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Course racing experts...

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eightsmileys
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Course racing experts...

Postby eightsmileys » Thu Apr 09, 2009 1:12 pm

What is better to use for a course racing a twin tip or a surf board?
Any tips, information on course races?

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Re: Course racing experts...

Postby Toby » Thu Apr 09, 2009 1:27 pm

a race board!!!

these are designed for racing.

Or do you only have the choice between those two?

Find also good info here:
www.kiteracer.com

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Re: Course racing experts...

Postby mx5alan » Thu Apr 09, 2009 4:03 pm

livingston wrote:Any tips, information on course races?
http://www.kiteracing.com :wink:

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Re: Course racing experts...

Postby eightsmileys » Thu Apr 09, 2009 4:51 pm

I only have those two!
What should i do?
If i have the chance to find that north with the 2 massive fins is it good?

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Re: Course racing experts...

Postby gbleck » Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:31 pm

Do you own a TT and a surf board and want to know which to use or are you looking to buy one for course racing?

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Re: Course racing experts...

Postby Toby » Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:36 pm

practice! and see what works best...also consider the jibing...since it takes for a normal rider longer to jibe a surfboard.

When using the surfboard, get our of your straps and put your weight more in the center, and see if this will improve your upwind.

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Re: Course racing experts...

Postby Windrider » Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:41 pm

I can go faster on my directional (Cabrinha 6'1" Tow Surf) than on my twin tip (Liquid Force Drop Ltd. 138 x 40). I can also go more upwind on the directional which might be an advantage because of fewer tacks on the upwind legs.

But... the TT may have an advantage if the wind is blowing 25+ mph and you are on choppy water. A shorter TT would bounce around less in 25+ mph winds on chop.

For me, putting my weight more on the center of my directional does improve my upwind ability, but at the expense of speed. I go slower with my weight in the center of the board than I do with my rear foot just over the the thruster fins. Seems like about a 15%-20% reduction in speed... noticeable. I tend to go for the speed, and then use the speed to cut more upwind.in steps.

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Re: Course racing experts...

Postby eightsmileys » Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:53 pm

I will be going to a course racing so i am not in the mood of buying a board.
What about that north race ltd is it any good? Anyone tried it?
I my self have a cabrinha custom 133 X 39 and a north rocketfish 6''...i'll try them out if i get the chance before the race...

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Re: Course racing experts...

Postby eightsmileys » Thu Apr 09, 2009 7:06 pm

Thank you all for the info...i will give it a try...
Windrider: i thought of that with the chop the surfboard will be bouncing like a cheerleader no doubt...

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Re: Course racing experts...

Postby Peter_Frank » Thu Apr 09, 2009 7:49 pm

livingston wrote:I will be going to a course racing so i am not in the mood of buying a board.
What about that north race ltd is it any good? Anyone tried it?
I my self have a cabrinha custom 133 X 39 and a north rocketfish 6''...i'll try them out if i get the chance before the race...
No doubt at all - the Rocketfish will be WAY better for racing :D

But you should practice jibing and tacking - if you are not experienced at this now.

The North Race board will blow the socks out of ANY of your boards and wins hands down :thumb:

I have been out on this board the last two days, and even in the lightest wind where I can not even go on my 6' waveboard (only on a huge big fish) - I was blasting upwind full speed at an amazing angle !
And the fun part is - I was expecting it to be hard to jibe and go downwind, because of the deep fins - but it was really easy, and you could just blast ahead on all courses in full control - AWESOME 8)

It feeels sooooo light on your feet (it IS light too though...), and I've never experienced anything like it before - ANY other board I've ridden dont have the same feel of "nothing" on your feet - but just blasting effortlessly along and keeping the track/edge/upwind :P

I've ridden raceboards a couple of times before, and my friends are part of the team testing and developing these, so I know what they can do - but this was the first time in marginal conditions and quite choppy too, and I was amazed.

The most fun part though, was the ability to jump pretty high in this low wind, where you wouldnt see any whitecaps anywhere (out with an 11m2 grunty kite).
Because of the sheer speed a bit upwind, your apparent wind gives you a huge boost for jumping - COOL !

Tested against other boards to see the difference (big TT, normal waveboard, big fish), and there were absolutely no comparison.

My friend were out with a big fast straightedged TT, and we switched boards - and suddenly one could see the extreme difference in angle you could go, and at the same blasting speed for both boards (you have to ride with speed in low wind with the TT to get any apparent wind), just to eliminate the rider and kite fully.

It is a small board though - so in light wind you should always keep it planing, as it dont have much volume and length compared to a waveboard.
Top racers would use a bigger raceboard with bigger fins for super light wind of course.

But for me it worked great in these marginal conditions.

So as I've said many times - these boards are by far the best lightwind boards of all boards, no doubt.

And as you can jump higher than on anything else, they are not THAT boring either (as I would've expected...)

Of course - it is not a surfboard, so not the same dynamic options for waves nope.

Still, I can not understand there are so few using these boards ?
Because I KNOW for sure, that many of the kitesurfers out there, are NOT into waves, but like to blast along and maybe take on trips.
I honestly think it is lack of knowledge, and because "when noone uses these, they cant be good..."

:thumb: Peter
Last edited by Peter_Frank on Thu Apr 09, 2009 7:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.


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