New Stuff from North and Naish

Hi
I said that I would post when more 2015 equipment made its appearance on the sites.  North and Naish have both shown signs of life!

North
North has added details and specs for their freeride/race sails.  The new S_Type sl sail is something I have been looking forward to and it looks good I have to say.

There is not too much of a batten overhang at the back of the boom and the whole thing looks tight and right.  The nice thing with this sail, is that one of the 3 cams is removable so you can experiment with this to suit your style/power/control requirements.  Very cool!

Naish
Naish have all of their 2015 windsurfing gear up.  They always interest me because they are a brand not easily persuaded by fads and fashions in the industry.  While I admire this, I just have a nagging feeling that they may be falling behind the curve a bit.  Their boards are still really long and narrow but fat for the volume.
The two boards which would be of interest are the Bullet Slalom and the Starship.

The Starship is a hard core bump-and-jump model with a shape which would work really well here. The problem for me is that it is made from wood and glass fiber.  The 65 (ish) wide board weighs in at 8kg!  Come on guys!

Their Bullet is light enough however, and one would need to try each of the three sizes to get a handle of how they perform with a variety of sail types and sizes.  They each come with a fin which looks quite good.  Bear in mind, these machines are made by real sailors, for real sailors in real world conditions so I give them respect despite their old school dimensions.  Take your best, most modern slalom board and sail.  Put Robbie on a Bullet and challenge him to a race. Then prepare to experience the mother of all ass-kickings!

The Naish sails don't excite me at all.  The Bullet slalom model looks much the same as in prior years (still fast though - see my "Robbie" comment above) and the other models just seem a little tired.  The Supermoto with 5 battens and one cam.  I don't know!  The new Noa is a bit interesting but there is a lot of good stuff available in this niche from other designers.

Talk to you soon

            

Reader Feedback and Some New Equipment at Last

Hi

Feedback

Following my last post, Flemming (a reader from a northern land) sent me this e-mail.  I thought it may be useful for anyone into the whole speed monitoring thing.  I know that we have had all the technology to do real time monitoring, but up to now, no-one has pulled all of this tech together into a nice simple package.  The Recon Jet is finally such a package but quite expensive.  Flemming gives us a cheaper alternative:


Hi Phil

Just a comment on your resent post on real time monitoring of speed. I think what you are looking for can easily be done. All what you need is a smart phone, the right app for the phone and a water proof AquaPac to keep the phone safe while sailing. I always bring a smart phone with me while sailing for registering the entire session; once at home I can analyse the speed etc; but this is retro-perspective. You want it real time and for that purpose there exist an app called GPS Speed Talker (at least for an Android phone); this app will speak out your speed and you can configure the threshold before the phone starts 'speaking' and you can also set the distance that must be sailed before the speed is measured. I must admit that I haven't tried this app - it is just an idea - but it can be done for a very low budget using an old smart phone.

Best Regards

Flemming

New Kit

Starboard have released their entire 2015 board range and once again the boards look very cool.  
One thing that I am picking up from all the designers (certainly for slalom/freerace/freemove boards) is that they are moving more volume towards the back of the new models compared with previous years. All the new boards I have seen, have extended the wide area backwards on the board.  This keeps on going right past the front straps and only starts tapering in to the tail at the last moment.  The tail is kept really narrow with cut-outs on either side to maintain deck space for the back feet.  I suppose that this approach gives a better combination of early planing and control.

Here is the new X-Fire v7 (105).  Note how the wide area is drawn back

You can see this trend on the new Futura as well

The Futura range sees changes to volumes and thickness across the range.


The AtomIQ range has been added to (more sizes and 2 construction options)
The Atoms have interested me for some time.  I think that they are really fast and that you would be able to thrash them over rough water at high speeds.  I would love to give one a bash on a windy day here (100l + Cross 6.4 + totally overpowered).  I think it would be a blast.   

   



GA's Matrix is not yet on the site.  The 2015 Matrix looks quite nice in this shot - I always prefer seeing a sail under tension in photos.  
Anthony, our supplier, rides these sails in the smaller sizes and he smokes on them.  I have always chosen the Cross for sails under 7m but the Matrix is a worthy alternative.  Since the Crosses under 6.4m now only have 5 battens, this sail may offer better stability in these sizes.  I need to take one out. 

Here is a snap of North's Warp 2015

Once again this sail looks compact and crisp.  The PWA rankings attest to the effectiveness of these machines (Pierre and Matteo in second and third).  Only having seven battens seems to do them no harm at all.  Very nice!

OK guys

I will speak to you again when more 2015 equipment breaks cover   

Some Tech and Some Industry News

Hi

Some time ago, I mentioned the Google Glasses and how they would be cool to monitor one's speed in real time on the water.  To be frank however, the Google frames seem a bit fragile and I'm not sure how successfully they would handle a face plant.

Well here is something a bit more hairy-arsed.  It is the Recon Jet and is capable of doing all and any real-time monitoring we could wish for.

This thing is built with extreme sports in mind and has all the connectivity you could want.

My requirement, as mentioned previously, is to be able to see my speed at all times.  I need to know what effect changing my bearing, leaning forward/ backward slightly, shifting my back heel to vary pressure on the fin, sheeting out slightly etc, etc has on my speed on the water at that second.  The Recon Jet seems to be the perfect piece of equipment for this and could be a hugely effective learning aid for anyone seeking to improve speed and efficiency.

I may have been sleeping lately but I saw a picture of Sara_Quita using a Severne sail.  The last time I looked she was with Gaastra.  What is going on?
If she is moving to Severne then they have a real catch.  She is bright, articulate, pleasant and one hell of a sailor.  An impressive individual and someone who can really light up a brand.  Severne gets it right yet again?

Speaking of Severne - you may have seen the "Hyperspider" video on their site.  They have started making certain sails with this technology which basically prints Technora fibers onto the sail precisely along each stress path.  This means that instead of relying on the general panels to handle loading stresses, these stresses are contained directly with strategically placed re-enforcing.  This method enables Severne to make the sails lighter, stronger and more efficient.  So far I think only two sail models are made like this (Blade Pro and S-1 Pro) but as more 2015 stuff is revealed, we may see other models incorporating the innovation (new Reflex and hopefully Overdrive ?)

Talk to you soon  
   

Some 2015 Kit

Hi

I note from the sites that Severne, North, Fanatic and Tabou all have 2015 kit starting to make an appearance.  As per usual the wave stuff is brought out first and the offerings from Severne, North and Fanatic all look fantastic.

North provides a look forward at the entire sail range, even though they do not yet give details and visuals of the slalom stuff.  They have reduced their model range quite substantially and I think that this is a good thing.  I mentioned the new S-Type Slalom in previous posts and I would really like to try one out.  I am a bit skeptical of this sail following Martin Cross's comments regarding the 2014 S-Type.  I hope they have made the new model friendly and fast.

Tabou's 2015 Manta (not on the site yet) is peeping out as well:

They have replaced their very detailed paint job for something much simpler.  I like the 2014 livery a lot but I must say I also like this design - mat sea-green, some carbon showing through and a few discreet flashes of bright color.  Nice!


Ross has the following to say about the new boards.

Tabou are also showing their new Rocket Wide.  I assume that this means they will be dropping the Thunder from their new range.
If this is true I will be disappointed.  I think that the Thunder was a design with a lot of promise. Lengthen it slightly to facilitate easier planing off the beach, insert Tuttle fin boxes and you have a range that could challenge comparable slalom boards any day of the week.  I don't think that the Rocket Wide is going to offer anything like this performance potential.  I may be wrong of course.

That is all for now
Talk to you soon



  
 

Some Equipment of Interest and a New PWA Venue

Hi

Sorry about the long break - the lack of sailing for me, means that windsurfing is not uppermost in my mind so I tend to neglect the blog a bit.

Anyway, the next leg of PWA slalom circuit is underway.  This is in Awaza, Turkmenistan (??)
As is so often the case - bring a large number of windsurfers into one venue and the wind is very likely to disappear.  No wind for day one.  I understand that the forecast predicts better wind in the days to come.      47 men are participating and all the main guys are present.

Some equipment occupying my thoughts recently -

• Severne's Turbo sail.  Joos has ordered a 7.5 and a 6.5 for the coming season.  I am looking forward to seeing them on the water and if I'm lucky, will get to ride them and report back. Based on the pictures, specs and test results, the Turbo seems to be an NCX with added low end power, better control and better speed.  Nice!

• GA's Phantom 2014.  Regular readers will recall my impressions of the 8.5 Phantom of Julian Field and the speed and control he is able to extract from this (quite big) sail.  I hope we get to try one or two of these sails with the new GA 100% masts.

• North seems to be upping its game big time.  The 2015 S-Type Slalom Sail, as unveiled at Defi, promises to be something really special.  In addition to this, North's mast maker reports a new Aero mast which is lighter than the current model but just as strong.  This company is also producing a new boom line (to be called the Aero Boom) which is reportedly lighter and stronger than anything else on the market.  I like where this is going!  No pictures of the new booms and masts I'm afraid.  I think that they are going to unveil them in October.

That is all for now.  I will give some commentary on the racing if they have wind

Best Upwind Slalom Board (??)

Hi

Just a quick post.

Juan from Spain e-mailed me with a question that I have absolutely no idea how to answer.  He recons that modern slalom boards are now so specialized for downwind sailing that this has compromised their upwind ability.

Juan asked me to recommend a slalom board with good upwind performance.  I have to say I am unable to answer this question.  I know that pure slalom fins are fantastic downwind tools but struggle upwind.  This makes them not so suitable for most of us.  We don't engage in official slalom racing and most of our blasting comprises a long, tight upwind leg followed by a flat-out downwind blast. Most of us then, require a fin which will power us upwind at speed and not lose composure on the downwind run.

I had never considered that modern, pure slalom boards may also have developed a weakness where upwind blasting is concerned.  This may be absolutely true but I don't have the knowledge or understanding of board shaping to be able to comment.

What I recommended to Juan was that he consider a slightly bigger slalom board than the models he was considering.  He was thinking about a 107 iSonic/105 X-Fire/Falcon 110 etc - all around 70cm wide.
My experience of the 2014 Mantas suggests to me that the boards have become a lot easier to ride in overpowered conditions.  This means that a bigger 2014 slalom board will be as easy to sail as your old smaller model.  A bigger board will allow you to use a longer fin and this will be better upwind (assuming you have the right fin of course).  You can always screw a smaller fin into this slightly bigger board for overpowered sailing.

My recommendation to Juan then, was to look at the iSonic 110 instead of the 107.  I also pointed out that Fanatic's 120l Falcon is 74cm wide - a worthy contender.  As a wild card I included AHD's SL-2 122l.  The AHD is probably not as highly specialized as the others and so may be a little better upwind. Who knows?


To change the subject I thought I would include this picture of Antoine gybing.  Note how far he bends his legs.  This is something which very few of us do correctly.  I always think that I am bending my legs properly but if there are photos of the session, I notice that they were almost straight in the gybe. Well, here is the main guy getting right down.  Low center of gravity = great stability.  Thanks for the master-class champ!

  

Some Results and Reader Feedback

Hi

Sorry for the long break.  I have been involved in a project and have not felt like posting.

The Defi and the initial stage of the PWA racing are both behind us.
Andrea Cucchi won the Defi after 6 races.

I note that Denis Standhardt came in 4th.  I had to smile - Denis sails here every year in December and I have to say that he is a combination immovable object and irresistible force.  When I am out holding onto my 6.4m for dear life, Denis is screaming up and down on his Vapor 7.9.

I watched him almost sail over the toes of two kiters once, at top speed.  He was totally unfazed whereas the kiters came directly into the beach, packed up and departed.  Good man Denis!

Denis blasts past the first kiter

The second kiter's near death experience

Denis calmly cranks out his gybe and continues on his way.  Awesome!

The PWA, Costa Brava leg yielded a few interesting results.  Antoine won the event with Cyril second and Pierre Mortefon third.  Stellar performances all round.  Of interest to me is the fact that in the first eleven places, three are GA/Tabou riders.  No other sail maker and no other board maker has three places in the top eleven.  Ben came fourth, Cedric came in seventh and Ross was number eleven.

Cedric Bordes is perhaps my biggest surprise.  He usually sits way down in the rankings but I kept on seeing him featuring in the heats.  Initially, I thought that he just got lucky but as the heats and elimination rounds progressed, he was always there.  GA/Tabou have definitely made a breakthrough this year!  The kit works!

Kevin Do has been trying his new VMax fins and recons that he gets faster times downwind with the VMax2 than with the series 1.  He agrees with us here that the series 1 is slightly better upwind than the 2, but for downwind, the 2 is slippier, more controllable and generally faster.  He is also getting great speeds from his Vector Volt Carbon and will be spending more time evaluating this blade in the coming weeks. Interesting stuff.

Kevin reports that one of his VMaxes failed on him (it just started twisting easily in the hand) but that Select replaced it - no problem.  Nice one Select!

OK that's all for now
Talk to you soon (ish?)