A big air setup is not a different kind of board with a different logo on it. It is a set of choices about how the board holds an edge, how your feet connect to it, and how much of what you push actually reaches the water.
Here is what each part does, and how to decide what you need.
The board: stiff, not necessarily small
The instinct is to go smaller. The more useful variable is stiffness.
When you edge hard before a send, the board bends. A soft board absorbs that load and gives it back slowly and late. It feels comfortable and forgiving, and it turns your pop into a mush. A stiff board stores the same energy and releases it fast, at the moment you extend your legs.
This is why carbon shows up on big air boards. Full carbon lamination is stiff and, more importantly, it returns energy quickly. A wood core underneath, and paulownia is common because it is light and lively, takes the harshness off the landing without giving away the pop.
Our Hurakan is built exactly on that combination: carbon lamination over a paulownia core, for explosive release with landings you can still walk away from.
On size: go down one step from your all-round board if you ride in consistently strong wind. If your local conditions are marginal, keep the area. A big board you can load properly beats a small board you cannot get up to speed.
Fins: grip, not speed
Fins are the most misunderstood part of a big air setup, because riders think about them in terms of speed. Their real job is bite.
Everything in a big jump depends on the board resisting while the kite pulls. If the tail slides even slightly during the load-up, tension bleeds away and you send into a jump that is already half-empty. Fins are what stop that slide.
Three things actually matter:
- Shape. An inward-curved fin holds water against the rail as you drive upwind, rather than letting it spill off the side. More grip for the same depth.
- Position. Mounted out on the rail, a fin engages as soon as you tip the board on edge. Mounted inboard, it only bites once you are already well over.
- Material. High-grade nylon flexes enough to survive hitting something and stays that way through UV exposure and saltwater. Cheap plastic goes brittle in a season.
Check hole spacing before you buy. Most fin boxes are 38 mm centre to centre, but confirm it on your own board rather than assuming. Our Airboost Edge fins are 12 x 5 cm with 38 mm spacing and ship with the M5 screws.
One warning: a few dedicated big air riders go finless or near-finless for the looser, more release-prone feel in loops. That is a specific choice for advanced riders who want the board to break free predictably. If you are trying to jump higher, it is the wrong direction. Go for more grip, not less.
Pads and straps: the part that leaks energy
This is where most setups lose the most, and where riders look last.
When you extend your legs against the board at the pop, the force travels foot to strap to deck to water. Any slack in that chain becomes movement instead of height. A strap that lets your foot shift even a centimetre turns a sharp push into a soft one.
What to look for:
- Multiple adjustment points. Two straps with four points of adjustment let you tighten across the instep and the toes independently. One strap with one buckle cannot wrap different foot shapes properly.
- Enough neoprene. Around 4 mm is the sweet spot: enough to damp landing impact, not so much that it compresses and turns spongy under load.
- Heel padding. Landings load the heel hard. Memory foam there is the difference between a full session and stopping early because your feet hurt.
Set them up properly, on the water, not in the car park. Ride, land two or three jumps, adjust, repeat. Your foot sits differently under load than it does standing still.
Our pads and straps use dual velcro straps with four adjustment points, 4 mm neoprene and a memory foam heel, for exactly these reasons.
The handle: not just for grabs
A grab handle earns its place in two ways. The obvious one is style: most big air tricks include a grab, and a handle gives you a reliable place to reach for.
The less obvious one is recovery. When you lose the board in strong wind, a handle is what lets you get hold of it quickly instead of chasing a loose edge with cold hands.
Two things decide whether a handle survives: internal reinforcement, and matching your board hole spacing exactly. We covered both in our handle size guide. The short version is measure centre to centre between your inserts, expect something between 16 and 22 cm, and do not over-torque the screws.
Putting it together
If you are building a setup from scratch, spend in this order:
- Pads and straps first. They affect every single jump and are the cheapest fix for the biggest leak.
- Fins second. Inexpensive, and they change how much load you can build before the send.
- Board third. The biggest cost and the smallest marginal gain until your technique is loading it properly.
- Handle whenever you start grabbing. Add it when you need it.
The setup will not jump for you. But it will stop quietly stealing the energy you are already putting in, and for most riders that is worth more metres than a new board.