Lieuwe Boards Shotgun 138 x 41cm 2021
Reviews / Twin Tips
3,938
At A Glance
The Lieuwe team often refers to the Shotgun as “the board that was perfected before its time”. Imagine the joy of creating something only to find out you did perfectly on the first try! Well, maybe not the first edition for Lieuwe, but pretty damn close. After a few years of tweaking, Lieuwe customers insisted that no more changes be made to what they see as a flawless design!
Born in the Netherlands, the Lieuwe team knows the ins and outs of riding in all sorts of conditions. Their latest campaign, “We Craft Stories”, asks, with some poetic brilliance, “Do not ask yourself what if I fall? Think what if I fly”? In crafting stories - or boards, although it can truly be interchangeable for some, you have full freedom to create your own design, go with any of the predesigns, or just add a little personal flavour to a Lieuwe design if you don’t feel especially creative on the day of purchase. The choice is yours; the story is yours.
What we love about the design is the visibility of the wood core and the natural features of the board. For pro and beginner alike, it’s the first point of inspecting the quality, like kicking a tyre of a car you are looking at, although the latter serves no purpose but simply must be done. Four deep channels on the bottom fade gradually from tip to centre, their purpose is to chow the chop for a smoother ride, and we expect it helps to save the eye-burn of point-blank saltwater spray to the face whilst riding.
On the topside is quite a unique, almost stamped shape with thinner rails on the heel and toeside edge from tip to tip, with a thicker centre. Lieuwe thought of every rider and tried to accommodate the needs of most with this board, adding multiple options to fit your foot straps or boots for the ultimate comfort in your stance.
Taking a closer look at the curves, we think the combination of the shape and rocker will make for an excellent all-around freeride board with great grip and fantastic pop, thanks to those deep channels; definitely a big air contender!
Sizes: 125x38, 130x39, 133x40, 136x40, 138x41, 141x42
On The Water
In my opinion, you don’t necessarily want the perfect conditions when testing a kiteboard, as only the lucky few ever experience such glory. The real test of a comfortable ride is taking it out in whatever crap you have available, and so we did. We took the Shotgun out in side-onshore (mostly onshore) wind with heavy chop and messy ocean swell. Perfect testing conditions, as it allowed us to see what Lieuwe’s most popular board does in Cape Town’s least popular conditions. Our session was an energetic freeride fest with some big air boosts, spiced up with some cheeky rotations to test out how the Shotgun handles a landing.
We armed our Shotgun with 45mm fins to combat the conditions of the choppy oceans, which added that extra grip we needed for an aggressive pop to send your big air loops. The first impression was that it did feel skaty underfoot, which worked in favour when it came to playful turns in the waves and landing big jumps without catching an edge. The skaty feeling is quickly eliminated by digging in your heels and locking in on your edge. Suddenly, it’s super grippy and very responsive underfoot, allow us to send our pops to new heights.
It has a good stiffness that free riders will love and the durability to strap on boots, and feel free, mate, it’ll handle it. A fantastic balance between stiffness and flex, and as we guessed it, those four channels did wonders while casually absorbing the infamous chop and keeping the pesky spray off our faces. Needless to say, we loved it!
Overall
We’re going to lead in with a quote from Lieuwe: “sophisticated jack of all trades and best selling board worldwide.” We agree. It is definitely a do-it-all board. The Shotgun is Lieuwe’s freeride big air machine (with a medium flex ultra-light 3d wood core, batteries not included) that is great upwind, with comfort and control at high speeds.
From advanced riders to beginners looking to progress, the Shotgun will send you to new levels, turning heads while you’re at it! It’s a true winner for freeride, big air, or just the good old lawn mowing. It’s a yes from us.
Videos
This review was in Issue 88 of IKSURFMAG.
For more information visit Lieuwe BoardsRelated
By H. De Villiers
