By Steve Gottlieb (2nd. April, 2006)
The first Kona longboard arrived in the USA and we have been busy putting it to the test. I was more excited about this board arriving than any board in a long time. Sometimes when you look forward to something so much you end up disappointed when you actually get it. After spending some time with this board I can say that it has more than met all my expectations.
When the board arrived John and I took it to the beach and saw that the wind was straight on shore at about two knots with 2 to 3 foot surf. The first test was to try some stand up paddle surfing. This is a sport that neither of us have done and learning in 2 to 3 foot surf is not ideal.
The wind came up to about 3 knots so we rigged a 6.8 Cuben fiber Phantom. Once we got a boom in our hands we could quickly feel the potential of the board. We were able to catch a few waves even in the less than ideal conditions. The next day Eddy and Josh from Windsurfing magazine came over and we had a little better conditions. We went to the inside of Ponce Inlet and rigged the 6.8 again. With the daggerboard down in 6 to 8 knots the board railed and glided right along. The full EVA deck with no obstructions was really comfortable on bare feet. It brought me back to a simpler time in windsurfing when cruising was just tons of fun. It was not long before we were breaking out those old rail ride tricks. The only difference now is we have an EVA rail so no more shin scrapes. We rigged up a 9.5 to see if it would plane and it did for short periods of time. I think 10 knots will be needed to fully plane all the time.
We then took the board across to the beach where we had side-on conditions in about 8 knots of wind. We put the 6.8 back on and put a 32 cm freeride fin on as well. 
We looked down wind and there was a guy trying to make a 20 meter kite work with no success. Before long Eddy was catching waves and riding both upwind and down in conditions that most of us would never windsurf in. Once you catch a wave it feels like a giant longboard but totally surfable . When we started packing up we remarked how lucky we were to score such a good day. Eight knots of on shore wind was never a good day till the Kona arrived. I am convinced that I rode the future of light wind windsurfing and its is called the Kona One.
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