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the big board discussion: what goes upwind better?

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Al-Kite-A
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Postby Al-Kite-A » Fri Oct 05, 2007 8:32 pm

Silver_surfer wrote:It is possible to made a comparison Directional Vs twintip in various conditions ?

Upwind....... the winner is...

Downwind...

flatwater....

chop....

ligthwind...

strongwind...

What i've noticed while racing is that the top speed is not so important as an average good speed, and the capability of the board to handle choppy water for long time as my legs get tired soon.
We are all focused on the upwind but the races are usually set up with few upwind... it seems that there are more long-distance than real Course racing ?
What I have seen and believe is:
Lightwind: see race #11 post. I was doing my race committee duties that night and Chip killed it on the foil. his upwind angle *seemed* more that 45 degrees.

Strongwind: I think it is what ever you like to ride best, twin-tip or surfboard, works best. I still need to be a race board.

Flat water: flat twin-tips. Only because the downwind is not handicaped and the upwind is insane.

Chop: My Underground FLX design :)

Downwind - Upwind: you have to do both in racing and at the level it is getting you can not just win just one way.

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-pewe-
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Re: the big board discussion: what goes upwind better?

Postby -pewe- » Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:49 pm

dudes... whats going on here?
any news?

first races are finished..
what is the best shape in 2008?
only direktionals?
or is there a twin shape with a chance?

:jump:

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Re: the big board discussion: what goes upwind better?

Postby Wawando » Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:31 pm

These boards look like "slalom boards". I think we will get much more extreme.

For the maximum upwind and downwind angles, the way to go is the way formula race did: upwind and downwind machines that you can't use on a speed open angle because of the lift generated at high speeds.

Very wide boards with high performance very deep high-lift fins.

OR we can also go the hidrofoil way! Is it allowed? :jump:

Does anyone know what are the current upwind and downwind angles?

There will be a race here this weekend and if i can compete, i will use a GPS to get my information (on a std surfboard) and will try to get the winner information too. I use a Garmin 205 for this:
Image

My current impression and experience is that the riding position for racing has nothing to do with riding for jumping. It changes with boards too. In a TT i use the board lift beneath be while on a surfboard, i use the fins. When well loaded i got upwind better on TT than on a surfboard. This is because of the rocker and outline of surfboards that are definitly not made to go upwind nor extreme downwind...

See you!


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