Windsurf MagazineTABOU DA BOMB 84 TEST REVIEW 2024

TABOU DA BOMB 84 TEST REVIEW 2024

The Verdict

Suits south coast conditions perfectly, but feels equally at home on an open wave face. The Tabou Da Bomb has been revamped for 2024 and offers a faster, looser, more rider led style of riding. Paired with the right sail, like the GA Manic, the Da Bomb is capable of adding aggression to your riding style.

The Lowdown

With its rich ruby red colour way, it definitely catches your eye and everyone else’s on the beach. Comparing to last year’s model there have been a lot of tweaks and changes. The shoulders of the board have been filled and the tail thinned and pulled in for 2024, enhancing the possibility of initiating turns with ease, while also having greater control of the radius. On top, the layup is visibly premium with a thin layer of graphics to save on weight. You can see the Carbon Inegra layup coming through, while Tabou have added raised heel pads on the deck pads, which encourages a better stance and style of riding. Rolling the board over, a pronounced vee double concave runs the length of the board to the fins, here it morphs into a single concave at the fins where a thruster set up sits. The fins provided are all slot box fins from K4, which is a noticeable upgrade from what was previously supplied. Tabou have removed the channels on the underside, which helps free up the tail and offers a looser, less prescribed ride. With less tail kick this year, to provide extra speed and acceleration, the Da Bomb feels like it’s had an exciting makeover in every area that is going to elevate your riding in a range of conditions.

Brand Claim

“The Da Bomb excels in optimal conditions, while it truly shines when the wind shifts onshore, creating less-than-ideal wave conditions.”

Performance

With its smart volume distribution upfront in the shoulders, the Da Bomb feels bigger than its quoted volume, so it offers plenty of float for its size. With lots of get up and go, it accelerates quickly off the beach, reaching top speed with ease, which is a welcome characteristic that will not only help get you out through the whitewater, but also out of any precarious scenarios where speed and acceleration are vital. With your feet in the straps, you immediately notice your stance is taller and raised with the thicker pads under your heal. Soaking up the chop like a sponge, it’s super comfortable in a straight line, while the Da Bomb tracks well upwind, but still manages to remain nimble off the tail to alter your sailing line at a moment’s notice. Accelerating down the wave, the raised heel pads put you into a textbook upright stance and on top of the board, where you are poised and ready to put the board to work as you drive hard into the bottom turn with speed.

The fuller rails in the shoulders keep the rails on the surface – allowing you to drive through the turn harder, while sending you back up to the top of the wave with plenty of speed for the first attack. As you’d expect from a fast board that accelerates quickly, it carries speed out of the turns well, allowing you to shoot down-the-line at breakneck speed to make it around sections you normally wouldn’t, before being able to attack the lip on the final section – cranking on the back foot to tighten the turn to suit the pace of the wave. Meanwhile, presented with a messy face, the Da Bomb handles it with ease allowing the rider to keep their eyes focused on the next approaching section, while if you pair the Da Bomb with a sail that offers pull from further up the sail, you will be encouraged to ride the board harder and faster than ever before.