Looking to buy a 120 l slalom Board - Lots of guys in Sydeny on Fanatic Falcon boards and heard a rumour that JP Boards dont have as much carbon as fanatics - Any suggestions ? They are the same price.

A friend of mine has a couple of Exocets. They seem pretty good. I'd imagine slalom boards from Fanatic, the Tabou Mantas, Starboard and Carbon Art are all pretty good along with all the rest of the manufacturers. Unless you are a really great sailor then they are probably not the limiting factor when it comes to performance.

So perhaps it depends on which one you get a good deal on.

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lucdown said...

Looking to buy a 120 l slalom Board - Lots of guys in Sydeny on Fanatic Falcon boards and heard a rumour that JP Boards dont have as much carbon as fanatics - Any suggestions ? They are the same price.

I dont think there is a "best slalom board" but probably a board that fits what you are after best:

- fun to ride?
- top speed?
- early planning?
- upwind ability?
- downwind?
- etc...

I suggest you try a few different types and see which suit your riding style.
I did this a couple of seasons ago and it was a revelation.
Some I didn't like at all, some were OK, and some just felt like home.

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Windxtasy said...

I suggest you try a few different types and see which suit your riding style.
I did this a couple of seasons ago and it was a revelation.
Some I didn't like at all, some were OK, and some just felt like home.

Yes.
While they are all "good", they are not all the same.
I bought a JP slalom last year, which I did not like, but was then lucky enough to try an RRD X-Fire which I loved, so I eventually bought one. Feels like home.
Your milage will vary.
See if you can try a few before you buy.
Fins make a big difference too, and matching board and fin may take time.
I had some beginners luck there. The Maui Ultra Race is perfect for my board, sail and me..

Thanks Guys - Trying diferet boards would be ideal but often difficult to do. More concerned about construction however the reviews seem to say the Fanatic Falcon is more forgiving than the JP

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lucdown said...

Thanks Guys - Trying diferet boards would be ideal but often difficult to do. More concerned about construction however the reviews seem to say the Fanatic Falcon is more forgiving than the JP

To try different boards:
Find someone on the beach with one of the boards you are interested in and say "I'm thinking of buying one of these, would you mind if I give yours a go?"

If you have a team rider in your area part of their job is to promote their product and they should let you demo one of their boards.

Some shops will allow you to borrow a board for a demo.

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lucdown said...

Thanks Guys - Trying diferet boards would be ideal but often difficult to do. More concerned about construction however the reviews seem to say the Fanatic Falcon is more forgiving than the JP

Be a bit careful a bout putting too much weight on reviews.
I've been given a bum steer a few times on things like that.
Forgiving for one person might be bloody boring for another, or "difficult" can translate to "high-performance/winning".

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lucdown said...

Looking to buy a 120 l slalom Board - Lots of guys in Sydeny on Fanatic Falcon boards and heard a rumour that JP Boards dont have as much carbon as fanatics - Any suggestions ? They are the same price.

CarbonArt genuinley use lots of carbon

some info on here;

whitelionwindsurfing.blogspot.com/

Great blog site Tim.

Wish I had looked at it BEFORE some of my repairs/mods. Lots of gems.

If you're in Sydney go and see Sam at WSS, he sells Fanatic, JP & Starboard. He will give you an honest opinion on these boards and you should be able to organise a test ride.

Also speak to Remi from the Windsurfing shed to get a ride on a Exocet and AB+.

I wouldn't worry too much about the construction, they're all top notch boards albeit they will be a light build (they're performance boards) and more susceptible to knocks.

As per the previous post, they all ride differently so you need to find a board that suits your style and needs.

Alot of the evidence will point you towards an isonic

however..

keep a Starboard futura in mind

- many riders are able to easily extract 100% of the performance out of these (they are rated as matching and beating many competitor brand pure slalom boards for speed)

they gybe beautifully and arent quite as tuning critical as super hard edged slalom boards


Often they can be pushed harder in chop

if you sail flat and smooth water alot - or long period swell - go the isonic

+1 on the Futura, that board makes sailing chop fun, I have also sailed the JP Supersport which I thought was pretty good. Maybe these boards don't have
the " top gun" image of the slalom boards but probably more range and lots of satisfaction going past someone on the "real" slalom board as they struggle for control.

WTF with the red thumbs for Reflex, the Futura is a good choice for a lot of people. I own a Futura 111L which is a great board but not a full on slalom.

Most brands come from the same Asian factory, nothing wrong with that but I've had a couple of duds construction wise, maybe just unlucky who knows or cares.

I now have a Carbon Art, knocked together in New Zealand. Mines a 96L SL58, I absolutely love it, I sail 90% open ocean and have given it hell and she's still going strong. They are made to order and are the right price all things considered.

www.carbonartwindsurf.com/Boards/Slalom/

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firiebob said...

WTF with the red thumbs for Reflex

Sponsored rider ?

On a different note, when are you heading west this year ?

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WindWarrior said...

firiebob said...

WTF with the red thumbs for Reflex

Sponsored rider ?

On a different note, when are you heading west this year ?

Hi Junior, November, about 3 weeks all going well, can only get hols when told

gotta try your mates boards, but gotta ask do i wanna go on the edge balls out fast ALL THE TIME??? if yes then really ask again do i wanna go fast aallllllll the time, otherwise might be worth considering the step down from what we call the F1 of racing boards... and go to the 'detuned' versions of these boards

HOWEVER

dont wanna be left wishing you bought the wrong board

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jsnfok said...

but gotta ask do i wanna go on the edge balls out fast ALL THE TIME??? if yes then really ask again do i wanna go fast aallllllll the time,

Yep!! and YEP!!!

speed is about control - if you feel out of control then you are doing it wrong

when you get locked in to a groove and are feeling secure and trimmed - thats when you blow other sailors off the water



the key is to get boom height , mast foot position , strap position (dont do the straps up too tight or you wont have any control - a very common mistake i have seen)

The board should feel neutral - ie in that balanced zone between tail walking (bad)and driving the rails into the water (also bad)

The board should feel like it is just dancing over the chop.

Chris Lockwood said an interesting thing a few years ago - windsurfing is flight - just mm above the water


This sort of tuning is critical and is what allows riders to get away with hard edged slalom board control

unfortunately this tuning perfection is hard for many sailors to achieve

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Reflex Films said...

speed is about control - if you feel out of control then you are doing it wrong

when you get locked in to a groove and are feeling secure and trimmed - thats when you blow other sailors off the water



the key is to get boom height , mast foot position , strap position (dont do the straps up too tight or you wont have any control - a very common mistake i have seen)

The board should feel neutral - ie in that balanced zone between tail walking (bad)and driving the rails into the water (also bad)

The board should feel like it is just dancing over the chop.

Chris Lockwood said an interesting thing a few years ago - windsurfing is flight - just mm above the water


This sort of tuning is critical and is what allows riders to get away with hard edged slalom board control

unfortunately this tuning perfection is hard for many sailors to achieve

well the days of boxy rails are gone, and most slalom boards have enough Tuck forward to stop the rails from catching,
by the sounds of it it's not going to be your main board , 120lts is a huge board,i would go for less volume and something with a narrower tail, and get your self a decent fin , have a look at firie's set up he sails open water 96lt, the board will handle 5.5 to 8mt, the best part about the board is with the narrower tail for a 580 board, you can use smaller fins, that = more control all round conditions not to mention the hero jibes
lucdown if your down my way call in i have a ca55, its basically my big board with a 7.3 sail , but perfect with a rs6/7 and venom 36 if you like it we can negotiate

"edit" have a look at my avitar, my prediction is for boards to be very parallel between the front and back straps for clean tail release and windward ability so don't go spending to much cash this season because all these currant shapes are going to be outdated and on the scrap heap with the old wally's

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lucdown said...

Thanks Guys - Trying diferet boards would be ideal but often difficult to do. More concerned about construction however the reviews seem to say the Fanatic Falcon is more forgiving than the JP

Hi lucdown, I suspect by this statement that you want a level of forgiveness in your board, some people myself included find freeride or freerace boards much better for general fast sailing especially if your in roughish water. Slalom might sound fast but nothing is better than speed with control, I have fanatic hawk and naish slalom boards and I can guarantee you that I can comfortably sail alot longer with the hawk than the slalom. Its horses for courses but have a look at the manufacturers videos of the current ranges of boards and you'll see plenty of speed without needing a slalom board. just my 2c worth.

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keef said...

well the days of boxy rails are gone, and most slalom boards have enough Tuck forward to stop the rails from catching,
by the sounds of it it's not going to be your main board , 120lts is a huge board,i would go for less volume and something with a narrower tail, and get your self a decent fin , have a look at firie's set up he sails open water 96lt, the board will handle 5.5 to 8mt, the best part about the board is with the narrower tail for a 580 board, you can use smaller fins, that = more control all round conditions not to mention the hero jibes
lucdown if your down my way call in i have a ca55, its basically my big board with a 7.3 sail , but perfect with a rs6/7 and venom 36 if you like it we can negotiate

"edit" have a look at my avitar, my prediction is for boards to be very parallel between the front and back straps for clean tail release and windward ability so don't go spending to much cash this season because all these currant shapes are going to be outdated and on the scrap heap with the old wally's

Have a look at some of the new slalom shapes such as isonic- boxy rails have not gone.

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keef said...
120lts is a huge board,i would go for less volume and something with a narrower tail, and get your self a decent fin

???? That must be one of the most common size slalom board and all depends on riders' size, sails used etc...

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keef said...96lt, the board will handle 5.5 to 8mt

That's a lot of BS...

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Rob11 said...

keef said...
120lts is a huge board,i would go for less volume and something with a narrower tail, and get your self a decent fin

???? That must be one of the most common size slalom board and all depends on riders' size, sails used etc...

keef said...96lt, the board will handle 5.5 to 8mt

That's a lot of BS...

hey who gave me that red thumb you know lucdown it would be a good idea to stipulate your weight when your makeing these post's
mksevens isonics arent boxy there tucked they just look boxy,CA'S are considered boxy but there tucked, the boards i was referring too were the boards of the late 80's and early 90's e,g tiga slalom 270 now there's a boxy board, the f2 sputniks were a bit boxy, have a look at the first 320 speeds, they didnt even have any tuck if anything the rails were past 190 deg to about 220
rob11 I'm not sure you follow the GPS all that well but there's a guy who runs a KA 7.8 on his CA50 and 44 with a 22 weed fin but you can excuse him cos he's a bit crazy and if you would like to take a look at my GPS data you wont find any times where ive posted over 30 on my CA55, ok so now with all of that BS you can have your red thumb back

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Rob11 said...

keef said...
120lts is a huge board,i would go for less volume and something with a narrower tail, and get your self a decent fin

???? That must be one of the most common size slalom board and all depends on riders' size, sails used etc...

keef said...96lt, the board will handle 5.5 to 8mt

That's a lot of BS...

I use 5.8m to 7.8 on my 90L Exocet slalom board, it works very nicely. Modern slalom board have good sail carrying.

120L Slalom Boards would be looking at 7.8 - 9 m sail range. Sweet spot around mid 8. I use to use a 9m sail on my Isonic 111 for playing around in light wind.

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mkseven said...
[
Have a look at some of the new slalom shapes such as isonic- boxy rails have not gone.

des it never dawned on me different sailors abillities

mkseven here's a pic of a generic speed from years gone by now that what i call boxy
can some one get rid of that red thumb man i'm starting to get a complex
edit thank's for the green thumb now ive got a red one and green for the same post well i guess its winter hehehehehehehe

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keef said...
rob11 I'm not sure you follow the GPS all that well but there's a guy who runs a KA 7.8 on his CA50 and 44 with a 22 weed fin but you can excuse him cos he's a bit crazy and if you would like to take a look at my GPS data you wont find any times where ive posted over 30 on my CA55, ok so now with all of that BS you can have your red thumb back

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Waiting4wind said...
I use 5.8m to 7.8 on my 90L Exocet slalom board, it works very nicely. Modern slalom board have good sail carrying.

Sure it works, but it looks more like speed setup than anything else. I dont give you much of a chance in slalom with 90L and 8m out of a jybe or if need to pass upwind etc... initial subject is slalom.

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Rob11 said...

keef said...
crazy Sure it works, but it looks more like speed setup than anything else. I dont give you much of a chance in slalom with 90L and 8m out of a jybe or if need to pass upwind etc... initial subject is slalom.

rob dont take me to serious ,i'm old and to much time on my hands besides its winter