Some Tabou/Gaastra News

 Hi

Sorry for the long break but I have been sailing a lot and am invariably too tired by evening time to spend any time writing.  I said that I would be discussing my ideas about the benefits of soft equipment for stormy racing conditions but that post will have to wait.

Ross Williams and Peter Munzlinger were here this morning with some race sails and 2 Mantas - (the new 71 and the new 61).  We had the opportunity to get a good look at the equipment and discuss various things with Ross and Peter.  Here are some pictures:

Hennie discussing the new Manta 61 which he hopes to buy.  Peter is to the right of Hennie, I am next and  Harry is to the right of me.  Harry is the man who will kick your ass on the water if you are anything less than a national level racer.

Anthony (our supplier) discussing the footstrap positions of the 71 with Ross.  This is a  prototype board so details like the pressure screw and footstrap plugs needed  some tweaking to get them operational. 

Me, Ross and Peter 

Hennie doing more talking about the 61 (to a slightly disinterested Peter, Phil and Harry)

The 2 Mantas from above.

We did some casual racing to give Ross a run.  Ross took out a Vapor 7.9, Hennie took his Pryde race 7.0 and I took my new Vandal Stitch 7.0 on my Falcon 113.  The other guys had an assortment of sail/board combinations.  All of us chose badly for the conditions.  As soon as we got onto the water, the wind started jacking up.  I ended up holding on for dear life having a completely miserable sail.  Ross had to abandon the racing.  The fact that he was even able to sail with a 7.9 in the storm conditions is very impressive.  The other locals (Hennie, Harry, Tony, Grant and Brett) all hung in there and managed to complete a few races.

I spoke to Ross about his new fins (F-Hot).  These are high end carbon fins which feel and look fantastic.  The slalom models come in 4 different stiffness ratings (S1, S2, S3, S4.)  S1 is very stiff while S4 is extremely soft.  My feeling is that I would need an S3.  Look out for these fins when they hit the market.  They are going to be reasonably priced and from what I saw, both in the hand and on the water, they are awesome pieces of equipment









While we were racing we noticed the RRD team at the water doing some testing and a lot of photography.  Antoine was on his Pryde race sail and the new X-Fires - speed, speed speed!.  The RRD people I recognized were Dave White (taking photos), Jem Hall, Antoine and Roberto Ricci himself.  We seem to have a lot of windsurfing and kitesurfing legends here at the moment.  Robbie Naish is also in Cape Town for the kiting hang time event.  I forget what it is called but the kiter who gets the longest hang time wins.

I spoke to Peter about some of the moves within the windsurfing slalom community.  I always like to get an insider's view.  I will discuss a few of these in the next post.

Go well and I'll speak to you soon