with freeride equipment as with high-end equipment. That's why we put it to the test.
We used four people with different levels of riding ability as test dummies, carried out comparison rides and also used the GPS to see what they could get out of different equipment. 1. Vincent Langer, PWA pro and German slalom champion. 2. Manuel Vogel, surf editor and tester, occasional participant in the German Windsurf Cup (DWC). 3. Marius Gugg, surf tester and gifted wave surfer, but only sporadically travelling with freerace and slalom equipment. 4. Enno Eyb, good hobby surfer from Kiel, who has been surfing the Baltic Sea with freeriders as well as freeride and freerace sails.
The system comparison with many useful tips is available as a PDF download.
