Thursday, September 15, 2016

Lightwind Windsurfing Boards – An Update

Hi
A bit of feedback regarding new lightwind boards –
Giuseppe, an Italian reader, recently purchased an RRD XFire Lightwind and he tells me that it is probably the best windsurfing purchase of his life.  

The board is the new version (V2) which has no video presentation on the site and no online reviews which I can find right now. 
Giuseppe recons that it does exactly what it says on the tin – fast, effortless to plane, easy to gybe, very flexible regarding sail and fin sizes etc and 120% fun.  In fact, from his comments it is likely that this board comes closest to my lightwind ideal of everything on the market right now.

Giuseppe says that the largest fin size necessary for him was a 53 cm Select Slalom (I think) and when he changed down to a 49cm size he was rewarded with even more speed, better control and even more fun with a slightly smaller sail.  Very awesome!  I would personally consider compliant fins (Zulu of course) of 56, 50 and 46 depending on sail size and water condition.

I have to say that I am really disappointed with Fanatic’s Lightwind Falcon.  They have produced the thing in a heavy construction and retained the short length.  Not cool guys – I’m not angry, just extremely disappointed.  Actually, thinking about it, I am angry.  Very angry! (And very disappointed)

The problem I have with Starboard’s Ultrasonic is the extreme width.  I have not ridden one but I doubt that it will be comfortable with smaller sails.  The 90ish width is, in my opinion, on the cusp between slalom and formula, able to go either way.  If you are tempted by a 95cm board, would it not be better to buy Patrik’s hollow formula board and go the whole hog with 12m sail and 70cm fin etc.  Just saying….


Here are two shots of Giuseppe’s new machine.  In the second shot he places the XFire against his Manta 85cm (a wide board in its own right) and you can see that wonderful wide back shape of the XFire to provide the leverage we need. Very nice ...

Talk to you soon.  I will discuss some of Severne's new stuff and also mention some good stuff from Starboard.
Phil

9 comments:

  1. as a lightwind machine - how do you feel about the 236 cm length on the RRD XFIRE LW ?? For tacking in light winds, I always appreciate just a little MORE length ...

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    1. I hear you JW. We can all do with a bit more length.
      Phil

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  2. oh yeah - something I took from German Windsurf Mag a while back

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cKKUvAgQ9tQ/VlYnyhW5SgI/AAAAAAAAD_o/GRwm0iD9ZrE/s640/deutsch%2Bfreeformula%2Breport.jpg

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  3. Hallo Phil, the few tacks I tried (I use it as slalom, so Jybing is the standard), I had no problem at all.
    The board is so wide and not so short; it is 236, but having the front cut, it is equivalent at 240 at least.

    On the other wide the reduced lenght helps a lot on control and rotating inertia on Jybing.

    I love it!!!!

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  4. I mean: ".....on the other side the reduced lenght....."

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  5. Fins were Sonntag SL-P 53 and SL-R 49

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  6. Thanks for the clarification Giuseppe

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  7. Hi Phil,

    as I wrote to you a few month ago... - perfect lightwind machine with the exception of the rear footstrap position due to my feet largeness (48). My weight is about 100+kgs in neo. With my old 10.6 V8 I come on the plane at 11 kts, gliding through down to 8 kts using a 61 select. With my 10.0 evo the range is from 12 kts to 22 kts, using a 55 or a 49 select. With my 9.2 phantom in more constant winds around 14 kts it feels so easy to jibe and to glide through. For me it is now definetly the "all time happy" option in changing lightwind and low middle-wind conditions (50% part of usage of a 5 boards range during the last 3 years now!) and I now only like to switch on my manta 81 or my firestorm V2 120 in real constant conditions from 14 kts+ or when stepping into waves.

    Yours dr. elch

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    Replies
    1. Hi Dr.E
      Thanks for the update. You have some great boards. Very cool
      Phil

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