Tona Driftwood review
Testing period: a few months
Riding conditions: waves, flat, chop, cable park...
Riders level: different levels, from beginner/intermediate, to more advanced ones, like people hitting obstacles, throwing shoves, bigspins or BS 180, 360...
Wind: 12 to 38 knts
Package:
The Driftwood is sold with a nice and thick bag. It's packed with two different grips and two plastic fins + screws. You can choose to glue the EVA grip, if you don't ride with skateshoes, or the skateboard grip tape if you got some. First time you grab the board, it feels heavy, which is good !
Board construction: The core is made with CNC carved wood, with a nice paint and a « top sheet » plastic layer on the bottom. graphics are pretty sick. The board was designed by Dereck Camacho, an experienced shaper from Florida, and Adam Anton from Antigua owner and founder of www.kitescoop.com.
specs: 118 /40 cm
board measurements: 116,5cm / 39,5 cm
rocker: 3,5 / 4cm
deck concave depth: 0,6/0,7 cm
weight: 4 kg ( with grip tape )
price: 329 €
In the water:
The driftwood kiteskate will plane much earlier than a regular wakeskate. it still needs power to go. As much as a classic wakestyle board would need. Once you're powered enough, it goes upwind pretty fast. The board reacts well in big chop.
photo credit: Alejandro Saez Blanco
The board is super lively. yet easy to control. We really liked the way you pop with it, very naturally. Clean landings never come out of control. You can add fins (included in the package), but the board was designed for finless riding. We didn't feel the need to add the fins. and it's all good!
The weight feels just right (no blown out board in air tricks, even in strong gusty winds). The board's feeling is very smooth and natural, the deck concave helps keeping contact and sending air tricks. All these characteristics mixed together make it a very efficient kiteskate. you feel there's a fairly good amount of rocker on this board, and you realize it helps a lot for more advanced tricks. Pop is huge as compared to flatter rocker ones. The board is not meant for lawn mowing. You just want some good power, tonic legs, and you feel it's the right way to progress and send more and more advanced tricks.
photo credit: Nate Appel
We also brought it to the cable park. Local riders liked it and the board felt as good as more rockered classic wakeskates. People managed to pop super high with it ( like jumping over a barrel), ride obstacles, and really enjoyed it.
To sum up:
pros:
- control
- lively board
- comfort
- pop
cons:
- need to ride pretty powered
We used the board at the cable, on flat spots, big chop, waves. We had a good time in all these different riding conditions. we couldn't find any big shortcoming to the board, except we would have liked it to start planning a little bit earlier, but we know we wouldn't have had that mad pop (and we know the programme is different from riding underpowered with a skimboard, it's a kiteskate!). All in all, the board is very efficient for advanced tricks. The designer has chosen a well balanced compromise between the need to ride upwind and the need to pop and land efficiently. As it's easy to control, and not too short, it can be used by kiteskate beginners as well. The board will also suit the « crossover rider » (cable park + kite) and the performance oriented one. Good job Dereck !
To sum up, as Tona says in its brochure: « Want something fresh to spark up you session? Try the Driftwood, a kiteskate designed with you in mind. »
big thanks to Tona ( Dereck Camacho and Adam Anton ) and Ronald for sending the test board. Hope we can grab a Tona twintip soon (Pop 138 ) for a wakestyle test !
Tona website: http://www.tonaboards.com/
Europe: contact Ronald at europe@tonalife.com
other details: