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Underground Magic Carpet Review.

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Cal
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Postby Cal » Sun Nov 17, 2002 11:34 pm

Board Spec's.
Length - 158cm
Width - 43cm
Weight - Exceptionally light - In undergrounds new 'pro carbon' construction.
Looks like - Bigger fridge door, slightly rounder outline.

Kite Used, FlexiFoil Storm 16m.
Rider, 6'3" - 100kg (220 pound).

Conditions, 8-11 knots early on. Rose to 10-14 later. (mesurments taken on wind meter
and was the general consensus on the beach also.)

8-11 Knots is the minimum 'fun' wind for myself with the 16m. At this wind I could
Jump and ride toeside, do little transitions and a little up the line wave riding.
The majority of the time I was holding ground, if I botched a transition or was really
unlucky with the gusts I lost a little.

10-14 - wow Powered up now, choppy water - board feels great, nice dry ride through
the chop! Suprising considering the outling and flatt rocker! Awesome POP in the jumps,
Can load the tail up really nicely (there is soo much tail to load!).

My Initial (pre riding the board) Concerns:

Wet ride in chop - not a porblem at all! this really suprised me. I think the length
allows the nose out of the water just enough for all but the severest of chop and the
slightly rounded corners assist in keeping it splash free.

Toeside riding - Was concerned about the width making it hard to hold an edge toeside,
I found it very easy to hold the edge, I actually had more fun toeside on this than on
my 147WT.

Thought it might feel ugly in the air jumping - It felt really comfortable though, I
think the pro carbon construction helped there in keeping the swing weight down.

Was concerned about getting tiredness in the back leg because of all the area behind the
foot. I did some big runs - 1.5-2 km approximate and I rode the board for 2.5-3 hours
I had no more tiredness than what is normal.

Other Comments:

A friend who weighs 92ish kg was riding a borrowed 19.5 gaastra on his 142WT, he had to
give the gaastra back and take out his 12.2 (15.5 flat) Lift. He took the Carpet for a
ride and said he felt more powered up on the carpet+12.2 than he did on the 19.5+142WT!
he also echoed how fun it is to ride for such a wide lightwind board! (he was a skeptic
when I was telling him about the board - he's a believer now!).

I was looking for a 'lightwind board, with a small board feel'. Do I think I got it?
You bet! the board is soo light it makes it feel small, and it is soo fun to ride it
its unbelievable.

Summary:

None of my concerns turned out to be of any real concern at all!
Am I happy with the board - You bet! couldn't be happier!

Note:
I think you want to be a heavier rider to ride it. I will give it to some of the
lightweights around here to get there feedback, but I think you probably want to be 90+kg
for the board really.

Any questions/comments feel free to ask! But I am leaving for a weeklong kiting roadtrip
down to the famous 'Mambo' contest tomorrow, so it could be a good idea to email me as well
as post on the group so I don't miss any.

Cheers
Callum

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Postby eyal » Mon Nov 18, 2002 9:44 pm

Hi Callum
when u have the feedbacks of the lightweight kiters ,let us know.I'm 75kg and surf on 142 WT for almost two month and I LOVE it.I was very surprised of the performance of my 142 WT in light wind and I can't even imagine what will be the minumum wind needed for a 75kg rider on the Magic Carpet.
btw are there any pictures of the board on the web ?

Eyal


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: eyal on 2002-11-18 21:45 ]</font>

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Postby Guest » Wed Nov 20, 2002 8:33 am

Cal

I would be interested as well to find out what the lighter riders say. Does the baord have the same feel as the wavetray?
Even at 157 it sounds like a short light wind board compared to a big TT.
Out of interest where in Austrailia do you ride. I am going to sydney for 3 weeks a the start of December and keen to get out on the water - there seems a few spots aorund Sydney, Dolls and Palm beach any other you can recommend.

thanks
Bill

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kitesurfbali
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Postby kitesurfbali » Wed Nov 20, 2002 11:06 am

Hello Cal,
how it compare with the fridge door?????
Bye Jankie

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Postby Guest » Thu Nov 21, 2002 6:11 pm

Cal,

The Magic Carpet is not listed on Underground's website. Do you have any pix? What type of fins did you use? Given the same kite, how much additional low end does a board this wide give you?

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Postby Wolfgang » Thu Nov 21, 2002 9:43 pm

This is also a story about the year 2002 trend making many heavy weights (90+ kg) choose way too small boards...

Now somewhat larger boards appear as an impressive "innovation"... :wink:

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Postby Guest » Thu Nov 21, 2002 10:20 pm

I was under the impression that Underground were limiting their range to

Wavetray
Fridge Door
Smorgasboard

????????????

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Protos
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Postby Protos » Thu Nov 21, 2002 11:59 pm

Good point, Wolfgang.

This board is listed at 158cm, like that's large!

Good God, when I was windsuffering I thought my 8'10 slalom board was a tiny little rocket. And now a 5'2" board is considered a "big" lightwind barge?

A year ago I was riding a 6'6" directional, in upwards of 25knots at times (OK, so that pretty much sucked...).

People now wonder why they "need" a 20M kite? Get a slightly larger board, and your 15-16M should be fine for most everything. Otherwise you'll be waiting on the beach with the windsurfers...

:wink:

P.S.- I weigh in at ~90kgs. so maybe I'm bitter at these lighter guys out there!

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Postby SENDIT! » Sat Nov 23, 2002 11:45 am

Cal,
Thanks for the long-awaited update! I think you answered all my concerns. I hadn't even considered wet ride possibility in chop. I rode my wife's Naish 2002 twin and had water splashing in my face for the entire ride. I was kind of bummed b/c it's obviously not going to be a board that I'll be using at all. I also rode a couple of mutant types and had a somewhat similar problem. Maybe I'm just too heavy for some of the other boards. :roll:

Anyway, it'll be great if you can get a picture of your board loaded up here. Glad to hear that you've got no regrets!

SENDIT!

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Postby BLOWN AWAY » Sat Nov 23, 2002 11:24 pm

On 2002-11-18 21:44, eyal wrote:
Hi Callum
when u have the feedbacks of the lightweight kiters ,let us know.I'm 75kg and surf on 142 WT for almost two month and I LOVE it.I was very surprised of the performance of my 142 WT in light wind and I can't even imagine what will be the minumum wind needed for a 75kg rider on the Magic Carpet.
btw are there any pictures of the board on the web ?

Eyal


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: eyal on 2002-11-18 21:45 ]</font>
Mmmm looks like I've spotted a worthy lightwind board to replace my directional.... I have a 141cm Underground lunchtray which is definately NOT a lightwind board. 10 knots is pretty impressive for someone of 100kgs... I'm 75 kg and have a 20m kite so i should be pretty much sweet as in 10 knots with the magic carpet then....

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