So, I've never used a kite-specific snowboard, but when I looked into this it seemed like most of the things you'd want for kiting you can find in
other (potentially cheaper) boards. It seemed like the big thing to look for is a board with reverse-camber which is what lead me to get a GNU Park
Pickle. It seems like a lot of people ride the similar Libtech Skate Banana.
Now, I've only had about an hour out with this board and one of my kites so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I don't think there's anything a
kite-specific board gives you that you can't get from other boards.
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snowkite boards
Started with a regular snowboard, then I switched to Nobile Snowkite 165, big improvement on straight line speed and better balance on hard surfaces
even on patchy ice. On powder not a significant difference.
After a few seasons I decided to step up to a race board Nobile RC2000 "TSAR".
2015 model shown here : PICO2000
They are expensive, but worth every penny if you are into freerides and long distance cruising.
It was a bit weird at first as I was not used to such dramatic increase in speed and "on rails" handling. Still need to fine tune my stance, bit wider
than before.
I personally like low wind, relaxed cruising sessions, but on the first session of the year I was able to milk 26mph from a 9knt wind in semi-hard
snow with a 10m open foil (2015 Hardwaterkiter speed standings week 4)
Foils: Phantom2 15, Aurora 19 custom, F-1200, S-840, JN Luis 10, JN Randas 8
Inflados: Ocean Rodeo: Flite 17.5m, Rise LW15m, Razor 12m and 10m, Prodigy 7m
Boards: Mako Duke, Mako King, 6'6" Bushman shortned to 5'8"
Land 'n snow: "Tsar" RC2000 Nobile, 150 SantaCruz TT with IceBlade, 159 Mongoose Grand Slalom
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