iSonic

[geo]

I will always remember the vision I saw back in 1989 in Maui. I was sailing with some buddies in Camp One with an 8'6" wave and 4.4. At once, Alex Aguera together with another sailor appeared and came to shore, both with slalom boards and 6.0. If you were sailing back then you can remember what slalom boards and race sails were like at that time. After a brief talk, they went to the water again; US151 caught speed immediately, spotted a nice ramp, jumped, performed a perfect end over end front loop, landed almost without losing speed and sailed away.
Definitely there is plenty of performance to be exploited in slalom boards that will never be attained by mere mortals; but at the same time, it is there if one wants.
I must also think that if one doesn't pay for his materials, or if their price is not important fo him, then he will be largely favoured in exploiting their limits.

[sailquik]

I too am puzzled at the inference that the outboard settings on the footstraps greatly hinder jumping. Ihave not found this to be the case , but then most of my sailing is done on boards with this strap set up. I did find my S-Type 104 very easy to chop hop and jump waves with the outboard settings. I am very impressed with the ability of my iS87 to fly and float through the air when the pilot orders it. Of course I am a bit more careful on the landings!!!! I know thw iS87 is a much smaller board than the iS111 but some if the characteristics are the simmilar and the straps are very outboard for it's size.
I concur with SteveC, slalom boards jump and fly extremely well but must be landed much more carefully if the pilot is paying the bills.

[Ken]

The initial question still hasn't been answered.

Will the construction of the iS or th S-type allow for chop hopping without damage?

Ken

[steveC]

Hi Ken,

I spent a little time and poured over the technology section to discern the physical attritutes of Starboard's Wood and Technora constructions. Although I have maintained a question in my mind whether the Wood construction is robust enough without any fiberglass over the wood, the folks at Starboard have always hung tough in support of it. It's featured as their premium construction, and given their impressively low warranty claims, one must readily conclude that it's up for the job.

From what I can tell, all the slalom and freeride designs (iSonic, S-Types, Carves and Kombats) all reflect the same general construction details (Wood or Technora), with maybe some minor diffences like the heel bumpers on the Kombats. Of course, it's difficult to explain the subtle differences in overall weight, yet I'm not getting the impression that the variances can be attributed to any lack of integrity in one model or the other.

Yet, comments above from geo and sailquik clearly appear to suggest that the iSonics' construction might be viewed as too fragile for the rigors of chop hopping or non-wave type jumping and that you would do so at your risk. I have to question this, because the boards are full sandwich contruction, to include suitable overall reinforcement. In all my hard use of full sandwich slalom boards (even some 7-8 years old), I have never broken a board. I've experienced some softening of the deck in front of the rear straps (two boards) and a lost of crispness in the bottom of one board under the strap areas, but no catatrophic failures that rendered a board useless.

Notwithstanding my positive experiences, I wonder about the general lack of faith in the strength of slalom type boards. Maybe I've just been lucky, and many folks could tell horror stories of new boards breaking under minor stresses. From my standpoint, I wouldn't hesitate chop hopping a slalom board. Frankly, I wouldn't buy a board where I felt I had to baby the thing along. That would take away some of the fun and spirit of windsurfing that I need and thrive on. Just go for it!

[Roger]

Hi Ken,
Chop hopping will be fine.
Wave jumping, with flat landings would not be a good idea.
Huge jumps in the Gorge, with a sailor who knows how to land nose or tail first, might be OK as well but landing flat from more than a couple of feet is probably going to hurt the deck under the foot pads.
Hope this helps,

[Ken]

Thanks Roger,

I normally don't land flat or nose first, but I am not good enough to choose my landing technique. I have done both by accident and didn't like either one. I prefer tail first which is the norm for me.

Ken

[geo]

steveC wrote:
Hi Ken,
...

Yet, comments above from geo ... clearly appear to suggest that the iSonics' construction might be viewed as too fragile ...

???

[Phill104]

Ken wrote:
The initial question still hasn't been answered.

Will the construction of the iS or th S-type allow for chop hopping without damage?

Ken

You didn't mention s-types in your first question. I loved mine and it was a shame to get rid of them. As they were aslo designed with superx in mind and are shown doing loops in the advertising bumpf then starboard must believe they are up to the task.

[steveC]

Hi geo,

From your post above, you made the following comment:

"I must also think that if one doesn't pay for his materials, or if their price is not important fo him, then he will be largely favoured in exploiting their limits."

I could have got it wrong, but I interpreted your comment to suggest that slalom boards might be too fragile for chop hopping or non-wave jumpiing, and that if done, you would do it at your risk. I think that it's important to note I was interpreting not just your comments, but those of sailquik too. Of course, your comment could have just been an extension of your earlier comments regarding Alex Aguera forward looping his slalom board, and that it applied strictly to his exploits. From your latest post, I must guess that was the case.

My apologies for any misunderstandings on my part.

[Ian Fox]

Hi All, esp ken with respect to the construction re jumping;

ST is significantly stronger, designed to withstand full on rigors of Superx racing etc and should be considered to be quite suitable for sensible B&J sailing.

iS is race light, still very B&J capable, however it should be noted we don't recommend too much, not becuase it won't jump, but more because we can't control what happens when it comes down. Sometimes that may not be good. Nothing (repeat nothing) in this sport is unbreakable; it would be a risky suggestion to infer the iS is fully jump proof. On the other hand,the strongest wave board can still be broken.

If you want to really B&J on a fast board, then ST is the preference.

Cheers ~ Ian