Trip Forman: Welcome to the REAL Board Loft. I’m Trip Forman. Today we’re going to be talking about the JS Big Baron. This is a Big Baron 7’0”, and it’s in their Carbotune construction, which is new for this year. Previously, it was offered in their PU blank with epoxy glassing, which were the ones that are out there that are all white.
This one is new for ’25, and it is the Carbotune, which is an EPS core and the fiberglass-carbon layup for the construction. What that does is basically produce a lighter board, a little bit more spring, a little bit more reactive, and a little bit more durable on the deck—or actually significantly more durable on the deck.
Any of the boards that you’re seeing with these layups, the reason they’re going with them is for durability, breakage-wise, and then also durability on the deck, to hold the deck together and still have a light board. If you go with a really heavy blank and a really substantial glass schedule, you can make the deck durable, but then you’re going to have a brick that is horrible, that doesn’t flex, that feels bad forever.
The goal in a board like this is to make a board that’s light and still has the spring and the rebound out of the turns, but holds up on the deck. The Carbotune is definitely doing that. I’ve had a bunch of sessions on this thing, surfed it for 10 days down in PR. No significant denting. There’s a little bit under my back foot, just a tiny little bit, but not nearly as much as what would be on a PU/Poly.
Everybody always wants to know the dims. There’s two 7’0”s in the Big Baron line: there’s a more-volume 7’0” and a less-volume 7’0”. This is the bigger of the two. It’s 7’0” × 21¾” × 3”, 48.7 liters. Plenty of float, especially for the grovel or for catching the bigger waves way out the back.
I could definitely ride either one of the 7’0”s. Initially, I thought the smaller 7’0” was kind of tiny, but now that I’ve ridden this board, I would definitely consider getting it for a little bit more performance in the turns. Where this thing really excelled was just the ease of catching waves, the glide across flat spots, small-wave performance, and wave count. At that higher volume, all did really well.
As far as the overall performance of this board, I would say probably the best way to describe it is like a performance fish, but with a rounded pin and more vertical performance twins. You get the drive and the down-the-line projection and the linear speed of a fish, but you have the ability to go more vertical than a fish and have the board be more maneuverable than the fish, and also more hold because of the pin tails.
The vertical twin fins do that, the pin tail does that, and then also the high-end construction is always going to help with all of that. They recommend a larger, more upright R-style twin, so I’m using the Futures ENs.
One thing that I’m still baffled by, and I’m not really sure why they haven’t done it earlier, is the leash bar. When you look at the tail of this board, rather than having a leash plug that you then put a leash string through—which 99.9% of the people out there make their leash string too long, and then it wraps around the tail and eventually rips through the tail—this has what’s called the leash bar, and your leash goes through here directly. No leash string.
What that does is reduce the fail point of the leash string, and it also takes away everyone’s ability to make those things too long for one reason or another, which eventually causes cracks in the tail, tail cancer, and eventually the whole thing ripping through the tail. That leash bar is awesome.
We’re really excited about Big Barons being available in Carbotune because we know how popular this board is, and especially how popular it is in the bigger sizes. It’s exponential how much weight and performance you gain in those bigger sizes with a high-tech construction like this.
Small waves, works great. Everyday waves also work. Because of the hold and tail design on this board, it’ll hold in some good waves as well. So it’s the Big Baron from JS in Carbotune.
If you’re looking at the Big Baron, but you’re also considering the El Baron, and you’re going one or the other, not both—because actually both makes a really good quiver, because this would be your smaller-wave board or your flatter-faced, mushy-wave board, and the El Baron would be your board for more powerful surf. That board’s definitely more leaned out in the nose and the tail, and thinner rails.
Just be realistic about where you’re going to be surfing the board and where the majority of the sessions are going to happen. If it’s small waves or mushy waves that don’t have a lot of power, regardless of their size, this board has the ability to generate crazy speed.
The El Baron is more about control. That board is a much more neutral board, and it has the ability to handle higher speeds and be in full control, where you can really push. I really like them both, and, like I said, as a quiver, it would make a really good two-board quiver.
But if you’re just getting one, that’s the input that we would give here: go Big Baron for the small or the mush, and go El Baron for the good waves and the juice.
Any questions on this board or any other board that JS offers, or if you’d like to place an order for one, you can always reach us at the shop, 252-987-6000, or look us up online, realwatersports.com. Thanks for tuning in.
