The Hovercraft from Jones Snowboards is a directional rocker board. Jones itself defines this as a hybrid rocker/camber profile: lots of tip rocker, camber between the bindings and some tail rocker. It has a long "blunt nose"(nose design with maximized surface area) and a short swallow tail. With a taper of only 1.1cm, the nose is not as pronounced as on other pure powder boards (e.g. 3cm on the Fish), and the setback is not exaggerated at 2.9cm.
The center width of 26cm is quite wide, so that larger feet also have room. As a split, it is equipped with a Voile hole stitch and Karakoram clips. Jones offers its own skins with Quick Tension Tailclip.
Test conditions
I tested the Hovercraft in size 156cm with the universal skins. In the 15/16 winter season, I almost exclusively used the Hovercraft to experience the board in as many conditions as possible. In total, we spent around 40 days on tour and 5 days on the slopes. At the end of the season, I switched back to a camber board. I chose the Hovercraft in the medium size, but with a riding weight of around 80 kg including equipment, it is at the limit for me. On a multi-day tour with a lot of luggage, it barely got out of the snow and through the wind crusts. However, the conditions were really poor at times.
Riding characteristics
Powder: The board is super floaty, the nose stays up and the back leg closes less when the board is not in a very inverted position. Due to the short tail, turns can be made by "stirring" with the back foot. The board is convincing in fluffy snow. Since I rarely ride bigturns at high speed, I cannot evaluate the behavior (Jones himself states for the board: "conditionally-suitable for speed demons").
Steep and narrow: In addition to powder, narrow and steep descents are the terrain where the board can show off its strengths. On the one hand, turns can be lifted over the nose: Load forward, lift the tail, turn. In addition, the edge can be changed directly via the tail, allowing you to turn 180° almost on the spot.
Hard snow: The edge hold on hard snow is less than with a classic camber board. The long nose tends to flutter, carved turns are only possible to a limited extent. The hold comes mainly from the stiffer tail and the camber between the bindings. Most of the weight is on the back foot and finding the balance takes some getting used to. However, when wind gapping and sastrugi on the snow surface are added to the mix, the soft and flexible nose helps to prevent blending. In typical touring/freeride terrain, the Hovercraft performs very well, but there are better boards for ski areas and spring conditions.
Traverses: Long traverses are tiring, as the rear leg holds the tension to maintain height. It is practically impossible to switch to Switch.
Ascending/descending: The board can be ridden short with a clear conscience, it doesn't always have to be the 2m tanker. The advantage of this is that it is light underfoot and turns can be made without much effort. The disadvantages are the wide and soft nose - the edge hold of the valley ski on the ascent is weak and crampons must therefore be used earlier. Especially in spring conditions, the ascent is relatively difficult. Another disadvantage is the high flex of the individual ski halves. Instead of gliding forward, a lot of ascent energy is lost in a "wave track". This is particularly noticeable at the end of the day on long, untracked valley hikes in ski mode back to the starting point.
"Mellow Magne-Traction" has been added to the inner and outer edges of the 2016/17 season model to improve edge hold.
