Friday, April 2, 2010

Review: WaveSkater Pro Bodyboard 45

As you know I'm in the market for a new bodyboard and was considering the WaveSkater Pro 48 among my options as I was looking for something with more float than my current 45 inch board. Fortunately I found out that my local bodyboard shop had a few WaveSkater Pro 45's up for rental so I had a chance to try before I buy. Though the owner of the surf shop doesn't bodyboard himself he said that they were great rental boards as they seemed nearly indestructible.

A New Kind of Board

When I looked over the board for the first time in person what struck me was how shaped everything was: the scooped out center, the grip channel around the edge, the twin 'hulled' bottom; this type of molded construction definitely opens up a lot of options for shaping. Also notable is that the widest point of the board has been pushed back to the center of the board and with the majority of the board volume in the back rather than the front, a design which others have suggested provides greater maneuverability given that turning on bodyboards pivots around the hips... I was hopeful this was going to turn out to be a great board.

In the water the first thing that I notice was that WaveSkater 45 definitely had a lot more float than my current 45 inch board, even without moving to the 48 in model. I had hoped that more float would mean an easier time paddling out but was disappointed to find that wasn't the case. I guess I just need to train harder.

It took me about a half hour to figure out how to ride this board; it really is a different beast. Hand on nose and elbow locked into the channel around the rim was obvious. What was less obvious was that to compensate for the pushed back midpoint I need to grip the edge with my outside arm much further back than I was used to in order to balance my weight over the mid point. Once I got that down I caught quite a few rides.

A Disappointing Experience

Unfortunately riding the board was a disappointment, perhaps because my expectations were so high. First off it felt slow, though I told myself that that could be chalked up to inexperience positioning myself or possibly even to the type of waves it was designed to ride (waves in Jacksonville are far from ideal, though I went out on my old board that afternoon and caught some fun rides on similar waves, no problem). As expected I did notice that turning was fluid and was pleased to find that maneuvering didn't seem to reduce speed much but sadly that didn't translate into a more enjoyable ride.

Despite all of the potential I saw in this board, there was one thing that sucked away all the joy of riding the waves and that was how horribly stiff the board was. Riding the WaveSkater Pro literally felt like riding a slab of steel (albeit a very  floaty piece of steel). As I mentioned I rode my old board that afternoon to make sure I wasn't imagining it and by comparison it felt so responsive it was like I was gliding as part of the wave; in contrast the WaveSkater was so stiff and unpleasant that I if it had been my first board I'm not sure I would have stuck with bodyboarding.

Not Recommended For Beginners, Possibly for Others

It's possible that amateurs and pros looking for maneuverability for tricks might find it useful to experiment with the WaveSkater. Unfortunately it's durability and cheep price make it ideal as a rental board, meaning it will find it's way into the hands of new bodyboarders and tourists, people that I feel it is least suited for. If you're interested in buying this board I definitely recommend renting one first and giving it a try before purchasing it.

A Final Note

To the WaveSkater manufacturer... I like a lot about this board and love that you're pushing the status quo in design and manufacturing but you've got to go with less stiff, more responsive materials; indestructibility isn't everything.

Stay Stoked,
DH
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8 comments:

  1. Sorry you feel the way you do about our bodyboards. But if this is an impartial forum about bodyboards and bodyboarding, you'll publish our response.

    Fortunately, thousands of other happy consumers don't feel the way you do about our bodyboards, including many of the largest distributors in the country, and several top pros, including Justin Crossman, former pro rider Eddie Solomon, and Jay Reale, who owns ebodyboarding.com and does very well with our boards and has had zero complaints about them. Could it be that you are just a little bit sore that we wouldn't send you out a free board?

    BB
    Wave Skater, LLC
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  2. Also, you said this:

    "I'd hate for this board to sour you on the sport." And then you said this:

    "A Final Note To the WaveSkater manufacturer... I like a lot about this board and love that you're pushing status quo in design and manufacturing..."

    How can you say both things? Makes absolutely no sense! If buying and riding our board would "Sour any rider on the sport," how could you then possibly say that you "Like a lot about the board?"

    The board is what it is. We didn't want to make a board like everyone else and it probably isn't for every purest rider out there. But to say buying and riding one would sour a rider's opinion on the sport is going way too far, especially since everything else you have said was not so negative. Your entire treatise doesn't make any logical sense and fortunately, you are just one person with just one opinion and thankfully not the opinion of the entire bodyboarding market. Still, it's amazing that the power of one lone writer can have on the Internet and there's not much we can do about stopping it. We welcome new opinions about our boards, but just hope that potential customers are smart enough to try the boards out for themselves before letting anyone else influence their buying decisions, as you certainly have tried to do.
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  3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
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  4. I just deleted your third post(again) as you are being excessive and holding a one sided conversation on my site. Here's the way this works you comment then I comment then you comment then I comment. I was trying to knock out a response during my lunch break, as this is not my job, but you won't quit giving you're 2 cents worth so my response will have to wait till this evening.

    This is an open forum and I do welcome your comments so long as you give me ample time respond to them on MY blog. If after we've talked here I find that I've been unfair to your product I will gladly remove the inaccurate post and post a revised one.

    Finally, your comments are drifting into negative territory... so long as you maintain an attitude of respectful disagreement I will allow you a voice on my blog... cross that line and I will remove all of your comments.
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  5. In response to post #1 by WaveSkater... Am I upset about not getting a free board?

    Let's start with a little history for the reader... six weeks ago I wrote a post on XL Bodyboards for Larger Riders where I listed some XL boards and the specs of each. Roughly four weeks later it occurred to me that it would be cool to be able to review all of the boards and do a comparison and contrast post.

    I decided to play a long shot and emailed the companies to see if they would send me boards for evaluation. Not surprisingly they all turned me down... with the exception of WaveSkater who offered to sell me a board at a reduced price. I thanked them by email and responded that I was very interested but it'd be a few weeks before I could do it.

    OK so my XL Board Comparison post was dead, but at least I'd get a discount on a cutting edge board I'd wanted anyway. And beside that no one was talking about the board online and I secretly hoped to be the one to break the story about what an overlooked and cutting edge board it was. I even planned on ridding it in the up coming FBA event in May and hoped to evangelize the board there.

    I mentioned some of this to the guy at my local board shop and he lets me know that he has some Wave Skater Boards for rent and did I want to give one a try? Sure! Man I was stoked "This must be meant to be", I thought.

    And then I rode the board, was terribly disappointed and the rest is history.

    So WaveSkater did I give you a bad review because you didn't sent a little swag my way?

    Not hardly. At least you were kind enough to offer a reduce price... thanks again.
    ReplyDelete
  6. In response to WaveSkater comment#2: How can I give you mixed reviews... did I like it or did I hate it?

    Well if your product were not horribly stiff I would have probably given it rave reviews.

    I like that you came up with a different production method. I like the molded shape. I like the wider in back for maneuverability bit... something that the surffoils guy Bret Curtis had been talking about in his designs. I was excited about trying your board right up until the day I spent a session riding it.

    It was then that I discovered that your board was so terribly stiff that it removed all sensation of the wave from the experience and in doing so turned something I loved into something I couldn't wait to stop doing. To put it bluntly I had a miserable time riding your board and I think that other people need to know this about your board.

    Now if you say that your board is not stiff then we might have something to talk about... I'd wonder if I got a bad board or something.

    If you say that it is stiff but that it's an acquired taste to some, like say sushi, and that I just need a bit more experience with the board to appreciate it then that would be something to talk about.

    If either of those is the case then you can lend me a board of your choosing for what ever period of time you see fit (you cover shipping both ways) and for a couple of weeks I will split my time in the water between the board I'm about to buy and your board. During that time I'll temporarily take down this post and if at the end of the evaluation time I find I've changed my mind then I'll revise this review.

    To be honest I'd love to champion your board. It's got the little guy takes on the industry aspect that I'm a sucker for. Unfortunately I just didn't enjoy riding it.

    And before you spew out a bunch more comments on my site about how I'm some unreasonable buffoon who's out to get you here's something to think about... except for the infomercial like feedback that you post to your site (and have complete control over) I couldn't find anyone out there talking about your product that isn't trying to make money off of it. Maybe that should tell you something.
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  7. Wow! This is the only news story you ran that has any responses. I bet your blog is read by dozens...
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  8. After posting my two responses above I left comment moderation on and went to dinner. When I got back I found I'd received 9 additional comments from the WaveSkater guy ending with the one above. Most were a mix of heavy anger and minor rebuttal. In the end I decided not to let any in.

    As a final response to WaveSkater I'd like to say that I get it... these boards are you're baby and I'm telling you your baby is ugly... I get your anger. It still doesn't change the fact that I didn't like your board.

    In retrospect it occurred to me after reading all of your angry responses, that perhaps a few of my phrases had a bit more bite than was necessary so I have gone through my post and lessened the negative tone in some of my sentences (though I doubt anything other than endorsing your board would make you happy).

    I still don't enjoy riding your board and I still don't recommend it for beginners and those are my honest opinions... I'm sorry if that hurts your feelings or your earnings statement.
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