Shinn Absinthe Prismatic Kiteboard 2023

Key Features

Spray:
No spray, ever, no matter how choppy, no matter what your stance is, what your carving position, where you place your pads; it’s gone, completely. The Absinthe has cured it using only limited rocker curve, so it’s still efficient with a wide windrange.

Chop:

The flex, grip and ease of the Absinthe makes it a total joy in chop. Whether you are riding in 6 metre kite conditions, the Absinthe makes it easy, relaxed and fun.

Confidence:
It’s a board that you can push to the ragged edge of control, without ever feeling nervous or hesitant. The first thing to come unstuck is never your stance or balance!

Even-Foot Pressure:
Every twin tip board suffers from back foot loading, but some twin tips have to be ridden with excessive back foot pressure, either to stop the nose from burying when things get out of shape, or to stop you getting spray in your face. The Absinthe is a joy, it feels so solid underfoot that you can shift you weight around a great deal – even 50-50 when you are tired. Ride it hour after hour and your sessions will be so much fun!

Carving:
Toeside carving on a twin is always going to be tenuous. Heelside carving is better than many directional boards. Not only does it grip through the turn, without ever feeling like it’s going to pop out (the more you push the deeper into the water it sinks), but it stores so much speed – when you come out of the most aggressive of carves you are still really travelling. It’s incredible round corners.

Straight-Line Stability:
The rocker is naturally very stable with any outline, but the Absinthe outline proved to be even more stable and efficient. It encourages you to push faster and harder until you can push no more. So effortless to ride; so trusting that in a straight line it never comes unstuck, which makes it perfect for experts and intermediates alike.

Pop:
The ability of the board to heel-side carve without losing speed makes it excellent for wake style pop, as well as having plenty of traditional pop. Hardcore freestyle is easily within it’s grasp but for everyone who does not spend half their session unhooked the Absinthe is a far superior board for multidiscipline freestyle.

Choosing your board size:
Whilst many riders still look at the length of the board when choosing their size it’s much more relevant to look at the width. The length of the board can be affected by the shaping of the tip and tail – which in reality plays no part in the performance of the board.

To clarify the situation further the difference in surface area between a 130×40 and a 130×42 is approximately 260cm2 whilst increasing the length of a 130×40 to 135×40 would give an increase in surface area of less than 200cm2 – nearly 25% less!

Fins:
All Shinn twin tips are now sold supplied without fins. The recommended fin size, 43mm or 53mm will be shown on our site and is drawn from Shinn. The Shinn Bite Fins are high visibility (Yellow) Nylon with aluminium deck protection cup plates. Shaped exclusively for Shinn (for unsurpassed durability), the 43mm and 53mm shaping provides exceptional grip for size whilst still offering great manoeuvrability.

Core Construction:
What’s inside your board will make a huge difference to how it performs. There is a lot of talk about flex but the mount of flex is just the tip of the iceberg, what”s more important is where the board flexes and how fast it responds after that flex.

Each Shinn twin tip has a carefully engineered core that optimises these characteristics and enhances them for the target rider. Core materials, glass layup and mould shaping are all factors that help us in this area but the heart of every Shinn twin tip is comprised ‘mostly’ of an Paulownia wood core.

No other core material offers the same blend of consistent flex over extended periods of time, feather light weight and near indestructible durability (not to mention environmental friendliness).

Squoval Mould Shaping:
The Squoval mould accurately controls the flex through the tail and the balanced outline provides grip whilst allowing for high speed turns but all new is the adaption of the exaggerated constant curve rocker first seen on the Absinthe and a revised global flex pattern that cushions your ride without sacrificing performance.

The Shinn Absinthe uses a variation on a constant curve rocker through out it’s length. Some years ago this rocker would have been considered to be slow to plane and poor upwind but advances in flex control, concave hull shapes and of course kites now mean it can be used to provide un-paralleled control, limitless grip and completely spray free riding in all conditions.

The 3D shaping of the deck moulds on all Shinn boards is a blend of functionality and form. The entire tail section of the board is allowed to flex in a pre-determined manner ensuring constant contact with the water and shock absorption for the rider even in the choppiest conditions whilst the central ridges reduce the torsional flex providing a surprising amount of POP for a free-ride board.

Constant Curve Rocker and Outline:

Some years ago this rocker would have been considered to be slow to plane and poor at getting upwind but advances in flex control, concave hull shapes and of course kites now mean it can be used to provide un-paralleled control, limitless grip and completely spray free riding in all conditions.

The outline of your board works in conjunction with the rocker to define the way it will perform.

In freestyle – this outline style features more curve radius between the feet leading into straighter, larger diameter curves in the tip and tail. On the water this translates into strong edge grip, aggressive POP and fast turning when applying pressure equally through both feet.