The Capita Defenders of Awesome (DOA) is an all-mountain twin snowboard that's perfect for anyone looking for a “do-it-all” type of board that excels with its carving performance and its pop for hitting jumps.
The Capita DOA has won Transworld’s Good Wood awards multiple years in a row. It's an all mountain ripper with a freestyle heart. The DOA is good in pretty much all conditions but excels in maneuverability and freestyle. All of this made me decide to sip the Transworld Good Wood kool aid and buy my first Good Wood winner along with it being my first Capita snowboard.
Also, Capita’s new manufacturing facility, The Mothership, is seriously impressive. It’s hard not to support it.
First Impressions
I got my first Capita Defenders of Awesome (DOA) late in the 2019 season. I first noticed how stable and precise the board felt to carve.
It’s a board that feels relatively aggressive, which surprised me, given how popular this board is for resort riding. The board’s precise carving feel comes from its shape and deeper radial sidecut. If you were to look down at the board while it was lying flat on the snow, you’d be able to tell that the arc of its sides are fairly exaggerated (aggressive or deep) given the size of the board.
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The more aggressive shape of this board makes the contact points stick out as the widest part of the board.
The wide contact points help the board make tighter turns and give the DOA a more stable, in-control feel. However, depending on the conditions, it can make the board feel catchy. It’s one of the reasons this board is rated more for intermediate riders because if you aren’t careful, you could easily catch your edge while learning to ride the DOA.
Flex and Feel
Regarding the Flex of the DOA, I remember the first time I rode the DOA, it felt stiffer than I thought it would. While the new version is definitely pressable, this is still a board that is slightly above a medium flex (6/10 flex).
Reading other reviews online, other riders make it sound like the board is a soft noodle for jibbing the park. However, it’s not. It leans more on the jumping, powerful side of the park board spectrum instead of being a board that can press and butter with virtually no effort.
If you’re new to riding park features, please know that there are two types of freestyle snowboards:
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- Softer flexing boards that are perfect for jibbing and hitting small jumps.
- Stiffer boards that are meant to blast you off jumps while still performing well carving the entire resort.
The DOA is more in that second category of freestyle boards. It has a massive level of pop that I’ve never experienced before and grew to love for getting an extra foot of air off of jumps.
However, if you are reading about the Capita Defenders of Awesome deck and wondering how it can improve your butters or presses, you should probably consider a more pressable deck like the Capita Ultrafear or Capita Pathfinder.
It will take some practice to find the sweet spot to nosepress this board, and if you don’t balance right on that sweet spot, it will take more effort than you would think to get this board to flex longitudinally (from nose to tail).
So while this isn’t the easiest board to press, it’s strengths are more for blasting off jumps while still giving it some power for carving. If that sounds interesting to you, then you’ll want to get the DOA immediately.
Why Buy the Capita DOA?
I bought the Capita Defenders of Awesome snowboard because it won seven Transworld Good Wood awards seven times, and I heard so many positive reviews about it.
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It is a beloved freestyle deck, and I figured if it was good enough for the pros, it was more than good enough for me.
I didn’t realize how stiff it would be or that it would take some getting used to (especially if you’re coming from an easy to carve rocker profile board). However, once you do get used to this deck, it is sheer perfection.
Riding the 2026 Capita DOA
The 2026 version feels so similar to the 2023, 2024, and 2025 versions. It’s only received some minor updates like new graphics and sizes for the past three seasons. There were no noticeable tech upgrades that changed the feel of this snowboard.
Who's This For? Capita Defenders Of Awesome (D.O.A.) Snowboard
The Capita DOA is a board that is versatile enough to be your all mountain daily driver while still holding up as a go-to park board. The DOA is a board that can carve well between features in the park, launch you to the moon off of jumps, or just carve down any type of terrain at your favorite resort.
This is a board that can do 90% of riding well. The one area it lacks is floating in really deep snow. For deeper snow, you’ll want to check out a more powder-friendly option like the Yes Warca we reviewed here.
Edge Hold
The DOA has a decent, above-average amount of edge hold to offer. This is a board that always feels like it is in control regardless of the conditions.
Being an East Coast rider, I’ve ridden the DOA on days where the conditions have been total ice, and the board still offered enough grip to get by.
That said, I wouldn’t say the DOA’s edge hold is its strongest feature. Instead, I would say this board’s strongest feature is its pop and versatility as a do-it-all-all type board. There are other boards out there that can hold a firmer grip on ice.
If you’re an East Coast rider looking specifically for an ice carver, sure, the DOA works. However, this board is more for the all-mountain park rider rather than the full resort hard-charging freerie board. For anyone looking to carve all over your favorite resort and dig trenches with their carves, I’d recommend checking out the Capita Black Snowboard of Death.
The Black Snowboard of Death is a firmer option with some additional edge technology to help the board carve well in all types of conditions.
Performance in Powder
This board doesn’t offer much help with floating in deep snow. It handles nearly every other type of riding. However, floating is the one area where it lacks.
If you do find yourself needing to use this board in deep snow, I’d recommend setting your stance as far back as it will go to help keep your nose up. If you ride pow often, I’d consider a different, more directional board. Take a look through our recommended powder snowboard list to find a board that will work better for you in deeper snow.
Carving
The DOA has a Blended Radial Sidecut. That means the DOA’s sidecut has one single arc running through the mid-section of the board with some blending near the contact points to improve turn initiation.
The DOA excels at shorter, tighter carves over long, wide-open ones. It’s not that the board isn’t capable of making wider or longer curves. It can. The turning radius in this board is on the tighter side, so it follows a sidecut radius that is right at home, making tighter turns.
This feature is excellent for navigating from feature to feature in the park or needing to stop suddenly if someone cuts you off in the middle of your run.
Chatter
While the DOA does feel stable at high speeds, the nose and tail of this board will vibrate as you go fast on uneven terrain. It’s a manageable level of chatter that can go completely unnoticed if you pair this board with a damp binding like the Union Strata or Ultra.
Jibbing and Presses
Even though the DOA is stiffer than I thought it would be, it is excellent for jibbing, too. This board has a few sweet spots that can help it really lock into a press.
For nose presses, there is a sweet spot just outside of the contact points where the camber profile starts to flatten. Once you get used to balancing the board in that spot, you’ll be nose pressing everything in sight.
The Capita DOA’s camber profile and flex pattern make it easy to lock into boardslides and other sideways jib tricks. The board cradles the feature nicely, allowing for a more balanced, stable feeling slide.
One really excellent feature about the DOA is that it also launches you out of presses. You can really feel the rebound of the carbon in the board as you pop off of features.
Jumps
This is the best feature of the DOA. The Carbon built into this board is designed to help you get into the air, and it will give you a spring-board-like pop that will launch you.
The pop is intuitive to load up. It won’t take you long to get used to timing your jumps perfectly for the maximum level of pop.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Pop: The carbon running through this board acts like a springboard to launch you higher off jumps.
- Light: Last season the core was upgraded to be a little lighter with a new arrangement of paulownia and poplar wood. The 2025 version retained that same configuration.
- It is a “go anywhere, do anything freestyle deck.”
- I love the graphics. Capita always knocks it out of the park with the DOA. Check out the 2026 DOA line ups graphics.
- I love how well the DOA can carve. This deck has a nice edge hold and the perfect level of response that you can expect from a camber deck with carbon fiber built into it.
- I like how lightweight this deck is.
- I like that you can size down a few centimeters on this deck. The DOA has blunted tips so you can size down on this without any problems. I wound up getting the 150cm version, and I felt right at home.
- I love the sintered base. It is fast when you wax it up. It is durable enough to withstand jibs and whatever rough terrain you ride on. I am here on the east coast, and the DOA is my go-to All-Mountain/Park ice riding board.
- I love that there are two versions of this board depending on your budget. There is the traditional version that I reviewed here. There is also the Capita Super DOA too. You can read my review to learn more about that version and how it compares to this version of the DOA here.
- I love the confidence this board gives you.
Cons
- Flex can feel stiff: To keep this spring loaded for jumps, the center of the board is on the stiffer side. The nose and tail do flex.
- It is popular and often sold out in some sizes. You are also very likely to see other riders on the mountain with it.
- It might be stiffer than you think
- It takes some getting used to
- The shape of the DOA also takes some getting used to. The contact points stick out slightly. When you first learn to ride the DOA, it can feel like you are riding a rectangle-shaped snowboard. Your goal is to keep the rectangle’s corners from digging into the snow, and that is the part that takes some practice. If you’re an intermediate to advanced level rider, it won’t take you long to get used to it, though. The shape combined with the camber profile is where this board gets its responsiveness from.
Who Is the DOA a Good Fit For?
This is a board with edge hold and some massive pop. The Capita DOA is the perfect board for intermediate to advanced level riders who want a board around the $500 price range that can blast off jumps and carve exceptionally well.
If you prefer jumpping over flexing your board on boxes, you will have a blast on this deck and how fast it can charge down the hill.
Beginner Friendliness
The Capita DOA is not the most beginner-friendly snowboard. However, the Capita Defenders of Awesome is better suited for an intermediate to advanced-level rider. This board will be perfect if you already know how to carve, stop, and hit jumps comfortably. However, if this is your first time riding a snowboard, I recommend checking out an easier board to learn on.
The Capita DOA is not the best option for beginners because its contact points stick out wider intentionally to bite into the snow. This feature is exceptional when you spin off jumps because as you land, you can dig your edge into the ground to lock yourself back into place.
Main Summary
Here is a summary of the 2026 Capita DOA:
- Board Reviewed: 154 Capita DOA 2026
- Price of Board: $579.95
- How the Price Compares to Others: The Capita DOA costs $41.23 more than the average snowboard price of $538.72.
- Our Rating Score: 4.5 out of 5
How the Capita DOA Ranks Against Others:
- Ranks 6th out of the 36 boards reviewed in the all mountain category.
- Ranks 9th out of the 28 boards reviewed in the all mountain / freestyle category.
- Ranks 6th out of the 33 boards reviewed in the park category.
For me, the Capita DOA’s highlights are its springboard-like pop while still being pressable enough for presses and offering a surprising level of grip for carving. It’s my all mountain deck of choice for the icy conditions I get to ride here in Pennsylvania. I can see clearly why it has won the Transworld Good Wood awards for seven years in a row. It just rips.