Which is best? Thommen or Fanatic?

It soon became clear even from this fairly limited test that there are essentially two options with speedboards; boards that might just deliver the ultimate speed when the conditions are absolutely perfect but are hard work in anything else, and boards that make it easy to go fast. Indeed, if you’re after maximum speed in primarily less than perfect conditions then your best option – as detailed in the Speed vs Slalom box – may not actually be a speedboard at all.

Overall, and having seen how – even on our very own speed strip at Southend – the perfect conditions really do come along once in a blue moon, we reckon that for 99% of speedboard buyers, the best board will be the one you find it easiest to go fast on. Which in this test was clearly the Tabou. It’s substantially more versatile than the others, being so much better in chop. It might be just fractionally off the pace of some of the others in absolutely perfect conditions, but 98% of the time it’s going to be faster, particularly for the non-pro speedsailor, simply because it’s that much more easy to use. Even little things like getting your back foot into the strap, due to having just that bit more volume underfoot. Experienced speedsailors will probably scoff at us for even mentioning something so seemingly basic; but for inexperienced / occasional speedsailors, not being able to get comfortable quickly is a big factor, and desperately trying to get a foot into the straps when you’re hurtling along on a lollipop stick is unsettling in all senses of the word. (And it’s even worse when, if you do get it in, you’re then spinning out...)

And if you do have access to absolutely perfect conditions and want no-compromise ultimate performance, it’d be between the Thommen and Fanatic. The Fanatic was slightly easier and more versatile, but the Thommen probably the most full-on.