DUOTONE SESSION SLS 5’10

The Session is Duotone’s big wave board. Sky Solbach has been hard at work developing it this year to widen its audience and application, to make it more suitable for average conditions but at the same time retain that giant slaying performance when the stars align.

The construction is absolutely exquisite and more than justifies the price tag with a lot of luxurious tech on full display. The board has a generous Innegra wrap and is tough as old boots to the usual transport knocks. For a high-end board, it is refreshing to have something you don’t need to be too precious of. The deck has a cork layer to smooth out vibrations, which genuinely seems to deaden any jarring you may experience smashing through chop; combine this with a gentle double into single concave in the hull, and it equates to a very comfortable board to get around on. Fins wise, five boxes are present, allowing you to choose between a quad and thruster. A subtle recessed thumb grip in the deck runs down the rail which makes the board practical to carry, and if you did want to paddle the Session SLS, which is perfectly feasible in the right conditions, it would make duck diving that little bit easier.

The rounded pin tail makes a great job of control, and releases its fins predictably at speed on a big top turn. Outline wise it is definitely airing on the side of a mini gun with a relatively narrow mid-point and quite pronounced nose rocker. All the attributes point towards a board that is geared for larger wave conditions, and it performs even better than you would expect.

The Session holds speed exceptionally well through the bottom turn and can produce some serious G-force and ludicrous spray. You can load a lot of power into those fins, and it arcs around with more grip in far tighter radiuses than you would expect. For massive carving speed turns in conditions of consequence, the Session SLS seems steady footed and confidence inspiring.