Hi
A lot of 2018 kit has appeared on the various sites. Here is commentary on some of the interesting
developments:
North/Fanatic
- The new Warp looks quite tasty. I like the scrim batten pockets – very cool.
- The 2018 Falcons look the part once again with the bigger sizes now being foil-ready.
- Their new Blasts come with a Textreme option and fin-boxes are now Tuttle across the range. Makes sense.
Starboard
- Starboard has merged their old Carve and AtomIQ
shapes to give us the CarveIQ. This
should be a relaxed but fast ride, given the strengths of the outgoing shapes. All sizes come with Tuttle boxes, some foil
ready.
- The new ISonics look great as always and foil boxes are in all the big sizes (117 litres and up).
- Starboard are making a good effort to reduce the carbon footprint of all of their boards through clever material selection and innovative construction methods. Nice to see.
Naish
- Naish are re-positioning their focus in the water sports market. They seem to have dropped a whole slew of board models leaving just two wave shapes as their total serious windsurf board range for 2018. They may have more stuff coming – I’m not sure. All they show right now is the two wave models and a beginner board.
- They may see foiling, SUP and kiting as being more viable markets going forward. (?)
- If they leave our market space, I for one, will miss them.
Severne
- Severne’s new race sail is not on the site yet but I have discovered it here and there around the Internet. It is to be named the Mach 1 and seems simpler than the outgoing Reflexes. The fiddly, secondary reflex batten tensioners are gone. Good plan!
- All they need to do now is drop one batten from each size and remove the final bit of overhang above boom end. Almost there guys!
Here is an attractive array of colours for the new year. No specs yet but easy on the eye.
Good winds
It appears as though Naish has repositioned their Titan freeride board (120) to double up as a windfoil board as well...which is why it doesn't appear directly under their range of board offerings.
ReplyDeleteI am not certain as to what they are up to...On one hand they have slashed their range of board models, on the other last year they added a cammed sail to their range...
The cammed sail was there in 2017. All of their "2018" models are exactly the same as 2017 so I think they have a lot of unsold stock on hand. Once they have sold all of this slow moving stock, they may go forward with just one or two wave sails.
ReplyDeleteWe will see
Phil
Phil,
ReplyDeleteI just checked out Naish's website once again, and it seems they are adding the Starship and Titan back into their range of boards.
It certainly makes sense to me that the Starship is being maintained as this would close the gap, in that they have a beginner board, a freeride board (Titan) and freewave (upcoming Starship), the global and hardline (I don't think they're going to reintroduce a freerace/slalom board)
What doesn't make sense is why they have intend on having two variants to the Titan, since the one they currently have is dual purpose (foil/fin).
Hi Mert
DeleteYou are right and I'm glad that they are continuing the Starship (for now).
I stick with my original concern that they are reducing their footprint in the windsurfing space.
Regards
Phil