Test JP-Australia Freestyle Wave PRO 114l 2022!

After such a positive response to my JP-Australia Magic Air review, I am pleased to continue my work. This time I took a set for the workshop, which in my opinion will be a great choice for the Bay of Puck - JP-Australia Freestyle Wave PRO 114l with the NeilPryde Atlas PRO 5.4 sail. And here again my freestyle soul told me, but how is 114l in a Freestyle Wave board and a 5-batten wave sail, it must be clunky, unpleasant and bleee at all. Nevertheless, reading all the ahs and ohs about the previous Freestyle Wave years on various foreign portals, I approached it as a tester befits, i.e. with the so-called open mind. A brief description of the conditions under which I was testing:

• Spot: Zatoka Pucka, Chałupy 6
• Wind: 18-28 knots side on (west) on the first day, 15-22 knots side off (northwest) on the second day

The above wind seemed perfect for this set, and it was! First, about the board itself, which is a JP-Australia bestseller and is considered to be one of the most universal, easy and pleasant boards on the market (and I already know why 😉 ). For the 22 'season, the board got a significant update in shape, both the nose and the bottom. For this season, the designer has slimmed down the nose, while maintaining the remaining proportions of dimensions, which resulted in a shift of the center of weight as well as the volume of the board closer to the mast rail. This treatment made the board more compact and also more stable, especially when we lose some power in the sail. The deck itself is quite flat for a freestyle-wave board, which makes swimming in 3 and 4 straps equally pleasant. From the bottom of the board as well some changes took place, and at first glance you can see a vee with a clear double concave at the front, which is supposed to positively affect the comfort on the tack. Moving towards the stern, the Vee begins to fade, and the edges of the board are becoming sharper and thinner, and the tail itself is quite narrow and skinny, which all positively influences its maneuverability. The board is equipped with three Power Boxes. The center fin is a 29 cm long made from G10 that works nicely in freeride conditions, while the side fins are 10 cm long made from carbon fiber wonders. The main fin for this season have also been redesigned and it is wider at the end compared to its predecessor for better control. I think the center fin is very nice for freeriding and gives a lot of traction, but for the waves something more flexible could be used.
 

During these two days on the water, I tried to test all possible board setups, I checked 3 straps, 4 straps, thruster (3 fins), single fin (1 fin) literally everything I could, in every possible configuration. Personally, I liked the option with 4 straps mounted on external inserts and one fin. This configuration under the prevailing conditions allowed me to enjoy a lot of speed and maneuverability. What charmed me from the very beginning in this board was the ease of entering the glide and a lot of acceleration. As soon as we feel the power in the sail, just sheet in the sail and move towards the stern, and the board will do the rest for us, speeding up to glide. Almost like bigger, typical freeride boards. After entering the straps, closing the sail and pressing the board by the foot, it accelerates very aggressively, reaching a decent speed. Thanks to the large concaves, the board superbly light flew through the bay chop, giving a lot of control and not bouncing, like a sports car on cobblestones. The board, giving a lot of traction under the leg, was asking me to push even more and I did it with great pleasure! Maximum speeds recorded on my watch oscillated around 50 km / h, and the average between 30-35 km / h. With longer tacks, the position is very comfortable and not tiring, and the diamond-textured pads provide great grip. However, I have to admit that I had some spin-outs on the single fin, especially when I flew downwind, down the chop almost solely at the fin. The problem disappeared on the thruster setting, but then I lacked some slack under the leg, which I am used to from freestyle gear. Hitting wind holes, the board, thanks to its width and shape of the bottom, easily flies through them, keeping the glide and not losing too much speed. On the second day of swimming, when the wind turned to the side off, I was able to reach to the shore keeping the glide without any problems , despite the big holes. It was enough to gently shift the weight of the body over the board.
 

When turning, especially during the tacks, the previously mentioned transfer of the center of weight and volume closer to the mast track is very noticeable. The board feels more like 120 liters than 114 liters, leaving us a lot of room for mistakes. Moving on to the gybes, the board is very eager to turn, giving us a lot of confidence and encouraging us to make tighter turns. I must mention that here a lot depends on the fin configuration. With one fin, the board maintained a lot of speed, but when the bigger chop came on, it lacked a bit of traction. However, the lack of it was compensated by two small side fins at the expense of a bit of speed.

To sum up, the board gave me a lot of fun in freeride conditions, old school laydowns, duck jibes, or 360s are something for which it was made. The combination of the features of a freerided board with the maneuverability of a wave board, as well as a multiple strap settings, thruster and single fin give us a mega-universal board. I would love to try on the smaller size like 94 or 84 to test its behavior in simple tricks and stronger winds as well. Due to its capacity (114), I did not undertake to check the board at sea, because with my weight of 78 kg it would not be the most appropriate equipment for me. Nonetheless during some chop hops the touchdowns were really gently, obviously I was losing some speed but, the board quickly and willingly was returning to let's call it cruising speed. The board is definitely not a speed demon (it's not a freerace board, after all), but it is clearly faster and much easier to handle (especially on chop) than my JP Freestyle 93l. At the tail, as long as we get a decent speed before entering the turn, it made it quite easy to maintain the glide at the exit. However, you have to be careful not to press the edge too hard, because the narrow and thin tail makes the board turn sharply. What would come in handy in this size is even more inserts for the starps. I missed the possibility of placing the straps even closer to the edge, but as I mentioned earlier, it is not a freerace board. In the near future I will have the opportunity to try on the JP-Australia Super Ride 113l and I think it will be a great comparison. That is because in my opinion JP Freestyle Wave 114l is closer to freeride / freemove than to wave board. I just have to point out that all my conclusions and feelings are based on my weight, I suspect that for a 100 kg person this board could be a very nice option for under-winding and small waves, and not for medium wind freeride on the bay like in my case. I'm also working on a review of the said NeilPryde Atlas 5.4, so stay tuned!
😊 See you on the water!