Fast board - Slow board. Can you name some?

[Wetstuff]

I read where some kites like a 'slow' board to force the kite forward - using the board for depower. Other kites are better with a fast board...

If Mutants are fast - are Wave Trays slow? Is a short board always slower than a longer board? ...narrower - certainly slower, eh?

Perhaps some of you having ridden a wider range of kit could comment?


Jim

[Peter_Frank]

I read where some kites like a 'slow' board to force the kite forward - using the board for depower. Other kites are better with a fast board...

If Mutants are fast - are Wave Trays slow? Is a short board always slower than a longer board? ...narrower - certainly slower, eh?

Perhaps some of you having ridden a wider range of kit could comment?


Jim

No, a short board is usually faster than a longer board, when talking TT's.
This is because longer TT's need more rocker to work, which slows them down. This is not needed on short boards.

And a narrower TT board is usually somewhat faster than a wide TT, as they are easier to control with low rocker in high winds.

I dont know your particular wavetray, so I can not comment on that.

But an example of some TT's:

Lord of Hellfire or Demon of Darkness - really fast.

Mystery 150 - really slow.

Both are excellent boards, but extremely different.

Most other TT's I've ran into, or am using, are somewhere in between above in speed.

[not annonymous]

All you have to do is look at the rocker curve and ignore the flip tips if it has any.

Flat rocker = fast board
More rocker = slower

Mutants are fast because they have almost no rocker in the tail (i don't know offhand but it is a small fraction of an inch), boat wakeboards and some kiteboards are slow because they put in lots of rocker to make them "pop" better (usually around 2.5 inches).

With the really short boards you can put in less rocker and not have as much trouble with getting overpowered or the tips catching in chop so they tend to be faster if they are designed well, You just need to be powered up to ride them. Actually, I am not certian about what I just said there as the only stubby boards I have ridden are ones I built myself.

Width does not really affect the speed so much as how quickly the board will get up on a plane and how hard it is to edge the board when you get overpowered; rocker also has an affect - more rocker makes it easier to slow the board down when you are overpowered.

[vide]

Its all to do with rocker, concave and/or fins.

examples:

Fast:
- Mutants
- Stonker 137
- Minimal rocker wakebards

Slow:
- Slingshot skates series

In between:
- North Jamie Pro
- Wavetray

Both styles can work, depending upon your style, the wind strength, the 'gruntiness' of your kite, weight etc.

[bragnouff]

Slow:
- Slingshot skates series

I'm not surprised to read here once again such a thing about the Slingshot skate series, but I clearly disagree with this. The Skate series are not that slow (not tested the Jarvis however...). These are boards that you can slow, anytime, with a huge pressure on your back foot, and that you can almost stop.
I agree that they are not light wind machines, it's ok, they are designed for hardcore conditions.
But if you want to go fast with this board, you can. Ok maybe you need a bit more power than with some other boards, but I assure you that you can go amazingly fast with these boards. Really! You don't feel the limits of the board whereas some other straighter boards are early fast but tend to reach a point where they can't take more power and more speed.

The Skate have also the security and the comfort of being able to slow down when you want it. I'm of course not the king of my local spot but I'm often one of the fastest, simply because I like to ride fast, and because I want it.
It is rather a board "not always fast" that suits a style of ride engaged and volunteeer.

I used already to express my opinion about this and the Drake, and now that I have a 2003 model, I clearly cannot read this one more time without reacting. I think the 2003 Drake has a straighter outline, and much better fins than previous model. That helps a lot to make it faster, and faster earlyer.

I sincerely hope that you will have the opportunity to test it (for more than 5 minutes .

best huge winds.
alex.

[SurfaceTension]

bon jour mon aimee bragnouf! (Msr Portnawake) - Bravo!
I have also the SS Zeppelin 137 and i agree with you. The board when you first ride is slow because you put too much back foot. if you ride it flat on the fins it can be faster, and slow with the rear foot heavy. but you need 15 knots to begin so it is high a wind board. So i hink i is a slow board but can be riden fast with technique.

How is montpellier today ?

[SRV]

It is a shame to name the SS skates slow boards.
I've ridden the Jarvis for about a year now on a Drake,yes there are boards of teh same lenght that will plane faster or earlier,but were talking 1.5-2 knots.
lets not forget this is a "wind"oriented sport so u do need wind for more rocker boards.
I agree with Alex,"u can slow them down a lot" this is agreat thing actually
because u can hold a lot of kite on the board if u want to but beleive me in 13 knots Im already going with the drake (80 kg) and with 15 knots im flying for sure no slower than anyone else and going a lot more upwind from where i started.

in 10-11knots a 170-180 twin tip will do the job-no need directional

[vide]

I am not knocking the SS Skate boards, I had one for a year and liked it a lot...

But if this isn's a 'slow' board, then what is? It has plenty of rocker, plenty of fins and sharp rails. All of this make the board hold well when using a super grunty kite (like an SS fuel) in powered, choppy conditions like the Gorge (where designer John Doyle hangs out).

Of course you can still go fast on a SS (probably faster than many boards in choppy conditions because you have control) but compared to other boards they are high drag and 'slow'. All that rocker sucks the water onto the bottom of the board. This keeps you locked down when you want to be, but these boards definately get you up and going much later than any other board I have ridden. And I have owned over 10 boards over the past 4 years.

The SS skates are slow.

But that makes them perfectly suited to powered riding and super big airs on grunty kites like SS Fuel. But if you ride a Skate using say a Naish X2 you will go no where, and your kite will spend all it's time depowered at the edge of the window.

Unlike the SS gear, the Naish kites are super fast and suit 'fast' boards like Mutants, or low drag, minimal rocker TT's. Naish even say that their kites suit 'fast' boards. The Naish team mainly use Mutants. What they mean by 'fast' boards is boards that are the opposite to the SS Skate boards.

On the other hand, a board like the new Stonker 137 is super fast. But if you ride it using a big grunty kite in choppy conditions you will be out of control very quicky. It doesn't have that high wind control of a Skate. As a result you can use a kite size smaller. Many won't want to do this becasue they want the biggest kite they can use for max hang time. This is where the Skate excells.

DT