The AllWave is the ‘stubby’ of Fanatic’s two dedicated wave ranges. Although nominally only 3 litres smaller than last year’s smallest 75L, this year’s 72 is actually a ‘full size’ down, being 2cm narrower overall, and much narrower in tail and nose. It thus provides the much sought after ‘smaller stubby’ option that has been so absent in previous years. In most other respects though it’s very similar to last year’s AllWaves, featuring the same relatively high-rockered hull with single concave, which this year stretches right back to the tail.

On the Water: The board takes a fair bit of wind before unsticking, but then accelerates very quickly. It’s a ‘low grip’ board, feeling very loose and requiring considerable bearing away and not too heavy a back foot when heading out. However, it does feel quite secure on the back foot when carving up to a wave. Once up to speed it gives a very smooth and relatively composed ride, feeling very ready to manoeuvre. It is an extremely easy and snappy gybing board but it’s relatively hard to keep speed up through a wider arc if there’s any chop.Tight gybes with loss of momentum are the norm unless helped by swell or flat water. It’s delightful to ride, giving very smooth and redirectable bottom turns and lovely top turns, but we found that it prefers to have quite a bit of power and was prone to stalling when marginally powered.

Fittings: The Fanatic pads are quite thick and domed but also quite smooth. This was appreciated by some for comfort but felt to lack grip by others. The G10 fin and Fanatic straps both worked very well, though the narrow strap inserts can tend to wedge wider feet and restrict strap entry and exit, necessitating the use of offset fixings. Popularity:Much liked and even considered as a potential purchase by a couple of the testers, but its smaller size and loose, slidey nature meant it was not to everyone’s taste.

Overall: A relatively small, low grip, single concave board. It’s principally a ridingbiassed board though still a very decent all-rounder, better suited to the more competent wavesailor. It will best suit either relatively light sailors (65-75kg) as a ‘one waveboard’ option or be a smaller of two for medium-weights (75-85kg). It has a very light, loose, pivotal feel underfoot that we found particularly appealing.