Tkb Review: 2021 DUOTONE Fish SLS

Sizes Available: 5’1″ x 18 3/4″ x 2 1/8” – 22.4L, 5’3″ x 19 1/4″ x 2 5/16” – 25.6L, 5’5″ x 19 3/4″ x 2 1/2″ – 29.3L
Sizes Tested: 5’3” x 19 1/4” x 2 5/16” 25.6L

Duotone Says:

The Pro Fish set a new benchmark for what a light wind, small wave board should be capable of. For 2021 Sky Solbach has been working on a new construction and an updated shape that results in the Fish SLS. It’s going to be the choice of pro riders when the wind is light, and the waves aren’t firing down the line.

This year the outline curve has been modified to further enhance the maneuverability and agility of the board in small waves. This means you can rip top to bottom turns with more speed and aggression than ever before. The SLS construction makes the board even lighter, which improves the low-end capabilities. Performance is branded into the boards DNA, and as the waves pick up in size, it is designed to handle the conditions. From one to six-foot, the Fish SLS is an absolute ripper, the wide nose develops lots of speed, and the flat rocker generates power even in the weakest of sets. Many riders have found the Fish SLS became their go-to board no matter what the conditions, the mix of a retro shape with a thoroughly modern twist make it a heady combination. No matter what the wind and waves are doing, get a ride on the Fish SLS, and you’ll be spoilt forever.

Visit for more info: www.duotonesports.com/kiteboarding/boards/surfboards/fish-sls/

TKB Says:

Watching a product tester take the Fish SLS for a spin is a very obvious and self-evident sight, the review seems to wear itself on the rider’s sleeve. Expanding minds and opening up riding styles in a way that is almost super-natural, the Fish makes it almost impossible for a tester to come back without a huge smile and a shining grin. It’s the epitome of a fun board that will push your riding in new directions.

The Duotone Fish only comes in one construction and that’s the light SLS construction (think “team construction” from years past), with its carbon Innegra weave, vacuum epoxy construction, carbon beam and cork shock absorber deck. The Fish came with Duotone’s TS-M fins and a corduroy stomp pad in the back with our choice of skipping the optional front deck pad for wax. The Fish’s bottom features a single channel with centerline soft spine and a more subtle fish-like outline. It seems as if the wide point has been pulled farther back and the tail has the standard fish shape with tight rails leading forward to where even in the mid-section the rails are fairly thin, which is probably some of the secret sauce for how this board magically balances performance against range and usability. The deck has a good amount of dome with a routed-out indent along the rails that make a great hand-hold for strapless airs. There’s a bit of extra foam in the wide shape, but the SLS construction does a great job of keeping the weight down, probably leading to this board’s high-performance feel. That wider template gives you a ton of surface area and the rocker feels fairly flat and accelerates quickly for underpowered riding while not making hurting the ease of turn initiation. While the rocker and wide outline lend itself to lighter wind conditions, with more volume and a rocker that promotes easy planing and good upwind ability, we also tested this board in super choppy high-wind scenarios and the board remained hyper playful without crossing the line into chaotic or unmanageable. Even with all the extra width, the Fish still does a good job of being controlled through chop, handling more powered conditions than we expected, while being still fun and fast.

It seemed like the Fish’s speed and glide let us explore parts of the wave that a performance shape would not, yet it was happy to fade onto the shoulder with a big roundhouse cutback through to a snappy pivot in the lip like a champ. It might not be as laser focused as say a performance shape like the Wam or the Session, but this board is still super fun in good waves. Jamming on the tail, the Fish can pivot easily, but then drives down the line especially well in our onshore conditions, and this really impressed us. That flatter rocker feels really fast and easy enough to launch strapless airs that offer a ton of levitation with the wider outline. Seemed like the Fish was egging us on to go bigger with every aerial. It might just be our foggy recollection, but it felt like the construction/durability was tweaked upward for this year, but that didn’t seem to phase our impression of the board. This board will bend your mind and push your style envelope no matter what your skill level happens to be.