CORE Roamer S

CORE have been concentrating efforts on expanding their wingfoil lineup for 2024 with their existing Roamer range catering brilliantly for beginners and intermediates, and they felt something more high performance was required to complement it and the generally rapid progression in riders’ abilities.

The Roamer S is an altogether more purposeful proposition, with sleeker lines and a more surf-shaped nose, dispensing of the necessity for high levels of surface stability for outright performance. Four sizes have been developed – two dedicated sinkers in 38 and 45l along with two more generously proportioned variants in 63 and 78l.

Manufacturing has been carried out close (ish) to home in Portugal and it’s a full carbon vacuum infused layup build around a closed cell foam core. This well-proven construction results in excellent rigidity, favorable weight and the very high-end finish you’d expect from a board manufactured in Europe.

Fixtures and fittings are excellent, with a comfortable and grippy EVA pad sporting a gentle placed slope at the tail and on the front foot helping you locate your foot positions easily and making you feel extra planted in the board. Sturdy threaded M6 foot strap inserts run in a Y configuration with plenty of options for stance and orientation. The flexibility in placement here combined with a longer than normal foil box allows you to easily trim everything into a harmonious balance with the foil. A recessed grab area runs down the edge of the board, allowing you to control the board underwater, important in a sinker shape. Twin board leash points recessed into the tail mean that the Roamer S is not going to escape you easily. A handle point is placed in a well-balanced position in front of the long US track box.

The nose is quite pointed and looks like it means business, with a gentle double concave and central spine in the front third of the hull running into a flatter section in the mid-section. A narrow tail with a gently angled kick running from behind the foil box combine well with convex rails shedding and releasing water well.

Underfoot the Roamer S lives up to its design intention, with a delightfully direct connection to the foil and low swing weight making even the larger sizes feel extremely agile. This in turn is helped with the shape of the deck, with that skateboard-like slope in the front and rear. The narrow tail means banking a tight turn and nothing catches. The touchdown and landing forces are well mitigated by the concave in the nose, but this isn’t so large it sucks to the water and compromises early takeoff.

The two higher volume sizes are a sensible addition to the lineup making excellent first step down boards for those that have overcome the wobbly static phase of wingfoiling we all initially endure. For heavier riders, or those that like a bit of float to suit harsher conditions these should be the go-to, with the smaller two shapes handling out-and-out sinker performance in ideal conditions and crossing over into some prone use without much fuss.

A reactive versatile board which seems to excel in both wave and freestyle, for the more rounded rider with ambition to progress in both fields, the Roamer S is an inspired choice, and the robust construction will handle anything you can throw at it with grace.