Duotone Select Vs Jaime

So you’re looking to pick up your next board. You’ve looked around and heard good things about the Duotone twintips. Supposedly they are lighter, snappier and unique on the water. You went online, did some research and came across a few models. They all look good but you’re just not sure what one is the right choice for you.

As you run through all the product descriptions you’re bombarded with words like high performance. The ultimate pop, unmatched torsional flex. You’re probably thinking the same thing as me. ARE YOU KIDDING? Just tell me where the board stacks up. Enough with the hype.

For sure a bit of hype is fun when talking gear but after a while it gets exhausting and leaves you no more informed than before you came. We’ve done a few videos on the Jamie now but I wanted to do a candid comparison on two boards in the Duotone line up that you might be mulling over. The Select, the Jaime and their carbon counterparts.  We’ll start with what these boards are.

The Select & Select Textreme

The Select is a freeride board, the Select Textreme is a performance freeride board. To clear this up, freeride is another way of saying all-around. It does most things well but doesn’t excel on the highest level in any niche. It’s also usually a cue for the most comfortable board in the line up. In this case, that stands true for the Select.

Select

The standard select is going to be the best option for riders who want a comfortable ride and jump big. Its best for choppy conditions, people concerned with keeping landings soft on the body. It’s a very efficient shape meaning, it gets on plane easy. This is nice for experienced kiteboarders in lighter winds. It's also important for new kiteboarders.

It’s a quick efficient board with medium flex. Unlike many boards in the freeride category the select has decent grip via the channels. This is important for jumping. The faster you can go, the higher you can jump. The more grip the board has, the better you can hold your edge with speed to create line tension needed to jump. Lastly, the medium flex impacts the energy you can load and release into the board. All that said, the select takes a middle of the road approach giving you a good amount of performance without trading off any comfort.

Select Textreme

Take everything good about the Select and bump it up a notch. It's faster, stiffer and snappier. Yet, it maintains soft landings, and it's a more comfortable ride in the chop.  The stiffer flex allows the rider to load more energy into the board for bigger air too. 

The first time I tried it, I was taken aback by how smooth it was in the water. It jumped really well but I noticed it didn’t quite have the light snappy feel of the Jaime Textreme.

As for comfort, it made a huge difference in the chop. Strangely, often boards that are more comfortable in chop have a damp feel. The materials of this board keep a light connected responsive feel on the water. It just does a great job dispersing the energy with the flex, channeling and the materials.

The Bad.

If you’re a high performance rider, who doesn't care about comfort, the soft flex absorbs some of the energy from your pop. This is only going to impact high level riders pushing their personal limits and even then only minimally.  

The key takeaways

• Designed for comfort and performance
• Medium to soft flex takes less energy 
• Damper ride for the chop and landings
• More efficient so it’s easy to get speed needed for a jump 
• Gives you an advantage in lighter winds

The Jaime & Jaime Textreme 

The Jaime is a freestyle board and the Jaime Textreme is the high performance version. Freeestyle means the board is designed for speed, powerful pops. It has a track like grip on the water and can hold a lot of speed. This is aimed at riders who want a little something extra for doing tricks. Hooked and unhooked.

It’s similar to the Select in some ways but built for a rider who doesn’t mind giving up some comfort for a performance increase. The Jaime has a medium flex similar to the select Textreme. While the Jaime Textreme has a stiff flex. For perspective, the Jaime is the most chosen board amongst the crew at MACkite. 

Jaime Textreme 

The Jaime Textreme is something special. It’s not perfect for everyone but I would boldly say this is the best foot strap board available. I first tried the Jaime Textreme in 2017 down in Key West while filming Blake Olsen's early videos. Before that I had been riding mostly in boots and on heavier more rockered boards. The Jaime Textreme had become a shop favorite at the time and I instantly understood why.

The best way to describe the feel on the water is fast light and poppy. It has an effortless almost weightless feel. It's more of a locked in ride but you can get a ton of speed and maintain control. Its stiff underfoot allowing you to load a ton of energy into the board. The softer tips and tails help with absorbing impact from chop but maybe more important, it seems that they snap you off the water when you pop. Similar to snowboards with snappy tails. You really feel it snap you off the water.

The bad

The Jaime might be a bit much if you have bad knees or back issues. I’ve always found it comfortable in the chop but I know our shop ambassador Hilary really felt the impact her back if that gives you perspective. Basically if you're in good shape with no joint issues, you’re going to love it. If you have joint issues you might want something softer. Of all the performance boards I’ve used the Jaime Textreme is for sure the softest. I’ve used a few that actually have a bit more pop as well but the Jaime TXT seems to have hit the sweet spot.

If you are looking for something softer, that's where the Select or even the Jaime come into play. They will be similar but softer in general.

Go for the Jaime Textreme if all out performance is your aim. Go for the Jaime if you want to save a buck and lose a bit of the light poppy feel.

Go for the Select Textreme if you want a more relaxed ride that easy on the body yet still works great for tricks and opt for the select for what is one of the best feeling freeride boards on the water.

Ryan (Rygo) Goloversic

Many people dream of quitting their job, traveling the world and pursuing their passions. Rygo is one of those people who pulled the trigger. A few years into his career, he decided to change everything and travel as a kiteboarder, freelance videographer & writer. His mission is to share the stoke & help people put the boarding into their kiteboarding. Get outside and kite!

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Producer of: Ride with Blake I Sessions I Versus I Destinations I Foil Fridays