DUOTONE Fish D/LAB 5’3 2022
Reviews / Surfboards
102,827
At A Glance
The Fish was an instant hit from Duotone when it hit the market a few years ago, replacing the popular Nugget light wind wave board. The focus was to make more of a surf orientated board, still capable of handling light wind conditions but much better at riding in the waves. The shape of the board is old school meets new school with a retro fish style outline, featuring a wide nose and swallow tail. That's where the old school ends, and the new school takes over. The Duotone Fish has a flat rocker and deep channels underneath with grab rails on the top deck.
Built in the D/LAB construction, it features a Reflex Memory Foam underfoot to absorb the chop and impacts. This material also, as the name suggests, has a memory and can return to its true form, keeping your board looking good for longer. Any heel dents should eventually pop back out; clever stuff! There is also a Carbon Beam to improve the responsiveness of the board, and it is wrapped in an Innegra Shield, which makes it exceedingly durable while keeping the weight low.
Sizes: 5'1" and 5'3"
On The Water
We're big fans of the Fish here at the magazine. As a light wind wave board, it really excels, delivering loads of speed and power when the wind isn't playing ball. In weak waves, the drive you get from the flat rocker and channels is phenomenal, and it's really fun to ride. More than this, though, as the wind increases and the waves grow, it still remains a fun board to ride.
We've had it out in a huge array of conditions, from onshore to cross off and small waves to well overhead high. When the waves get bigger, you really need to be aware of the flatter rocker, especially when dropping back down the face after a big turn, but the board delivers performance that you wouldn't expect from such a shape in bigger waves.
The Fish D/LAB is an incredibly versatile board to have in your quiver. It's not just a one-trick pony capable of working in light, weak conditions. In fact, for most euro style mushy waves, it absolutely delivers in spades. For strapless freestyle in light winds, it works well, too, with decent pop and grab rails making tricks easy. The channels underneath also help you to land tail first and still maintain control.
Overall
If you want to ride in light winds, this is a fantastic board. If you want to really smash it out of the park in weak waves and light winds, then we think this performs better than most of the offerings out there. Capable in anything up to and above head high swell, if you have the talent, the Fish D/LAB is a solid choice for any wave quiver.
Videos
This review was in Issue 93 of IKSURFMAG.
For more information visit DUOTONERelated
By Rou Chater
Rou has been kiting since the sports inception and has been working as an editor and tester for magazines since 2004. He started IKSURFMAG with his brother in 2006 and has tested hundreds of different kites and travelled all over the world to kitesurf. He's a walking encyclopedia of all things kite and is just as passionate about the sport today as he was when he first started!
