Rider: Weight 98kg ,Level advanced)
Style: Freeriding race
Weather: 15 to 25 knots
Build Quality: 10/10
Satisfaction: 10/10
Disclosure: Buy all my own gear -

Waiting for my new 2012 CR race board to arrive from USA and landed in Perth AUS will be around $2500 if you order today. Sold my old CR board so No race board for 4 weeks, what a nightmare if no surf or light summer winds. But for last week and was lucky enough to be able to borrow an Airrush sector from Damo and had 4 - 5 sessions on board now and got it wired on open ocean coarse at Leighton about 3.5km. Choppy with small swell. Got to say I reckon few on race boards could keep up with a sector as its pretty hard to fall off, ( if you are a very good rider) in 15 to 25knots of wind. It rides easy & fast I got to 23 knots slight down wind, in open offshore choppy ocean, 18 knots straight down wind and 18 knots up wind. The board is super easy to ride, very stable and forgiving around coarse and stable at full speed. Whats amazing about the board is that you can squeeze another 2/3 degrees up wind if you ride 100% lit with big kite & drive off 4 chunky fins upwind with no loss of top speed. The board is a quad fin and as I am used to thruster set up found no real difference in riding. The board is 99% easier to ride than a hardcore CR race board and I'll say very similar times around a coarse for most riders. The top CR riders on pro gear will pull up wind another 3/4 degrees with more speed.
I also free rode in 15 knots off Leighton for 1hour with 13m kite and tacked out 5 km to offshore shipping bouys and up to harbour 4km up wind and back to beach with ease, most others on beach were having a hard time just staying up wind.

Cool board to freeride and travel the coast and or get the sweet taste CR racing - you get this baby wired and riding at 100% and you will smash most riders in a race

Then you will be ready to upgrade to a 100% CR race board.

Good review.
Col

What size sector is it? 52 or 60?
I've got a 52, only used it a couple of times, but quite happy with it.
Got a new Cabrinha CR board arriving in the next few days (188x69.5), wondering if anyone has any thoughts on these?

Just noticed it was a 60!

hey whitsun once you get your new race board i will buy your 52 off ya cause the 60 is to big for me and haven trouble finding a 52 second hand .


One of the best reveiws i have ever seen here (no b/s) good on ya COL

Only had my sector a few months, and hardly used it. It's a 2010 model, should have been a 2011 as i brought it brand new, argued this with the retailer, but they already made their money and didn't seem to care too much. Won't be buying from them again!!
If I decide I don't want it anymore, I'll let you know.

... and the board goes good in little waves too

Good review but very narrow emphasis. The S60 is great fun raceboard, what it's even better at is as a flat out play board.

You can rip into high speed carving turns (both heel and toeside), swoosh about at speed, catch wind swells and small waves and surf them longboard style, do floaty speed jumps, taunt guys bobbing along on sailboards, and rocket upwind in the process, all with a big idiot grin on your face.

^^^ +1

... too right. I've nicknamed my board "Jetski", 'cause I can charge around in just about any conditions from light to strong, go just about anywhere I care for as long as I want, all at a fun or fast pace! Some of the other guys here call the board the "magic board" with "the magic switch". Just press it and go!!!!

cheers,

Robbie (the one with the idiot grin on his face, yep that's me for sure)

Gotta get me one of those I guess. Is there a 2012 model on its way?

I have tried a few raceboard but never a Sector. Tried a North 2010 Ltd which is relatively narrow and a RRD 2011 raceboard being a width of 65 cm. The RRD was a really fun ride.

I guess the Sector will be more lively but lack a little on the lowend planing ability.

good review Johnno!

I had a quick try on the sector 60 the other day at Leighton with Johnno, on my 14m JN kite with ~15-18knots of wind, and a bit of chop.

The board feels very different from a "pure" raceboard, probably because the fins are smaller with a bit of angle towards the outside + the foot-straps are in the middle of the board, so at the beginning I felt I was missing a bit of grip upwind. Indeed, if you compare such a board to a pure raceboard, the upwind angle is a bit poor... but the speed is OK.
However, as soon as you start going downwind, the board feels fast.

I normally ride a custom raceboard, trifin (40cm fins, straight), and my board is 180cm by 69cm (made by a mate of mine in France: www.spotz.fr), so I would not ride a Sector 60 for racing 'cause I feel better on my board (I guess also because I'm used to it now...), but I think the sector it is a good board to get started in racing.

So I would also say like Johnno, that it is a good crossover raceboard: between the surfboard and the raceboard, and would indeed stay a fun board to ride in other conditions than just racing, as I would never take my racebaord in waves for a surf...while the Sector could do it!
Get your jibes, your tacks, and train full downwind on such boards and then get a raceboard if you're hooked ;0)

... actually, I do have one complaint about the One Design, the grip in the middle of the board is not the best.

The Sector 60V2 has more deck grip just in front of the back strap (where I put my back foot usually), where as the One Design is just open with a bit of roughed up paint work.

I think I'll get some Gorilla grip stuff and stick it there!

cheers,

Robbie

ps still one of my favourite boards of all time!

Now I am confused. I thought the V2 was the One design?
Are they different designs? In what manner? From the pictures posted here it looks like the One design has a wider tail or?

The shape of the boards is identical. The One Design shape will not be changed for 2 years so they can get a race series going. The V2 might be changed each year. You can race this year's V2 in One Design races.

The only real difference is in the colours and the deck pad.

Given that the best performance in light winds comes with your back foot in the middle of the bare patch you have to wonder what they were thinking. Add in fancy footwork for tacking and you are going to have to wax or wear booties or add a pad to the One Design.

I have not worked hard at tacking so I have not spent any time on the nose of the board yet.

A mate bought a One Design and the shop filled in the gap with a left over piece of deck pad.

... yep, my thoughts exactly, what were they thinking, but then again they were probably trying to drop the price and found it in minor areas, but the most obvious was the deck grip and saving there makes the price difference around $150 (from what I have seen, yet to be confirmed). Its really minor but is getting on my nerves too and found myself going over the front because of the missing grip. Now I'm gunna have to find some sort of deck grip stuff to fix it.

Select to expand quote

Puetz said...

... actually, I do have one complaint about the One Design, the grip in the middle of the board is not the best.

The Sector 60V2 has more deck grip just in front of the back strap (where I put my back foot usually), where as the One Design is just open with a bit of roughed up paint work.

I think I'll get some Gorilla grip stuff and stick it there!

cheers,

Robbie

ps still one of my favourite boards of all time!

Edit: this one might be a better pic to compare:

Does it ride much different than at North Ltd 2010 that you can get pretty cheap?

^ I have not spent much time on either of them, but have tried them and I gotta say the Sector is way easier (more comfortable) to ride, especially on downwind legs.

^^^ you bet there is a difference and a big ones too. I did a review with some info regarding the difference between the two, see link below:

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Kitesurfing/Review/Sector-60-V2/?SearchTerms=Sector+60+V2

Recently I borrowed the North 2010 Ltd again and couldn't believe I used to like it. It is so glaringly different in how it rides, from bottom end to the useful angles to the wind you can go, to the manouvering.

Basically the North was good upwind but other angles is so much work that unless your going into battle with some one and racing, your legs will scream at you 'not having fun dude'! Where as, other end of the scale, the Sector is great upwind, loves all angles to the wind and when your not racing, just ease off and enjoy. You can go for hours and hours, and sure, if you want to race you put the hammer down and push those legs you'll fly around at speed and get your leg burn. I believe that due to comfort, the rider will be faster overall on a Sector than some one on a North Race LTD.

Mind you, price can be a powerful factor when on a buget and if you need to get out in light winds then the North will do it, plus it handles little dings way better than the Sector, but money aside, there is no contest!

cheers,

Robbie