Wakeskate recommendations

[Jackie Treehorn]

I've been getting into riding a wakeskate behind my kite recently. At the moment I'm using a real cheap one designed for use behind a boat and find I need a lot of kite power to ride it, so I'm thinking of getting a kite specific one.
I'm looking at the Cab, naish and Tona skates and wonder if anybody can compare them? From what I've read, the Tona one is meant to be the mutt's nuts, but in the UK its is significantly more expensive than the other two, so what makes it so much better for what is basically a bit of bent wood?

[Cab Driver]

I sell both the Cabrinha and Tona. The Tona is nice because it comes with a nice bag, and option of grip tape or EVA pad. The Cabrinha is nice because it has ABS sidewalls and it super durable (available in EVA or Grip). Wakeskates are heavy and the likelihood that it gets dropped in a rough parking lot is very high. Keep that in mind! The wood rail boards will take on water easier.

[thechenzo70505]

I don't have any brand affiliations, but I have ridden and owned a few different skates. I usually don't ride at spots with strong current, and chop/waves when on a skate. It's much better if you have a lagoon to ride in, but it's also a blast if you have a nice side-shore wave kicker setup. Point is strong current is a skaters enemy, even when you are lit.

The 2011 Cab skate is on sale everywhere now, and is an easy purchase if you are curious about kite wakeskating. It does the job well, but lacks deck shape. I havn't ridden the 2012 version, but it looks to me that theres some significant improvement in the new model.

Jellyfish builds a great skate, the best upwind of any skate I've ridden. You can't go wrong with one of these baby's.

I am currently riding a 2012 Naish skate, I've heard some guys don't like it, but it is definately the game-changer for me, and I can recommend it as well.

I have a Tona on order, and am really stoked to get on it - but can't really comment on it quite yet.

Hope this helps.

[mduhaime]

+1 for the Naish Skate. Goes upwind great and still easy to throw around.

[zob]

... I need a lot of kite power to ride it, so I'm thinking of getting a kite specific one.

I don't know what TT size you usually ride, or how big the skate you got is, but this thing will not change geting a kite specific skate.
If you look at mentioned brands, they are all 115 x 42 cm.

I usually ride a 140 x 43 cm TT, and made a skate 120 x 42 cm with a high rocker at the tips.
1st time I was out with it, I tought something went wrong with the kite, but 20 cm in lenght makes a huge difference...

[tautologies]

I was going to say the same...basically that you do need a lot of power to ride those boards...but that power is also whats makes the board fun. I have the Naish skate, but have only really ridden two others. I like the EVA deck pad because I can choose to ride it with or without shoes.

[longwhitecloud]

flipping heck - good work.. My plank of wood. $19 sheet of ply glued together with 1l of outdoor wood glue. It is primed with a layer of penetrating salt water and waxed. Works great. Quite flat - sucks for pop but is not an annoying drag machine in marginal winds.

i been loaned a cab and that is great too. The airush ones are/were too light and fly around in the wind. Havn't had chance to ride any others other than non kite wakeskates that have too much rocker for marginal wind - well sort of, they fine with enough wind..
every pair of skate shoes i now own are soaking wet cos everytime i forget my wakeskate ones i sacrifice my new dry ones!

[thechenzo70505]

I'm on the Tona now, and having a blast. It definately needs a bit more wind than the other skates, but has the smoothest ride, eats chop, easiest to flip and shuv, and has mad pop. So nice to have choices these days, wasn't like this a few years ago if you wanted to skate.

[noel]

I sell both the Cabrinha and Tona. The Tona is nice because it comes with a nice bag, and option of grip tape or EVA pad. The Cabrinha is nice because it has ABS sidewalls and it super durable (available in EVA or Grip). Wakeskates are heavy and the likelihood that it gets dropped in a rough parking lot is very high. Keep that in mind! The wood rail boards will take on water easier.

Agree 100% with Cab Driver. Sell both as well and here a bit of info:
Cabrinha 2012
12 lb (5.5 kg)
115 cm (45 in)
Has a little less rocker than the Tona. Goes upwind a little better than Tona and a lot better than a non-kite specific skate.

Tona
11 lb (5 kg)
115 cm (45 in)

Both are great but the Cab has better contour of the deck for easier pop. (IMO) Most skater from behind a boat ride with their feet right on the tips. Move you feet @ 6 inches away from the tips and they go upwind much better. For just skating, they are both fine but the cab will probably hold up better on rails.

[skyte]

I've got a Cab, a Tona and one I made myself (with the help of some friends) I've also owned a Liquid Force Anthem which is designed for behind a boat.

The LF Anthem was great when you were really well powered but I found getting that right was hard.

The Cab and the Tona are great. I prefer the Tona because I find it ollies a bit better but I think this is just what you get used to.

My custom is by far the best for light winds... Its assymetric so the square end is flatter with just 1cm of rocker for light winds and the rounded end has 3cm of rocker for when you get powered up. Also the kicktails are great because you get more of a skateboard feel and they are not right at the end of the board so you get more use out of them. It's not as easy to olly this board as the Tona though.

My fave is the Tona for allround riding... it needs slightly more power than my twin tip to be able to easily stay upwind and all 3 boards kick up a really satisfying wake.

I ride them all finless.

They need to have good weight to them so they don't blow off your feet and to give them a bit of momentum for shuvvit tricks.

To be honest, I don't think you can go wrong with any kiteskate these days... spend enough time on it and you can get dialed into anything. If you're mainly gonna skate when its a bit light for a twintip then go big and flat. If you want to ride in all conditions then pick any and get stuck in. If you want a nice bag, the choice of EVA or griptape then the Tona ticks those boxes. If you don't have the cash then knock something up from plywood... you really can ride anything!