Naish Switch

The Switch is new to Naish’s extensive twintip lineup and is pegged as their versatile freeride board; a board to suit those who share equipment or those who want one board that can handle light wind freeriding and the demands of high winds. In essence, the Switch is two boards in one with a long rail, a short rail and straight line inserts so that you can switch your pads around to choose your board size for the conditions. The Switch has taken many aspects of its shape from the Motion. The freeride rocker, triple concave and beveled edges give the Switch the same feeling of grip and control with a respectable dose of speed and playful agility. The asymmetric rail length of the Switch creates a feeling underfoot unlike any other board. Setting the board onto the longer heel side rail provides great low wind drive and a fun heel to toe carve as the reduced toe side edge allows you to really tighten up your arc. Carves have a slightly more staggered feel to them, certainly different to other asymmetric boards with more rounded tips. As the wind builds and you choose to switch your stance to the shorter heel side rail, the increased agility and edge control is immediately clear and the Switch really livens up.

In general, riding the extended toe side rail feels well balanced and not at all cumbersome. The Switch carves, pops and slides very comfortably from the shorter heel side edge onto longer toe side edge and is very satisfying to hack a heel side carve into a wave. One small compromise to the comfort of the ride becomes apparent in rougher waters when catching a bit of chop wrong results in a spray of water to the face as the toe side, which extends from the centerline of the board, catches the chop ahead of the heel side edge. The most striking and unusual feeling about the Switch came from landings while riding the smaller heel side edge. It is a very enjoyable feeling to benefit from a short edge which allows you to more aggressively carve upwind into your takeoffs yet benefit from the stability of a larger board on landings. The extra surface area in the toe side feels very supportive of landings, especially when coming in with speed. Additionally, any landing into toe side pairs brilliantly with a download carve onto heel side as the reduced heel side edge promotes a tight and agile carve while allowing you heaps of speed coming out of it.

In a sentence: If you mix up your riding styles, don’t have the budget, or don’t want to travel with two boards then the Switch provides a solution at a very affordable price.