Gentemstick Rocket Fish On The Table and Written Review Review by The Good Ride

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Ethics Statement: We don’t get paid by the manufacturer to write these reviews.  We do make money from the “Where To Buy” links, but this is our best attempt at an honest and objective review from an average riders’ perspective.

How This Review Happened:  We borrowed this for an extended demo and then returned it.
Size: 145 (only size)
Days: 4
Conditions: Some messy spring snow, hard spring snow, some thicker spring powder, and an early morning slackountry run in some powder with our Drift Boards.
Riders: James (Size 9, 5’10” 185-195lbs), Grant (Size 11 6’ 160lbs), Zobel (Size 11.5, 6’ 180lbs), Nick (Size 10, 160lbs, 5’8”) Jimbo (Size 11, 5’11” 160lbs),
Boots: Adidas Tactical ADV, Burton Imperial,
Insoles: Sandsole Custom Insoles,  Footprint Insole Technology Gameghangers Low Profile
Bindings: Union Atlas, Union Strata, Union Superpro,

Similar Boards (but not the same) That We Compared This To:
Gentemstick Mantaray 156, Korua Dart, Korua Pencil, Gentemstick Rocket Fish HP, Gentemstick Chaser, Gentemstick Chaser HP, Gentemstick Barracuda, Gentemstick Barracuda HP

Set-Up: 20” Wide. 36 front +12 back. Close to Reference and Set all the way back.

Approximate Weight: Feels light

Sizing: The Gentemstick Rocket Fish is really wide in the waist and nose but not in the tail and it likes to keep it around size 10 and under. Some people can fit into it with a little bigger boot but not by much and it really comes down to the footprint of that boot. The guys with 11 ish boots felt a little big for this. Also the weight of all of us felt like it was making the board feel even smaller and lighter. I think it needs a lighter rider too.

Flex/Buttering: So the flex feels pretty medium to medium-stiff but in the tail, it feels super soft when you butter it to the point you might butter right onto your ass the first time you try. There is a lot of light poppy energy underfoot.

On Snow Feel/Ability Level/Skidded Turns: Th Gentemstick Rocket Fish is a very set back directional swallow tail kind of ride and it feels like your back foot is almost at the end of the sidecut. It feels like there is no board behind your back foot. So some will love this feeling and others might not. It likes to be steered with a lot more front foot weight than back foot weight and it’s a massive departure from almost any tapered directional board we have tried. It also needs a really positive stance angle on the front and back foot to get the board to turn without washing out.

Edge Hold: Good enough for how little this board is and how little tail there is.

Turn Initiation:  Super-fast. Almost too fast and you don’t need much to make it turn. The only thing faster is the Gentemstick Rocket Fish HP.

Turning Experience/Carving: So if you are a rider like we are, you really have to change up how you approach a turn with the Gentemstick Rocket Fish. It really has a feel to it like you are bottom turning on a wave and it wants you to really drive hard on your front foot. Of all the front foot tapered directional carvers the Gentemstick Rocket Fish and even more so the Gentemstick Rocket Fish HP really need that front footed weight or else the tail will wash out pretty hard and often flip around to make you end up riding switch which is something you don’t want to do with this shape. Once you get the feel of it through the turns are super-rewarding and fun. It just is a very slow, articulate careful carver that needs a very attentive turner.  The more time I had on this ride the more fun the turns get.

Powder: The Gentemstick Rocket Fish is a very little board but man it can float well. The swallowtail with all that taper really sinks down into the snowmaking you feel even more like there is nothing behind your back foot and the nose really floats. For those that like a shorter fatter surfy ride in powder might be really into this ride. It just likes really clean powder and doesn’t do as well as the other rides as it starts to get tracked up.

Speed: Not a very fast ride at all and it chatters pretty hard as you pick up speed.

Uneven Terrain: As we said above, the Gentemstick Rocket Fish isn’t ideal for those that see a lot of uneven terrain. Small light poppy boards like this really buck around in messy uneven snow and accentuate every bump.

So all in all, the Gentemstick Rocket Fish, is a very unique board that isn’t for everyone and it’s not an easy board to get to know at first. However, once you do it’s a lot of fun. Coming back to this after learning a lot more about how to ride Gentemstick boards like this correctly really changed my opinion of how it rides and I’m starting to get why this exists and who it is for.