I loved these boards. They had Class! Part of that appeal was the brilliant Pearl White paint finish which sparkled in the sunlight.

Lets see how the posting goes:

Hmm. I could reorient the pics but they will lose detail:

OK. That seems OK. to continue:

The board I had that is not shown here was a speed board with centre inline foot-straps. It was supposed to be a replica of the world record speed board of that time (in the 30's Kts). Sadly, it had a significant construction fault in it so I swapped it for the Gun 290. That board I had for a few years and just loved it.

After watching a Cobra Race come in third position in one of the Round Raymond Island races, I just had to have one. Sadly, it was not as fast for me as it looked. I think it had a bit too much rocker for me. I sold it after a few months and got an F2 Lightening. I loved that race board and did well on it!

I dont think I ever saw any of the Cobra sails. I am thinking that they were never brought here?

I owned a cobra fun 330 back a long time ago. Thks for the memories, it was a well constructed and light for the time "fun board" as they called then then.

I rode one of the Slalom boards back then
There is one in the Local Tip salvage section,
I pulled it out and dreamed of a time past....

Owned the cobra race and Gun in the 90's. Mast tracked totally pulled out of the race but easily fixed. Great fun boards!

Dave Sheen may actually have ridden a Cobra Gun 290 for the first Ledge to Lancelin race which he won in 1986, he only got it the day before along with some new Pryde race sails. This new source tells me "I always remember that as he didn't have any good gear before the race so I was surprised when he turned up with heaps of new stuff.."

Were these the 1st of the Cobras or was there earlier models?

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AusMoz said..
Were these the 1st of the Cobras or was there earlier models?

There were earlier models: see: www.cobrainter.com/files/4215/3658/3852/Cobra_40Y_CoffeeBook_v20_D1_pages18_21web.pdf

I recall the red aluminium mast track! Not user friendly!

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sailquik said..

Love the way the window is positioned really low so you can only see anything below your chest....

There was also a Tandem Cobra that was fleet raced every year in an event in Thailand! It has always been a dream of mice to find and aquire one, but as far as I can find, none ever came to Australia

The Hartley boys from Mackay had a tandem Cobra in the Whitsunday Marathon when I did the event 30 years ago, with two Wild Winds 9.5 sails. It went well close reaching but the long boom was bad for the aft guy's head. Simon Fyfe had once for a while, might be the same board.
I had one of the early King Cobra boards for a while, awesome triplane tail. Will look for a pic.

Many thanks for that info Plywoodboy.

I found this video:

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Madge said..

sailquik said..

Love the way the window is positioned really low so you can only see anything below your chest....

In the day those windows kinda lined up . I remember hanging off the tail of a board with lotsa drag . It was the normal stance . It's only used nowadays when totally overpowered and out of controll, just before crash .

This is funny. I still have two of these boards. A Cobra 290 Gun and a Cobra Race 370.
I bought the 290 on D?sseldorf Surf Exhibition in Germany in 1986, and took it home to Denmark by train!!! That proved not to be the smartest move. I was nearly kicked of the train at the border.
I don't recall when I bought the race-board, but I still use it now and then as a SUP board - it's pretty fast

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sailquik said..
The board I had that is not shown here was a speed board with centre inline foot-straps. It was supposed to be a replica of the world record speed board of that time (in the 30's Kts). Sadly, it had a significant construction fault in it so I swapped it for the Gun 290. That board I had for a few years and just loved it.

After watching a Cobra Race come in third position in one of the Round Raymond Island races, I just had to have one. Sadly, it was not as fast for me as it looked. I think it had a bit too much rocker for me. I sold it after a few months and got an F2 Lightening. I loved that race board and did well on it!

I dont think I ever saw any of the Cobra sails. I am thinking that they were never brought here?

I have a 290 in good Nick you can have as long as you see how fast you can make it go. It's in Canberra if you are heading that way. I also had A Race; great in the light or heavy but not as good as The contemporary Hi Fly Race or Lightning (if you were 75kg+) in Medium winds.

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Chris 249 said..
I have a 290 in good Nick you can have as long as you see how fast you can make it go. It's in Canberra if you are heading that way. I also had A Race; great in the light or heavy but not as good as The contemporary Hi Fly Race or Lightning (if you were 75kg+) in Medium winds.

Wow! There is a challenge I am up for! PM'ed you.

I agree about the Race. I had one of them for a short time too, but found the Lightening to be faster all around. The cobra was probably the sweetest looking board I ever has though with is beautiful Pearl Finnish.

Hey sailquik
thanx for posting this. I love looking at flyers from all the older boards.
Hey, ive got a green F2 comet Slalom that i picked up at the Salvos. I cant find the design anywhere.
Ideas? cheers

I think this is the 1992 F2 brochure. Green F2 Comet shown below.