TABOU ROCKET LIMITED 145L 2013 TEST REVIEW
TABOU ROCKET LIMITED 145L 2013 TEST REVIEW
BEST FOR
Ambitious intermediates already confident in the straps or to complement a high wind rider’s quiver.
RECOMMENDATION
Sails well on most types of rig but ideally suited to more compact, lower aspect freeride or freerace sails, with or without cams. Unless you’re struggling to plane try smaller fins for extra speed and control.
BRAND POSITIONING
The Rocket sits between Tabou’s ‘starter freeride’ Guru range and the freerace Speedster lines. Tabou claim the Rocket has the ‘perfect balance of speed and acceleration, manoeuvrability and control’.
OVERVIEW
Outline: Wide round nose, parallel outline, small winger into wide rounded tail.
Deck: Slightly domed deck with thickness reduced towards rails, volume appears concentrated under straps.
Rail Profile: Tucked rails to back strap, winger sharpens the rail-to-tail section.
Bottom Shape: Vee under straps to large double concave.
Rocker Line: Moderate nose rocker and no tail kick.
PERFORMANCE
Underfoot: Super steady off the plane as you’d imagine with the wide nose and tail and the light feel apparent even at an idle.
Early Planing & Acceleration: Hungry to get up-to-speed with the impression that it’s the outline doing the heavy work and not the massive fin.
Top Speed: The lively, exciting behaviour definitely give it the fastest feeling sensation alone. Head-to-head, especially when paired with powerful draft-further-back sails it was hard to beat for top-end. A strong contender for solid upwind performance too.
Gybing & Manoeuvres: Feeling shorter than 250 we found tight turns possible and wider, fully planing gybes a breeze. Hooking turns to tighten broader arcs is no problem with a little extra effort.
Handling & Ride: Like many Tabous, there’s an alive, direct sensation that skips over chop without tail walking and feels more planted and connected to flat water or spaced-out swell. Performs noticeably better with modern compact freeride or freerace sails. Slightly more technical to sail than others in this category but by no means demanding.
THE VERDICT
An exciting, racy ride that’s not overly technical to sail. Excellent choice for accomplished windsurfers seeking a moderate wind speed fix or aspiring racers keen to dip their toes into the slalom racing scene.
* Image is of the 135L model
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