Day 2 report by sbckiteboard.com from the F-One importers meeting
Today was a nice riding day. On the water around 11AM, super powered 11m weather. Rode 6’ strapless, then 6’2†strapped and then had a really good super powered 11m session on the F-One TX3 twin tip. Waves were again pretty big. I managed to piss off a bunch of windsurfers and ruin a few of their days no doubt. There’s always a bunch of them right in the sweet wave section.
The TX3 replaces last year’s TRAX and is a really nice ride. I’ll take some more shots later, but it’s got a super techy multi concave bottom, nice finished rails, and really nice footpads and straps. The board has a great blend of smooth, flexy control, yet has a decent powerful feel with some good pop. Overall the F-One twin tip line looks really good, I’m planning to try to work through the whole line next session. This is such a good place to ride. There’s good flat water right off the launch, then a transition into some smallish waves, and then big wavers further out. In one run you can encounter three totally different riding areas. Pretty cool.
I’ll take some proper gear shots later, but here is a shot of their one pump system (the kite is a proto so has a ton of bridle attachment points) and a shot of the bar (also a prototype, I understand there will be a more polished/stylized grip and some other aesthetic changes). The distributors are all super stoked F-One has added the one-pump system. I know it’s been a topic of debate in some circles, but like it or not, they all feel that not having it cost them a lot of sales last year.
Lots of smiles at the bar for our post riding happy hour. Both Nico (F-One USA) and Michel (F-One Canada) had great sessions. Nico was slaying waves on the Bamboo surf line and Michel was a testing machine, I think he might have ridden every board in the line and every kite from 9 to 13m yesterday. For sure no one spent more time on the water than Michel! It’s cool to see how genuinely stoked these guys are to ride and how passionate they are about their gear. The day made for some delicious post riding lagers.