Next Board?

[COACHG]

I’m looking to replace a 2004 AHD GTS that is starting to show & feel its age. The board is 156 L, 86 cm wide & 260 cm long. I only plan to use this board at my local lake that is about 400 meters at the widest point. The lake is on my way home from work & only 10 minutes from my house so it is great for about 40 one to two hour after work sessions a year.

The wind at my local lake is generally less than 20 mph and the sails I will use with this board are a 7.3 (No Cam) Naish Sprint & an 8.2 (Twin Cam) Naish Indy with both sails getting equal use. My weight is 77 kg.

I’m looking for a board that planes early and jibes well. Pointing & speed are not that important because of the size of the lake. I have a Futura 133 but have noticed that it requires much more wind to get planing than the AHD. The Futura needs the 8.2 to get planing in the same wind that the AHD can plane off with the 7.3.

The Futura 141 is one choice but I would have to sell my 133 as the gap in the boards would be too close. The UltraSonic is another but may be too wide & suffer in the jibe category; same reason I don’t use my formula on the small lake. Then there are the two largest Carve’s to consider as well as the two largest Isonics.

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks,
Coachg

[Remi]

Hi Coachg

In your case you need a board with fast plaining and big acceleration in short distance and guaranty you that the 2013 UltraSonic 147 with your 8.2 will be way more efficient than your current Ahd.

http://star-board.com/2013/products2...?id=ultrasonic

Then you can upgrade sail size to get amassing performances for such small lake with a Turbo 9.2 for example.

For jibbing just need to find the right place to put your feat to engage your jibe with enough power and is nothing to compare to Formula who are really difficult and almost impossible to get out with speed.

On the US 147 you can get very fast exit in such light winds.

Hope this help and have a happy near year.

All the best

[COACHG]

Thanks for the reply Rémi,

My main reservation with the US was the jibing ability. The 9.2 would be overkill for my lake as there is always enough wind for the 8.2. Would the US work with the 7.3 or will I have to stay with the 8.2 & fin down? I have the Futura but was hoping for a one board solution.

Coachg

[Remi]

Hi Coachg

The 7.3 will work but you will get better performances with the 8.2 and even better with the 9.2, is a question of relationship between Widft of the board and size sail. So you will handle basically bigger sails on wider board for the same wind.
Anyway with 8.2 you will get already fast planning and acceleration with this fin and can tune to a smaller one to get better speed.
Hope this help and happy new year

All the best

[BelSkorpio]

Hi CoachG,

Is it correct that you have a Fu133, a AHD156 and a Formula ?

These boards are all pretty close to each other.

Unless you're into Formula racing, my advice is to sell them ALL and replace them by 1 Ultrasonic.
You' ll love it. Don't worry about jibing. The US does it like a charm.

I know a few lighter surfers like yourself who use sails as small as 7.x on it. No problem at all.
The board feels as light as a feather and can handle a huge range of sail sizes.

[COACHG]

Hi BelSkorpio,

I do race FW and I am selling the AHD. I originally bought the Fu133 to replace the AHD but it never happened so I use the Fu 133 with mostly 6.0 & 6.6 sails. I was trying to go with a 2 board solution for sails from 4.5-8.2 with the Fu 93 & Fu 133. It worked but I lost a lot of planing power in the lighter winds.

You are probably correct in me needing to sell the Fu 133 and get the 111 or 121. In the end I’m just not going to cover such a large sail range adequately with only 2 boards.

Coachg

[BelSkorpio]

Yes, well it's all about compromising isn't it.

Look at my 4 board slalom quiver.
I'm very happy with it because it fulfills perfectly all my needs without any compromise. I use on each board maximum 2 sails and each sail also overlapps 2 boards.
Nevertheless, from a practical and economical point of view I'm also thinking of reducing it to a 3 board solution, i.e. replacing the IS122 & IS101 by the IS107. Yet, I'm not convinced because I feel I will have to sacrifice something in certain wind ranges.

Personally I think that if you want to do slalom in conditions from ultra light wind to heavy wind (8-30 knots) in a rather comfortable and decent way, the bare minimum of boards is 3.
Your 2-board solution with the FU93 and FU133 should work quite well, but like you already point out yourself, you also feel you're missing out on something in the ultra light conditions, especially on smaller lakes where the wind is not always that stable.

No one can tell you what's right or wrong. It's something that you have to decide for yourself.

[joe_windsurfer]

i started on a lake at the in-law chalet
it is about 350 meters wide at the widest part, butt is more of a long lake = Lac Long
longboards suit this lake well - with light and holey winds
the BIC Dufour was replaced with a Fanatic Ultra CAT
the best "short board" so far on the lake has been a BIC Techno Formula
it is 94 cm wide and as such compares to the UltraSonic
so, i leave the longboards there and bring the BTF when it is supposed to BLOW

in summary - longboard is the best solution for a lake for me - with a US type board good when winds are better

good luck

[COACHG]

Hi Joe,

Not all lakes are the same here in California. Within less than an hour drive from my house are dozens of lakes from 200 meters wide to over 20 miles wide. Some are surrounded by hills & trees but some are in flat range land. The lakes near the gaps in the mountains that separate the hot Sacramento valley from the cold, windy San Francisco Bay tend to be very windy. On these lakes a 5.0 is your light wind sail. The further into the valley you travel the lighter and gustier the wind. These are the longboard lakes over here.

Coachg

[joe_windsurfer]

Coachg:

Sounds like you have got the winds
And bigger lakes
Now to get the right combo for you :-)
I like the FU 141 idea :-) or iSonic :-)

Let us know what you decide and how well it works out ...