Background
The Da Curve is Tabou’s radical wave board and it has a new shape for 2012. The rocker, hull and out-line have all been refined but the most obvious new addition is that it now has five fin boxes and comes complete with five fins. Tabou call it the Quadster and it can be ridden as either a quad (with four fins) or as a thruster (with three fins).

At a glance
It is one of the most compact shapes on the test being the second shortest and also lightest. The nose is fairly short and flat, but with lots of rocker in the tail. It has five Slot Box fin boxes and comes complete with five T-Lab fins as well as fin box blanks so it can be set up in either thruster or quad modes. The fittings are good, with quality Tabou straps and ramped footpads. The footstraps are positioned further apart, giving you a much wider stance spread.

On the water
It feels compact under foot and quite small for a 74litre board but it does plane very early. In quad fin mode the fins deliver a lot of grip and it feels great when nicely powered up. When you start to get a lot more powered up the quad fin set-up can start to feel a little draggy but by switching to thruster mode, the board is freed up and delivers better high wind performance. On the wave, in quad mode, it delivers a very surfy style of ride that allows you to turn tight and really work the waves, especially in side-shore conditions. For more on-shore and powered conditions the thruster set-up is the best option and the performance in these conditions is fantastic.

Summing up
A highly adaptable board that is super loose and can turn tighter than anything else. The convertible set-up makes it very versatile for all kinds of wave conditions and it is best suited to a more new-school style of rider.

For more information on the

Tabou Da Curve 74 Team Edition 2012

go to www.tabou-boards.com