If you want maximum water time, you can buy a board for every discipline - or one for everything. With the inflatable IFoil Crossover model, manufacturer STX now wants to launch an affordable multiboard (€799) that is suitable for various sports. With a length of 7'8 (233 centimetres) and a volume of 170 litres, the board should provide enough buoyancy for children and teenagers to windsurf without any problems.
To make this practical, boxes for small centre fins were installed in the underwater hull, which should reduce lateral drift to a minimum. A thread for the mast base plate was glued into the deck for mounting the sail. Due to its compact length - from a windsurfing point of view - the board should, in our experience, be easy to turn even with small sails under 3 square metres. The fins mentioned benefit the suitability of the board as a wingsurf board, because even when equipped with a wing, the lateral drift in light winds is kept within limits.
A foil can also be mounted, so nothing should stand in the way of your first wing experiences. We would only put a big question mark behind the proclaimed suitability as a stand up paddle board, because at just over 2.30 metres in length, good straight-line stability is likely to remain wishful thinking. However, as a SUP for kids or a bathing island for the summer, you should be able to have a lot of fun with the board.
Stephan Gölnitz
Deputy Editor in Chief surf
