Bug Foils and two Hollow Slalom Boards

Hi

I met Rajko Zuzek yesterday.  He visited us from Cape Town (where he is holidaying), and spent the day testing his latest foil. The wind was light for us, but OK for foiling.

 

Rajko is the owner of Bug Fins & Foils from where he produces windsurf foils and a wicked line of slalom fins.

 

He only works in carbon and every component has the stamp of a true craftsman.  You could take any of his components and mount it as a piece of art.  Very impressive.

Rajko the man is also impressive.  He, like most of us, has been windsurfing forever and like most windsurfers, is easy going, approachable and willing to share stories.  He is also very forthcoming with technical details and knowledge about his foils. 

Rajko uses a dedicated foiling board from Flikka and he explained that the mast track on pure foiling boards is set further back than in normal windsurfing slalom boards.  I had never heard this before.

 

You can still ride a normal slalom board with a foil but it is not as easy to balance.  If you plan to use a normal board to foil, please start with the mast foot as far back as it will go in the track.

Anyway, Rajko spent much time gliding back and forth with slalom foil, 7.8 XO sail and the Flikka foil board.  He recons that he has perfected the wing shaping and lay-ups on this latest foil and I have to say he was flying around effortlessly.  The RRD team was also out but were struggling to go on their foils in the very light conditions.

Regular readers will know how keen I am about devices to spread fin box loading when using a foil.  The Bug foil has side flanges to achieve this.  Nice!

Chris from Jersey is here for the racing (being run this week) and was unboxing two of his new Patrik hollow boards (115 and 140) right next to where Rajko was setting up.  If feather light is your thing, these are the boards for you!  Why aren’t they on the Patrik website yet?

Anyway, it’s been a long time since I was among so much desirable stuff in one small space – hollow boards to the left of me, sublime foils and fins to the right - equipment overload!

 

Chris says that a mate of his in Jersey races with Bug slalom fins and swears by them.

Well there you have it – a quiet day which turned out nicely.  The wind also picked up later and we had a great cruise on T-Rex and an old 7.0m sail.

Good winds

Two Awesome new Sails

Hi

Two really nice sails are about to break cover.   They are Avanti’s new race machine and their 2018 Poweride.  I have always fancied Avanti sails because of their construction and associated easy manners.

The 2018 Avanti M6+ Race Machine

For 2018 they have:

•          changed batten angles slightly
•          refined load paths across the sail body (as you are               able to do with string technology)
•          dropped one batten from every size.  Seven                           battens at last - well done Avanti! 

There are some fantastic race sails out there right now but this has to be one of the most exciting for me.  Just look at the thing!  

I will try to find a shot of one fully rigged for some proper eye-candy.

Here are the sizes: (sorry – no weights)

We need to watch Juju in the racing this year.  His sails were as fast as anything else last year but I felt that he sometimes struggled on his gybe exits in light conditions.  

Avanti have worked on this aspect I think.  

The seven batten layout, being less locked in, will allow him to use his natural talent to squeeze every last knot out of the rig in varying real-world conditions.  Nice!

2   Avanti’s Poweride V1 Freeride Sail

The Poweride has always been good and the 2018 offering looks like the best ever. 

Here are the sizes:

Everyone watching sail reviews online, will know that this sail is consistently near the top of every review.  What has always given me pause for thought however, is the straight-line speed of the larger sizes.

The sail is designed to be easy and fun and that is absolutely correct for the two smallest sizes but when we get to 6.6 and 7.4, most of us want max speed on a fast slalom board in addition to easy control.

  

The aim is to have an easy sail which fits perfectly with your fast free-ride board over rough water.  On flat water days however, the same sail should be capable of smoking on a flat, fast slalom board.

  

I suspect that Avanti have nailed this aspect in the bigger sizes now.  I would need to ride one before I could confirm but I have a good feeling.

 

We don’t expect it to be as fast as an NCX, Point 7 AC-X or Goya Mark but it should be very, very close.  

If any of you should have a chance to ride a 2018 Poweride 6.6 or 7.4 with your 112(ish) slalom board - please let us know your impressions.

That’s all for now

Good winds 

Some Severne News

Hi

Here is a short note around some developments from Severne . 

The new Severne Dyno is about to be released and it looks like one serious board for the blaster with wave-riding requirements.

Here it is:

And here are the dimensions:

Once again Severne creates an important board.  I predict that it will fly over rough water with single fin and style in waves with the tri-fin set-up.  An awesome do-it-all board which (like the Fox), just looks right.

The latest  Windsurf Magazine (issue 372) includes a Dyno in their 95l board review.

Here are some extracts from that test write-up:

1.

2.

3.

Thanks Windsurf Magazine!

Please subscribe to this publication.  Their tests and articles are so on point and useful. 

I mentioned the new Mach1 race sail in the last post.  

Ben Severne is clearly determined to see this sail on the PWA podium in 2018 and has employed Matteo Iachino to make it happen.

  

I can’t think of a better pilot and we await the new PWA season with interest.  

(Matteo+Mach1+iSonics ......faaak!).

   

Talk to you soon