After having meeting the Awake team at the boot show of Dusseldorf in 2019, we have been in close contact the following month and we decided to make a demo of the Awake Ravïk our rental spot www.e-surfer.fr at the lake of Serre-Ponçon in the South Alpes.
Finally we met in Juan les Pins, French Riviera for some logistics aspects.
The Awake Team was composed of Louise, Frederik and Erik the photographer.
They are really nice people, making feeling you confident with the board, and very friendly. The Awake Ravïk looks no other board on the market ! It is pure jewellery. You can feel it while watching it, but also when you touch it. It is made of strong carbon shell, and as Fred told me, they have put in it all the best componants of the market. My first impression is that the board is really small <180 cm. But I am used to the Carver.
Louise who is coaching me has set-up the Xtrem Mode, the most powerfull one…
To be honnest I feel that my heart is bumping hard : this is stress… I was sure that this machine was too powerfull and would play some mad tricks.
We leave the shore slowly to join the play ground area, 300m away from the shore.
Pushing the trigger to get some power… OMG !!!! The accelaration is so crazy !!
It is pushing really hard ! The nose of the board takes off out of the water, like a motor bike making a wheeling ! So the idea, before standing up on the board, is to learn how to manage the throttle smoothly to control the power. Once this step is ok, after several minutes, standing-up is funny ! The board is so small that you don’t know where to place your feets on the board.
At the first attempt the board was having a pad so there was less place. We finaly decided to quite the pad to help me to find the place for my feet.
Once this was done, standing-up has been much more easy, and I started to ride smoothly… Smoothly but still with a lot of fear concerning the unsuspected reserve of power that was still available !
Check : I push the throttle at max, and the board just swype from my feet and leave me alone in the water ! It has been so fast that I did not understood what happened !
When you push the throttle , push also on your front foot in order to minimize the take-off of the nose and keep the board in the water !
This kind of power set-up is clearly not for every body – you need some practise. But you can start with a lower level of power set-up. Awake has a smartphone app that is easy to use and ease the power set-up. After having playing like that during about 20 min, it was time to reach the shore. Fine for me, I was tired off falling, swimming and get back to the board. I must confess that I have been falling so many times ! I was used to Carver riding, which is very smooth compared to the Ravïk.
In a few words : the Awake Ravïk is a pure Rocket and is made like a jewellery. You can be afraid when it’s your first ride, if you set-up the Xtrem mode ! it is really Xtrem!
After a few minutes, I was totally in loved with the swedish board. I would have loved to keep riding, but it was time to leave.
Every board should be like a Ravïk.
I LIKED :
- The shape and the design
- The big stator noozle which is proof of high power
- The POWER of the jet !!!
- The Awake team of course
I LIKED LESS :
- When I hear the price of a spare battery (but too reach this power… less would be magic)
- The throttle trigger. you really need to get used to adjust te throttle with your thumb finger.
