TABOU ROCKET WIDE 108L CED 2015 TEST REVIEW
TABOU ROCKET WIDE 108L CED 2015 TEST REVIEW
THE LOW-DOWN
This is the smallest of Tabou’s new ‘Rocket Wide’ range and we are testing it here in its standard CED construction. With the Rocket remaining a strong fixture in the Tabou line-up, it would be interesting to see where the ‘Wide’ siblings fit…
BRAND CLAIM
‘’We invested lot of time and a crazy number of hours testing to achieve the wide freeride board that we are very proud to present you now, offering an incredibly easy, wide range! This board has got it all for any keen freerider: very early planing, speed, acceleration and passing through lulls effortlessly. It has great control and on top of that a super easy jiber where you don’t lose any speed and come out as fast as you entered. This is the board that will help you pass to the
next level.’’
PERFORMANCE
At 73cm wide, the Rocket Wide is significantly wider than all the others on test here, bar the Simmer. Its plan shape is very rounded until its tail, which is pinched in and home to some deep cutouts. Not surprisingly therefore, the 108 is super easy and stable at rest, capable of carrying the 8.0m suggested by Tabou (albeit requiring a larger fin than supplied; a 38cm fin seemed to work fine). From there on, the board’s performance took us down a path of intrigue and experiment, with several real surprises in store. It planes very early and accelerates smoothly and subtly, providing time and stability for the intermediate to work their feet outboard and into the straps. It is also deceptively fast, the pronounced vee and double concaves cutting effortlessly through chop and enabling the board to just sit calmly by, encouraging you to plough more power in to see where its abilities will lead to. Even severely confused conditions (where we envisaged the 108’s width would count against it and make it rock from rail to rail), didn’t unnerve it, instead seeming to hover flat over the worst of the chop and not get involved. We suspect a large reason for this is that the vee diminishes by the front straps, leaving pronounced double that acts like a set of stabilisers as the board charges forwards. Either way, the Rocket Wide’s fantastic retained composure was a welcome surprise. The other pleasant surprise was its cornering ability. Stamp on the rail and drive aggressively through the turn or cut a wider more measured arc, the 108’s ability to keep its speed and glide through the exit of the gybe was as if it had an auto pilot installed. As such, the Rocket Wide was a real pleasure to use by advanced riders and would undoubtedly find favour with progressing riders as well. So the question now is whether the longstanding Rocket range has been superseded?
THE VERDICT
A stable, easy board with surprising capabilities that are effortless for even the novice rider to tap into, the Rocket-Wide has taken the wide-thin concept to new levels of user-friendliness. Well recommended.
Other sails in this test: