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MAXXRIDE 62
Length: 245cm Width: 62cm
Volume: 104 Weight: 15.5/7kg
Upwind: 4.00 Planing: 4.40
Speed: 4.50 Handling: 3.75
Jibe: 4.33 Overall: 4.04
Price: $1,499 Includes: Straps, Pads, Fin
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AHD MAXXRIDE 62
Elsewhere in this test report we tweaked Kinetic for its hype. But listen to AHD’s description of this board: “A totally new board concept aiming at total versatility, for maximum sensation, fun and performance over the widest range of conditions. Beyond current board categories of freeride, freestyle, wave or convertible, the new Maxxride 62 can do it all, and much more.” There you go. You’re set for life, board-wise. At least they didn’t say it was incredible. But who needs “incredible” when you have “much more than all?” Ah, but the intrigue comes in the next line: “The Maxxride offers unknown sensations.” Sounds like every other sailboard we know. But seriously, it is a revolutionary shape. The Starboard Starfish 90 is the only other board of its kind we know of. The Maxx is a touch longer (250 cm to 242) and wider (62.5 cm to 60), and has 104 vs. 90 liters with a concave bottom versus the Starfish vee. What we’re talking about here is a very short, round board. Apparently it’s the AHD definition of perfection, if not the Swiss definition of beauty. Good thing about the latter. If it were, all Swiss girls would be dumpy. The three main goals of the shape are planing, maneuverability and acceleration (“Speed is the result of acceleration,” AHD, duh, tells us). “The Maxxride will particularly shine in onshore wave conditions.” If only AHD had told us of that alleged strength beforehand. We would have especially sent our testers out in our Maui onshore waves to find out. But here’s what we did learn.
SCORE: (5 ratings)
Upwind 4.00 Planing 4.40 Speed 4.50 Handling 3.75 Jibe 4.33 Overall 4.04
STAFF:
Upwind 3.50, Planing 4.50, Speed 3.50, Handling 2.50 Jibe 4.00, Overall 3.60
Andy Gurtner, who is Swiss, thought the handling was poor. His wife Hedy is not dumpy.
COMMENTS:
From the sailor who hit the reef: “Not hard, did not get pulled over, yet the screw pulled through the deck.”
One basic intermediate found that “the famous gnarly North Shore break is actually easier to sail than on Lake Michigan waves. I found the Maxxride to be stable and easy to get planing.”
“The Maxx is fast, and it flew off the small inside break. It was a little squirrelly in the jibes, but with strong rail pressure it settled down. It’s not as user-friendly as the Starfish, but fast and fun nevertheless.”
“Non-skid good, pads good, fins good, straps bad—uncomfortable, thin, light, roll hard”
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