Borealis Pilot Fish Snowboard Review with Joe

Borealis Pilot Fish Snowboard Review Review by The Good Ride

• User Reviews
• Product Specs
• Product Images
• Questions?

Overview

How The Borealis Pilot Fish Was Tested

I rode the Pilot Fish with my Nitro Team BOA boots and my Union Force bindings.

At the time I had these boards, the mountain was sometimes closed for almost a week, and conditions were horrible, so I only got one day.

At least I got a good spring day with a few runs in the morning and a few in the afternoon. I compared this against the Leviathan. I’ll have comparisons up on Patreon and on YouTube for paid members.

It’s going back after testing, but it would be a fun board to have in the quiver.

Size: 160
Days: 1
Conditions:  and some early morning Slackountry pow time with Drift Boards & Union Rovers
Riders: James (Size 9 E, 5’10”, 185-190lbs). I’ve tested and compared 850+ boards, 200+ bindings, and 120+ boots
Davey (Size 12, 240lbs, 6’4”)
Boots: Nitro Team BOA, Nitro Team TLS
Insoles: F.I.T. Gamechangers
Bindings: Union Force, Union Atlas Step On
Redundancy: Strapins in case boots or bindings break.
Jacket: Skyline Fuse Jacket, Jones Mtn Surf Anorak
Pant: Skyline Fase 3L Bib Pant, Skyline Faze Pant, Jones Mountain Surf Pant
Helmet: Smith Method, Smith Scout
Goggle: Smith 4D Mag Low Bridge Fit
Gloves: Burton AK Clutch Mitt, Burton AK Tech Leather Glove

James’s Set Up: 21” Wide. Stance Angles +24/+6. Close to Reference
Joe’s Set Up: 21” Wide. Stance Angles +24/+6. Close to Reference

Similar Boards We Like (but not the same):

Weston Japow, Gentemstick Barracuda, Soul Shift, Nidecker Beta, Nidecker Beta APX, Korua Pintonic, Jones Storm Chaser 2025, Stranda Tree Surfer, Salomon Wolle Nyvelt Fish, Burton Smooth Operator, Korua Pencil, Amplid Time Machine, Amplid Surfari

Ethics Statement

I was not paid to write this review, and it reflects an honest, objective perspective with no brand oversight. If this review helped, we’d appreciate it if you support objective content by:

• Buying Through Our Sponsor, Blauer Board Shop
• Buying through our other Where To Buy Links, we get paid a small commission if you do. Please make sure we are the last click and don’t use a coupon or discount provider. They take our commission if you do.
• Become a Patron and get early access to reviews well before publication.  https://www.patreon.com/thegoodride
• Donate to https://venmo.com/TheGoodRide (@TheGoodRide) or https://paypal.me/thegoodride
• Follow Us: https://www.instagram.com/thegoodride​
• Like & Subscribe on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@thegoodridesnow

Sizing

How it Fits Me

When it comes to sizing, this Pilot Fish in a 160 fit me super well. The waist width and the width over the front foot is very wide, but the width over the back foot is considerably narrower.

Even though it only has five millimeters of taper, it felt easy for me to steer, and if they had a bigger size, I’d love to try it. But this was fine. I just wouldn’t want a size down from here.

Of course, this is my personal preference to give you context for the review. If you want to figure out your sizing, go to thegoodride.com. We have a guide that breaks everything down so you can figure out what might be best for you.

How It Might Fit You

Sizing is highly subjective and personal, and many factors come into play when choosing a board. I rarely use “all caps to emphasize something, but NEVER TRUST ANYONE who doesn’t ask or reference at least boot size, weight, and height. Here are all the factors to consider.

Boot Size

Borealis has a spot in their specs for width underfoot to help you size your boots, but it’s not there. This is most important for determining how the board turns.

Here is the sweet spot to turn the Borealis Pilot Fish easily with med/fast response bindings/boots, without boot-out. You can go with a wider board if you carve really hard or have very responsive bindigns/boots.

155: 8-9
158: 9-10

These boards are narrower over the back foot so you can go with a wider waist than you normally would

Weight

Borealis can be a little conservative with their recommended weight, but with this being ultra light/poppy/chattery, I’d stay closer to their recommended weight. Don’t expect sizing up to eliminate chatter. It will only slightly help.

Height

The length of the board determines the swing weight/control. If it’s short, it’s easy to spin, and if it’s longer, it floats better and can help with speed.

Boots and Bindings Response

Always factor in your boot and binding’s responsiveness to determine how well you will be able to turn/control a board.

Stance Width

Check your stance width against their reference and/or the set back stance to see if it fits you.

Personal Preference

Some prefer control, so matching the boot size to the board width is first, with weight second. Others prefer speed over control, so they size up to a wider/longer ride and have very responsive boots/bindings.

Design

Construction / Durability

When it comes to construction, this is very ultralight, but it’s at a very reasonable price.

I’m not sure how exactly they’re doing it, but they have ABS sidewalls and good edges.

This top sheet isn’t quite ideal when it comes to durability. There is some scuffing happening around the inserts. This record vinyl type thing collects wax and other stuff on top of the top sheet, but at this price I’m not going to fault it at all.

Shape & Setback

When it comes to the shape, this is very directional, very setback on board. The stance location is way back towards this swallowtail.

Just like most Snowsurfers, they’re really trying to emulate where you stand on a surfboard in the ocean.

This isn’t very tapered. Most Snowsurf boards have a ton of taper. This only has five millimeters of taper. So while you’re back on this tail, you do feel more tail behind you because of that extra width.

For me personally, I really like that. For you, it could be hit or miss, but I think most won’t mind.

On Snow Performance

Camber / On Snow Feel

There is a lot of camber going on here. It starts pretty much where the swallow ends, rises up quickly, so there’s a lot of camber over the back foot that goes well past the front foot, with early rise before this long nose.

Even though it has a beginner-intermediate price point, this is more of an advanced-expert ride. Maybe a committed intermediate willing to take some lumps like we all did back in the camber days.

This is very stable. This one-foots incredibly well off the chair. It flat bases really well down a long, flat cat track.

Because this only has five millimeters of taper, you don’t really feel that triangle feel when you’re going straight. It tracks better than most super tapered swallowtails, and I think a lot of people will appreciate this.

Of course, this has a very consistent feel in all conditions.

Edge Hold

When it comes to edge hold, there isn’t much going on with the sidecut. While I feel it’s competent, it’s not quite as much of a gripper as a lot of other Borealis boards in their line.

It’s not as damp and the edge doesn’t stay as quiet, but also there doesn’t seem to be any kind of disruption in the sidecut. Normally they have a mellow disruption. This one doesn’t.

It still handled hard snow pretty well, and it wasn’t a board where I had to really be tentative, but I couldn’t really go all out either.

So mainly for medium-hard to good snow.

Flex Personality

Let’s talk Pilot Fish flex. Here it is medium-soft. Down in the tail it’s medium-stiff, but then you go on one and it’s more medium-soft. It’s got a good bit of give.

Then between the feet there’s a little give here, but it’s close to this back part flex-wise. Then the nose is pretty soft, like so many powder-friendly Snowsurf-style fishes.

I found it was super easy to butter in the tail and the nose. And the pop—this dynamic, poppy flex—was just so easy to ollie.

Uneven Snow

When it comes to uneven snow, the Pilot Fish isn’t very good. It’s probably the worst board in Borealis’ line, but at the same time, it’s not that bad for being an ultralight by any means.

In hard, micro-bumpy snow that often sends chatter, this did a lot better than I thought. Maybe that has to do with the Kevlar in between the carbon strips going through this board.

Whatever it is, it held this board at an acceptable level to where it didn’t bother me too much.

Then in soft, uneven snow, yes, this can buck and bounce a little bit, but it held better than I thought. You definitely want to slow down though.

Switch & Park

This isn’t a great board for the park at all, but if you want to carve some pipe walls or get some air, this is going to be fine, especially for being a Snowsurfer.

You feel like you have more tail behind you.

Turning / Carving

Turn Initiation

When it comes to turning, this Pilot Fish was just a blast. I could initiate turns pretty quick with this if I wanted to do a tight tree line.

Even in slightly uneven snow, this would be fine. This would be okay in some moderately steep, tight spots, but that’s not really what these Snowsurfers are all about.

There are better boards for that, for quick turn initiation and critical steep spots.

Carving / Committed Turns

When I got this on edge and really engaged this deeper, turny sidecut, it was a blast. It was some of the best turning I had all year.

That really surprised me because usually boards like this I’m not that excited about, but this is such a flowy turner. I felt like I was turning at a much higher price point. It was so fun.

The spring out of the turn is so satisfying, and you can front-foot, center-foot or back-foot weight your turns any way you please on this board and it’s going to shine.

That’s usually uncommon for Snowsurfers. They usually favor more front-foot weighted turns or more back-foot weighted turns, but this could do it all. I really didn’t feel like I had an issue with any of them.

Turning Experience / Sidecut

It might be because of minimal taper in the tail and maybe some magic with the sidecut. Whatever’s going on, I’m not here to try to figure it out. I’m just going to have fun on it. And it’s super fun.

The kind of radius turn you can make is definitely more for circle carves and across-the-groomer carves, but medium-radius turns are very doable.

Down-the-line turns aren’t the best, but somehow this entry point into the sidecut doesn’t fight you too much, and it allows you to go straight well enough for a Snowsurf board.

Speed

When you get into really pointing it and speed, this isn’t made for that. It’s just not what it’s good for. There’s a lot of chatter and vibrations.

If you like to occasionally point it and you want a Snowsurf board, that’s the Leviathan. It’s bigger, it’s meaner, it’s faster and it’s more damp. That’s a super fun board as well.

The Pilot Fish is for those who really only straight line when they need to make a traverse or something like that.

Base Glide

When it comes to the base glide, Borealis, now that they’re out of Group 87, makes incredible bases.

I don’t feel any die cut here. I don’t know what they’re doing, but I love it.

These bases hold their wax well and glide very well, even though they’re not even the high-end bases.

I just really like them and don’t mind this weird rub-on wax that I have.

Powder

When it comes to powder float, like I’ve said in almost every review, I took out the Leviathan first, hoping that I might have time for the Pilot Fish. But it was tracked up in less than a half an hour.

I just know this is going to be a very good floater. If it’s lower angle, I definitely want to be on the Leviathan. But if this is medium angle or it’s a tree day, I want to size down from that 164 Leviathan and go with the 160 Pilot Fish.

You’ve got such a huge cutout in the swallowtail, so there’s very little surface area behind you in powder. This is just going to sink super easy.

Then you have this big floating nose with kind of an interesting little point that almost seems like it has a little bit of curve to it. At the very tip, it seems like it’s going to help with that turning experience.

Then you have a little early rise before this nose, and while there’s a lot of camber, you’re very setback and you have mini-disc-compatible setback inserts, basically six by two, with one setback 20 mil apart instead of 40.

So they work with full-size, medium, or mini discs. When you’re this far back, it should just float like a champ.

Final Thoughts & Joe’s Take

Final Thoughts

Overall, this board really surprised me. It’s super fun. It’s a very reasonable price, and while it’s chattery and bucky, it’s manageable for an ultralight.

I think a lot of people on a budget, especially advanced-expert riders that want a really good Snowsurf board and they want some of that Gentemstick and Moss feel, but at a reasonable price, you have the Pilot Fish.

Highly recommendable, super fun ride.

Joe’s Take

This Borealis Pilot Fish really impressed me, and I’m not really a swallow tail guy.

How Joe Tested It

I’m five foot six, 125 pounds, and wear a size 7.5 Deeluxe Edge Pro boot.

I’m typically not the biggest fan of swallowtail snowboards because I like the extra landing gear of a blunted tail, even on my powder boards. I like the ability to take the powder boards out, even on days that it didn’t just snow, to carve those groomers.

I do like being able to throw the board around switch, and anytime I’m on a swallowtail, I’m always a little less confident looking down at what looks like a fork stabbing it in the snow compared to a knife slicing through it.

But I did not catch my edge at any point on this thing when I did throw it around switch.

Let me tell you, it does provide a really cool effect. It’s such a cool feeling when you know there’s no question everybody on the mountain knows you’re riding that board backwards.

Not only does it look cool on the ground, but in the air it looks really cool as well. Once you get this thing up into the air and you’ve got that swallowtail flying, it just looks like a fish out of water.

Tons of fun. Really cool.

As I mentioned, while the board is not something I would typically invest in for my personal quiver, I later learned that this board comes in at only $471, and that immediately made me reconsider.

This board felt very premium when I was riding it, so knowing I can add a really fun quiver board at a reasonable price point makes it extremely tempting, even for me.

If you love swallowtail shapes, you have to give this one a try.

I preserved the transcript’s testing limitations rather than turning the powder observations into tested claims, and kept Joe’s separate take under Final Thoughts.