?
Was mentioned on lucas meldrums yt channel.

Was this kept quiet or did I just miss it

I don't think so.

Seems Kai Hopf is now designing the wave boards. The 2026 boards are a completely new design.

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Gestalt said..
Seems Kai Hopf is now designing the wave boards. The 2026 boards are a completely new design.

Kai is designing all boards.

Thx

I've gone through a good part of Fanatic's board range and I have to say that I like their designs quite a lot. It seems that the new Duotone Ultragrip boards are slower than their predecessors. The Simmer Style Omnia, designed by Ola Helenius and Alessio Stillrich, has characteristics that, according to Ola himself, would make it similar to Wenzel boards.

I'm not saying that the new designs are worse than the old ones. In fact, I'd like to try them. I'm a declared fan of Kai Hopf (his sails).

Maybe busy with Torq Surfboards and ROAM but I was asking myself few month ago about his actual involvement in the windsurf industry.

interesting that a long term sail designer, suddenly becomes a board designer.

board design is not rocket science, more like an art, but still, doesn't sound confidence inspiring sadly.

Kai has been designing custom boards for years. Not to forget his fins are world class snd he's an accomplished sail designer.

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JakeNN said..
interesting that a long term sail designer, suddenly becomes a board designer.

board design is not rocket science, more like an art, but still, doesn't sound confidence inspiring sadly.

Maybe read up about someone before you put your foot in your mouth.

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AUS4 said..

JakeNN said..
interesting that a long term sail designer, suddenly becomes a board designer.

board design is not rocket science, more like an art, but still, doesn't sound confidence inspiring sadly.

Maybe read up about someone before you put your foot in your mouth.

Bit touchy there mate. Do you want to talk about it?

It is interesting that they've been so quiet about a big change like that. Seb Wenzel has been designing excellent boards for decades

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windsurftom said..

AUS4 said..

JakeNN said..
interesting that a long term sail designer, suddenly becomes a board designer.

board design is not rocket science, more like an art, but still, doesn't sound confidence inspiring sadly.

Maybe read up about someone before you put your foot in your mouth.

Bit touchy there mate. Do you want to talk about it?

It is interesting that they've been so quiet about a big change like that. Seb Wenzel has been designing excellent boards for decades

Agree with you there. There is no mention in the marketing blurbs about the gear. it seems kinda strange

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windsurftom said..
It is interesting that they've been so quiet about a big change like that. Seb Wenzel has been designing excellent boards for decades

There was an article in the German windsurf magazine about the change.

Not much happens with wave and free ride boards these days. The biggest change I would say was the move to higher volume boards in the last few years. Every other year you get a brand coming out with "the next big thing" only for it disappear because it won't sell.There is a reason why some brands stopped release new boards every season. The market is simply too small.

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stehsegler said..

There is a reason why some brands stopped release new boards every season. The market is simply too small.

Not sure if it's the market potential. I think there's simply not much to improve on our current boards. It's more the trends from long and narrow to short and wider which will probably revert again after some time just because we can. It happens in many mature markets and I think releasing new shapes yearly isn't necessarily an improvement.

I was in the market for a new board and ended up going with a seb w model prior to the change designer change. Always liked the fanatic/duotone shapes and they haven't changed much in the past five or six years in this model. Only reducing weight and from five boxes to four in the quads. New shapes don't look inspiring out the box but that doesn't mean much. But this is a proven design in my book. Happy as Larry with my 99 grip the last of seb w design yeuwwww

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JakeNN said..
interesting that a long term sail designer, suddenly becomes a board designer.

board design is not rocket science, more like an art, but still, doesn't sound confidence inspiring sadly.

Sails are a lot more complicated than boards.

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sheddweller said..
Sails are a lot more complicated than boards.

beg to differ

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stehsegler said..

sheddweller said..
Sails are a lot more complicated than boards.

beg to differ

Why?

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sheddweller said..

stehsegler said..

sheddweller said..
Sails are a lot more complicated than boards.

beg to differ

Why?

Why are sails more compltcated than boards??? You are creating a 3D shape from 2D materials. They are dynamic and need to change shape when the loads change while remaining stable. You are dealing with materials that have different stretch characteristics.
Wave sails not so complex but try designing a wide sleeve race sail....
Boards are pretty easy to design.....yes clearly alot of knowledge and experience required to create an excellent shape but as a pure design exercise a sail is more challenging to get right.
I have designed both multiple times and that is my experience...