CORE 720

The 720 is a compact, noseless surfboard aimed squarely at the burgeoning strapless freestyle sector. In the hands it feels like a high end custom, and has clearly had a lot of care taken over finishing. It’s refreshing to see a relatively traditional and honest construction with a PU core, wood stringer and some sparingly placed carbon to stiffen up the back end. We thought it looked pretty cool and understated.

On the water and the PU core gives the board a decent amount of flex which results in a silky smooth ride through chop and when carving. It has a creamy feeling with good feedback underfoot which is sometimes lacking in epoxy boards, and the subtle double concave assists on this front as well. We were slightly skeptical about its strength at first, but one of the team battered it daily for a week solid on a trip in Cape Verde and it survived without so much as a heel dent. Which is nothing short of miraculous. It planes relatively early for its size, and with the thinner rails can hold a surprising amount of power. The low rocker means it’s exceptionally fast in a straight line, so ideal to hit that kicker and head skywards, which is essentially what it’s designed for. The foundation to a decent strapless aerial is speed so that you can get wind under the board and stick it to your feet. And this is one of the easiest and most satisfying boards we’ve used for big aerial punting. The blunt nose really helps glue it to your hooves, and the pad means you’ll stick a heavy landing without doing the splits…

If you want to then take it in the surf, then it performs well and is extremely playful and smooth with quite a drivey feel into turns, and a positive connection to the face. It has just enough rocker to take some steep drops and we were surprised by what we could get away with. Aerial capabilities aside, in serious side shore wave conditions the 720 is not to be underestimated. Plus its compact size and square shape make it a great travel board and it comes with a proper FCS2 fin set and keyless boxes so you’ll be on the water while your mates are still digging around in their pockets looking for their fin key…

In a sentence: If you want a top of the line strapless punt stick with little compromise in terms of wave performance then the 720 is an absolute ripper.