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KITEWORLD SUMMARY:
This would be a lovely wake-style board on flat water with a powered-up kite. Unfortunately we were testing it in ballistic seven metre weather on a rolling ocean, and while it wasn't ideally at home, it more than handled it. It's loose and flat but it does track well and it's way more forgiving than a traditional wakeboard. Great fun under ambitiously free-styled feet.
MANUFACTURER'S HYPE:
Any board designed with Mauricio Abreu at the helm is going to be a wake-style affair with just a penchant for the waves. Using a classic rocker, the Mauricio 130 has a soft and forgiving rail, so you’ll be good for some strong edging and solid wake-style pop. Made with Duraforce construction using wood and glass fibre to provide extra durability, Wipika have also concentrated on flex technology with a high tech core construction for a balance between stiffness and flexibility. There’s a Duraclean bottom for better scratch resistance and a glossy gel coat finish. Designed and built for both foot straps and bindings, there’re plenty of stance options depending on your addiction.
TEST TEAM NOTES:
NEAL: They seem to have taken Mauricio’s own board, put straps on it, softened the rails a bit and given it more volume by changing the construction slightly.
DAN: I couldn’t help it - as soon as I got on it I was sliding my back foot out and messing around.
NEAL: Yeah, it feels pure wakeboard. It was completely happy flat, and you can just engage the rail as and when you want it. It would be a great kicker and slider board because of that. Really forgiving.
DAN: It’s definitely more of a flat-water freestyle board for wake-style manoeuvres without having to wear bindings - spot on for all that. For all the people who are into that, it definitely does it and doesn’t catch rails like a wakeboard would.
NEAL: You get a lot more float for planning than you would with a wakeboard – it’s thicker and it’s got a rail. It turns fine. It’s not a rail or rocker shape designed to pull out long bottom turns, but it will turn. Mauricio has bindings on his. You can force anything with bindings on.
DAN: Maybe with bigger fins it would work even more differently. I think the fins on this are the smallest of all the boards here.
SIZES:
130 x 39.5cm
This test is in issue #13
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