Lieuwe Shotgun

Having tested the Lieuwe Rogue earlier in the year – which is a pretty accessible freeride board that we really enjoyed – it was now time to put something a bit more serious from the Lieuwe range through its paces. The Shotgun, as the name suggests, is designed to go fast, and it is designed to go high… This is the high speed Big Air member of the family and its objective is to get you flying high and heading up the WOO rankings.

The Shotgun is 3D shaped for maximum speed and the deeper channels and single concave suggest that this is a board ready to generate some serious speed. The lighter weight – as with all of the Lieuwe boards we have tested – is impressive and I challenge anyone to dispute that these are some great looking boards. As we said with the Rogue, the custom made footpads and straps fit very comfortably with a nice locked in feel and plenty of support in the right places.

Heading onto the water, and the first thing to say about the Shotgun is that is a supremely comfortable board to ride around – it feels like it’s on rails. The single concave and slightly pulled in tips result in a real chop-busting board that enables you to turn on the juice without worrying about getting caught out… When it comes to doing what the Shotgun really wants to do – which is head for the clouds – the Shotgun has plenty of grip so that you can really hang on to the edge, and then a nice smooth release as you pop up. Once you’re airborne (and assuming you’re going for some serious height) the lightness of the Shotgun really plays into your favor and the straps give you plenty of confidence that the board is going to continue its journey with you. Landings are then smooth and not too slappy, with enough forgiveness to save your knees. So it works for Big Air. But it is also super fun for more general freeride riding and we found it excellent fun in choppy waves, the single concave delivers a fantastic amount of drive and the slightly rounder outline gives you plenty to drive off to kick up plenty of spray.

In a sentence: The Shotgun is a board worthy of its name: it’s a very fast board on the water, which translates well into a very fast board going up into the sky, WOO beware…