Being long yet light, the board really comes into its own as a light-wind freestyle machine. It’s definitely the easiest board on test to railride, but also great fun to put a smaller rig on and practice your sail-spinning tricks.

Character & Performance: In light winds, the RRD has a very lively and playful feel. It cruises upwind well with the daggerboard engaged, although not pointing quite as high as the Kona. Upwind performance can be improved slightly by using a larger fin. It reacts very well to footsteering and can be tacked very swiftly. Gybing, while still not being as snappy as the shorter boards in the test, can be done around a shorter arc than the Kona. [Read more →]