Woke up this morning and for breakfast had some o the Heavy Drug, the new board shaped by Max (Galta), Loose boards pusher
The wind was 15-20 knots onshore quite constant but sometimes a bit lully with a few big gusts, nice waves outside, nasty shore break, no one else at the beach.
I set up and checked everything. Pushed the nose of the Heavy Drug into the sand, tied the 5th around a strap, turned the kite onto its back and launched the 14 with the 5th, real cool. So, even if the board is nice and light it works well as an anchor too
Had a few problems getting me feet into the new straps which were a bit too tight I reckon and off I went.
Felt right at home on the board which is 130 x 36cm. It felt really easy to ride, planes and goes upwind straight away and even when you’re a bit underpowered it still keeps planing and pointing slightly upwind, as soon as the wind picks up again you get a nice upwind angle, no problem staying out in the onshore conditions to play in the waves. The board has quite a bit of flex, especially at the tips and it feels really soft when surfing or gybing. In the jumps it holds the edge until takeoff with a nice pop, it’s a bit of a strange sensation if you come from a more rigid board because it’s a soft edge, it’s as if the board slides in the water instead of cutting through it, seems to help a lot in the chop and messy conditions, it’s hard to describe but it’s like you can jump whenever you want without having to wait.
One thing I really liked was that you can make the board accelerate or slow down whenever you want, just take your weight off the board a bit or power up the kite and it accelerates to a nice speed for jumps or if it starts to stall out in the luls, but if the wind picks up and you want to ride slow all you have to do is press down on the tail in the gusts to keep everything under control. I think you might feel the gusts less with the flex like this.
There are 4 x 5cm fins which are a good compromise between tracking and slashing, even after missing a landing or in the foam when you lose your edge the board starts tracking again straight away while you sort yourself out but never grabs a rail. You can actually foget about the board, you don’t have to think about it, just what you want to do, or try.
When I came back in I used the board as an anchor again letting the kite go to the 5th for a really smooth landing, definately a good anchor
I got the board with the straps and handle of the Contest because the original handle of the Drug is too soft for my liking, still don’t know if I prefer the original straps or these ones, they’re both really comfy, just like the pads.
Today, only kite in the air, only board in the water
Been using Loose boards for about a year now
Now I’m off to detox
Mac
Here’s a few pics