BayAreaKiteboarding.com

First time poster, long time listener here...

I'm in the market for a new twin tip board. I weigh 170, ride 90% of the time at crissy other 10% of the time at Sherman. Riding style is predominantly freeride (hooked in everything, backrolls, etc). I'm looking for something that can get me upwind when its flooding, isn't too tough on the knees in the chop, and will also allow me to start experimenting with some unhooked maneuvers.

Would love to hear some recommendations...!

I hear the north tower is a great place to practice unhooked tricks. :)

The Mako has amazing upwind capability due to the concavity, and there is no better board for the chop. But I wouldn't recommend learning to ride unhooked and practicing tricks at Crissy. Go to 3rd where there are plenty of people to help you out if something goes wrong (like a broken rib or leash) and the wind pushes you into shore.

le noun wrote:I hear the north tower is a great place to practice unhooked tricks. :)

Even better on a max ebb at 7PM

Can't think of a worse place maybe other than OB to learn unhooked. Go to 3rd,alameda, or Sherman to learn unhooked.

From North the Team or Jaime are great boards for freestyle but not with too much rocker that it's hard to stay upwind. The Mako would be garbage for any popped stuff because of the outline. There is a good do it all from Nobile but I can't remember what it's called.

Yeah, I would say you have competing requirements for the board. For unhooked, you want to be able to load and pop, which requires stiffness and sharp rails for edge hold. Those characteristics will make the board hard on your knees and create a lot of spray in chop. So I think the answer is two boards

JimmyJack wrote:

le noun wrote:I hear the north tower is a great place to practice unhooked tricks. :)

Even better on a max ebb at 7PM

When else would you be practicing?!

Need freeride / freestyle crossover imo. They usually are designed to be whatever kite brand's "do-it-all-board"

Mako feels more like an all-terrain board to me (heavily free-ride, go anywhere, carve, toe-side etc.) ...Which incidentally also usually makes a great Crissy setup.

Some guys take this to the extreme and actually ride across the sand into the water at Crissy but I would highly NOT recommend this

Another option is Shinn boards, Monk is ultimate freeride and ok freestyle board. Heard that Shinn Ultrasonic is amazing.