Just flew back from Maui after a week of R&D with Dave Kalama, there will be a YouTube video link soon on this thread answering a bunch of questions about them. Whilst I was there we had 3m E swell and nuking 30-40 knot E wind. Incredible conditions.
One thing I want to touch on with the barracuda, it's not just a downwind board, they are also incredible in the waves, flat water pop up and also light air winging. Despite still not having information released yet half the container inbound for Australia is sold out. here's a pic from day one.

What sizes do they come in?

I'm keen to hear if he has extended tracks fforward this time. I'm on his production e3 wide, downwind board and a very happy, except that I am mostly at the front of my tracks with Armstrong. If that issue was solved It would be my first choice for a next board if when I progress to be good enough to downsize further.

They definitely look good , what's the price .

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Piros said..
They definitely look good , what's the price .

$3300

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hilly said..
What sizes do they come in?

Stay tuned.

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wanabxtrm said..
I'm keen to hear if he has extended tracks fforward this time. I'm on his production e3 wide, downwind board and a very happy, except that I am mostly at the front of my tracks with Armstrong. If that issue was solved It would be my first choice but for a next board if when I progress to be good enough to downsize further.

We cover the longer track mount discussion in the full interview. I think it will open some peoples eyes a little. The boxes on the cuda are further forward to accommodate all brands.

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pohaku said..

wanabxtrm said..
I'm keen to hear if he has extended tracks fforward this time. I'm on his production e3 wide, downwind board and a very happy, except that I am mostly at the front of my tracks with Armstrong. If that issue was solved It would be my first choice but for a next board if when I progress to be good enough to downsize further.

We cover the longer track mount discussion in the full interview. I think it will open some peoples eyes a little. The boxes on the cuda are further forward to accommodate all brands.

Yea in general my issue with track placement on a board is two fold. 1-it doesn't really matter once you're up and flying if you're strapless or are prone and popping up. 2-if your SUP then aligning center of bouyance and center of lift are more important, but can be adjusted for in. 3- the center of lift aligns to foot strap locations if using straps.
I think I may have a narrower stance which contributes; but I find that both the front foot strap location to be abit off from what I'd prefer for my center of lift, but generally is aligned to bouyancy. Thus I'd prefer my mast abit more forward to line up the two, as I prefer the physical reference (once I'm better maybe I won't anymore?)

Definitely curious to hear what the master has to say about it.
PS-is that in AUS or USA cheddar?? That's a big jump over the $2k I spent 6 months ago on one if US$$!!

$3300 AUD. They're actually more but iv kept it down at the low 3k mark.

What sizes you got left & are they all still getting manufactured in Maui.

Sizes will be released soon. But I know what size you'll be if you want to order.
The production ones are out of kinetic in Vietnam. Put it this was. I weighed the biggest one last week and it's 5.8kg !

Despite still not having information released yet half the container inbound for Australia is sold out. here's a pic from day one. Sizes will be released soon. But I know what size you'll be if you want to order.
So what's left in the container that's half sold out .

Any 7-10's

So people are buying boards without knowing the dimensions they are getting ???

I'm not sure if I completely agree with Dave's assertion (just saying that makes me nervous). He says that the Barracuda design ALSO aids turning and pumping by giving more projection. No doubt the boards get you on foil easier than anything before it, and the narrowness certainly helps turning to some degree but overall my personal experience is that less of a board pumps better in all conditions and smaller board also turns better. Longer boards do not feel as loose and willing to turn is my personal experience.

I have an 8'2 x 20 110L Barracuda'esque design and I love it for the ease of catching bumps but I do feel I sacrifice some turning - it feels like I have to nurse it around rather than crank it around and although the pumping is much better than I had anticipated due to the boxes being far enough forward to give it a balanced feel, I can't say I've personally experienced the extra projection he speaks of.

I've winged it a bit as well and there the feeling is the same, great for getting on foil, but turning and manouvers are somewhat compromised, ie. more difficult. You can adjust to it, but when I go back winging shorter boards this just feels easier, less consequence of engaging part of board during turns.

But, great interview, covering a lot of bases.

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Reeedie said..
So people are buying boards without knowing the dimensions they are getting ???

There's 3 sizes, you'll most likely be one of two of the sizes, the customer and I have a chat about what they want to achieve, ability etc then I let them know what one they'll be. Once you pay your deposit you get more information.
people trust what Dave has created. I'll be honest tho I have told a few people that it's not for them yet and to hold off. The last thing I want is to sell a board that they won't be able to ride.

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Piros said..
Any 7-10's

Yeah do you want one

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PeterP said..
I'm not sure if I completely agree with Dave's assertion (just saying that makes me nervous). He says that the Barracuda design ALSO aids turning and pumping by giving more projection. No doubt the boards get you on foil easier than anything before it, and the narrowness certainly helps turning to some degree but overall my personal experience is that less of a board pumps better in all conditions and smaller board also turns better. Longer boards do not feel as loose and willing to turn is my personal experience.

I have an 8'2 x 20 110L Barracuda'esque design and I love it for the ease of catching bumps but I do feel I sacrifice some turning - it feels like I have to nurse it around rather than crank it around and although the pumping is much better than I had anticipated due to the boxes being far enough forward to give it a balanced feel, I can't say I've personally experienced the extra projection he speaks of.

I've winged it a bit as well and there the feeling is the same, great for getting on foil, but turning and manouvers are somewhat compromised, ie. more difficult. You can adjust to it, but when I go back winging shorter boards this just feels easier, less consequence of engaging part of board during turns.

But, great interview, covering a lot of bases.

That's because it's not a genuine barracuda? If you ride one of his then you'll know what we're talking about. If pumping around and banging white water is your thing or jumping when winging the. It's not for you. But everything else it is for sure.

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PeterP said..
I'm not sure if I completely agree with Dave's assertion (just saying that makes me nervous). He says that the Barracuda design ALSO aids turning and pumping by giving more projection. No doubt the boards get you on foil easier than anything before it, and the narrowness certainly helps turning to some degree but overall my personal experience is that less of a board pumps better in all conditions and smaller board also turns better. Longer boards do not feel as loose and willing to turn is my personal experience.

I have an 8'2 x 20 110L Barracuda'esque design and I love it for the ease of catching bumps but I do feel I sacrifice some turning - it feels like I have to nurse it around rather than crank it around and although the pumping is much better than I had anticipated due to the boxes being far enough forward to give it a balanced feel, I can't say I've personally experienced the extra projection he speaks of.

I've winged it a bit as well and there the feeling is the same, great for getting on foil, but turning and manouvers are somewhat compromised, ie. more difficult. You can adjust to it, but when I go back winging shorter boards this just feels easier, less consequence of engaging part of board during turns.

But, great interview, covering a lot of bases.

Peter, if you are nervous about disagreeing with Dave I would suggest watching it again and pay attention to the part where he discusses the differences between his boards and the copies?
He sounds very confident that there is a big difference in the way it performs. That was the piece that resonated with me.

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pohaku said..

Reeedie said..
So people are buying boards without knowing the dimensions they are getting ???

There's 3 sizes, you'll most likely be one of two of the sizes, the customer and I have a chat about what they want to achieve, ability etc then I let them know what one they'll be. Once you pay your deposit you get more information.
people trust what Dave has created. I'll be honest tho I have told a few people that it's not for them yet and to hold off. The last thing I want is to sell a board that they won't be able to ride.

Really?

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Camarillo said..

pohaku said..

Reeedie said..
So people are buying boards without knowing the dimensions they are getting ???

There's 3 sizes, you'll most likely be one of two of the sizes, the customer and I have a chat about what they want to achieve, ability etc then I let them know what one they'll be. Once you pay your deposit you get more information.
people trust what Dave has created. I'll be honest tho I have told a few people that it's not for them yet and to hold off. The last thing I want is to sell a board that they won't be able to ride.

Really?

No joke

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k1 said

Peter, if you are nervous about disagreeing with Dave I would suggest watching it again and pay attention to the part where he discusses the differences between his boards and the copies?
He sounds very confident that there is a big difference in the way it performs. That was the piece that resonated with me.

I've listened to a few podcast interviews with Dave (Progression Podcast x 3, BluePlanet etc) and in those interviews he gives great insights on the long and convoluted journey to arrive at the current Barracuda design, how the design/evolution process never ends and the tough choices where compromises have to be made. There's also a fascinating TED talk where Dave talks about surviving a heavy hold down set at Jaws

Some people like chocolate cake and others like Banana cake the difference are the ingredients, no one is better than the other and in the big picture and the difference is personal opinion. No one has doubts that the long boards Dave has made work but to say everyone else's ingredients are wrong just because they are different is also just very small-minded as I am sure some out there might even be better!!

www.instagram.com/reel/Co0cyuMjDe7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

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paul.j said..
Some people like chocolate cake and others like Banana cake the difference are the ingredients, no one is better than the other and in the big picture and the difference is personal opinion. No one has doubts that the long boards Dave has made work but to say everyone else's ingredients are wrong just because they are different is also just very small-minded as I am sure some out there might even be better!!

It might have come across this way in this interview, however Dave is quite clear in other interviews that there is never a right or wrong in anything, there's just "different" and that everyone is free to choose whatever suits their needs at the time. The cake reference is more about the Copycudas perhaps not having the development background of his design (which included a lot of failures)

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paul.j said..
Some people like chocolate cake and others like Banana cake the difference are the ingredients, no one is better than the other and in the big picture and the difference is personal opinion. No one has doubts that the long boards Dave has made work but to say everyone else's ingredients are wrong just because they are different is also just very small-minded as I am sure some out there might even be better!!

Agreed - the arrogance of Go-Foil Australia when it comes to Barracuda's, new foil/masts etc is cringe and has put me off buying the brand (new or secondhand) due to the attitude.

Hats off to Dave for the design as it's clearly makes dwindling achievable for more people. Many offshoot and similar designs have been developed since which is great too. Can't see anything bad coming from any of that with more people on the water enjoying what I think is the best foiling discipline!

Its interesting how different consumers react but after all we are consumers.

The way i see it is Dave's primary competitive advantage is his ability to innovate through extensive experience and R&D. He has every right to protect that for as long as he can from those whose primary competitive advantage is speed to market through their pre existing supply chains and lack of innovation and R&D. They know that they need to get their product to market before the barracudas and therefore with Dave's attempt at delaying information are making some pretty big guesses in their copies. (i am not referring to you Jacko as your brand along with sunova has plenty of pedigree in this discipline and have chosen your own path) Now think about this for a moment, copies of a concept with very little R&D based on hearsay dimensions and videos and pictures with not even a season of DW testing. A lot of these big brands are asking you to pay big bucks for a product they have no history in making or in some cases testing. This is relevant to foiling and all its offshoot products and particularly wings and foils from the biggest brands that have products that clearly couldn't have been tested well. So far they have got away with it because the second hand market has been good for the reselling of the poor purchases but that is about to change big time. They are exploiting their brand loyalty into new products to make money not necessarily make you happy while not fixing their existing issues. We are the consumers and love their marketing and just swallow it.

ANFoiler if your interest in a Barracuda is beyond just speculation ignore your need to be marketed at and do it the old fashion way and just give Dylan a ring and discuss what might be possible for you as i am sure you will find him accommodating. That's not arrogance just a reality of a market with no morality.

I have put my money where my mouth is and paid a deposit based on a conversation with Dylan around the available dimensions for my weight and ability. I even put a custom under my arm and had a paddle in flat water.

For me I will be proud to support any brand that has Kalama's or GOfoil's level of credibility as the innovators or our sport as i can be sure it my best chance of not being disappointed because the ground work was done.

Pay full price for my gear.

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ANfoiler said..

paul.j said..
Some people like chocolate cake and others like Banana cake the difference are the ingredients, no one is better than the other and in the big picture and the difference is personal opinion. No one has doubts that the long boards Dave has made work but to say everyone else's ingredients are wrong just because they are different is also just very small-minded as I am sure some out there might even be better!!

Agreed - the arrogance of Go-Foil Australia when it comes to Barracuda's, new foil/masts etc is cringe and has put me off buying the brand (new or secondhand) due to the attitude.

Yeh , pretty sure Jacko , James Casey and Ben Tardrew also know a thing or two about DW and building boards to suit. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a One or Sunova knowing they are well tested and developed not to mention being over $1000 cheaper !

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pohaku said..

Reeedie said..
So people are buying boards without knowing the dimensions they are getting ???

There's 3 sizes, you'll most likely be one of two of the sizes, the customer and I have a chat about what they want to achieve, ability etc then I let them know what one they'll be. Once you pay your deposit you get more information.
people trust what Dave has created. I'll be honest tho I have told a few people that it's not for them yet and to hold off. The last thing I want is to sell a board that they won't be able to ride.

No probs, thanks for clarifying.