So here's a question for you. How much has equipment changed in the last 7 years and how much of a difference would the recreation sailor notice.

Let's talk boards. And sails.

I started windsurfing 30 or so years ago and there's a massive change since then. But what about the last 7 years, has it just been tweaking and hard core marketing or have things fundamentally shifted?

I just swapped my 2001-2004 naish board and ezzy sails for 2013 JP FSW and severne rigs. . Same size: 100l board. 4.7 and 6.0 sails.

Here is what I notice:
Boards are wider = earlier planning
They are not faster
They turn easier. You can change the radius of a jibe during the jibe = more successful jibes.
Booms are lighter. Got a carbon enigma now.
Sails have more range. I can sail in 5knots more.
Easier to jump.
Less spin out
Point higher into wind.

Freestyle boards and wave boards have changed a lot in the last seven years.

2 years ago I took a 2001 F2 Maui Project wave board to Gnaraloo. Last year I took a 2013 Starboard Nuevo. The difference was massive. I've only sailed a few multi-fin boards but the Nuevo is a brilliant board that allowed me to sail in a completely different style and do stuff I could only dream of on the F2.

So I'd say that there has been a big development in wave boards in the last seven years, a lot of it down to the development of multi-fin boards.

The difference between 2006 and 2009 on Freestyle boards was pretty big. Earlier planing and better pop. I haven't sailed a FS board newer than 2009 so can't comment on the change since then.

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Yuppy said..

I just swapped my 2001-2004 naish board and ezzy sails for 2013 JP FSW and severne rigs. . Same size: 100l board. 4.7 and 6.0 sails.

Here is what I notice:
Boards are wider = earlier planning
They are not faster
They turn easier. You can change the radius of a jibe during the jibe = more successful jibes.
Booms are lighter. Got a carbon enigma now.
Sails have more range. I can sail in 5knots more.
Easier to jump.
Less spin out
Point higher into wind.

You should write copy for the brochures.

It's a good question this. Have they or will they soon reach a plateau?
Fanatic I've noticed is often completely honest and says they don't change a thing from year to year to year for some of their boards. Except the graphics.

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evlPanda said..

It's a good question this. Have they or will they soon reach a plateau?
Fanatic I've noticed is often completely honest and says they don't change a thing from year to year to year for some of their boards. Except the graphics.

yep - I often wonder how much is marketing spin and how much is improvement. One things that changed over the years is the proliferation of boards. It used to be One Design, it moved to slalom and wave. These days, you have a hell of a lot more choice.

But in the last 7 years, I am not convinced things have moved on a great deal.

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Yuppy said..

I just swapped my 2001-2004 naish board and ezzy sails for 2013 JP FSW and severne rigs. . Same size: 100l board. 4.7 and 6.0 sails.

Here is what I notice:
Boards are wider = earlier planning
They are not faster
They turn easier. You can change the radius of a jibe during the jibe = more successful jibes.
Booms are lighter. Got a carbon enigma now.
Sails have more range. I can sail in 5knots more.
Easier to jump.
Less spin out
Point higher into wind.

May be YOU are just better.

Sails: Speaking of KA: There is always tweaking and incremental changes. Sometimes there are major changes eg. going lower aspect in the Koncepts in 2012. Some years there is only minor tweaking. Sail development tends to reach plateaus and then take significant steps up. Some times it might be a few years of plateau in some models while at other times and in other models there are big steps forward on an annual basis (or less) before the next plateau.

With board it is similar. There are so many flavours out there that the differences between them can be huge! But individual model development from year to year is like with the sails. Sometimes significant, some times not. Sometimes (often?) the designers are just changing the performance area emphasis in a model to suit what they think suits their market.

With most brands and models, I am pretty confident that after an upgrade from 3 or 4 years older to current, most sailors will notice a significant difference.

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sailquik said..

... development tends to reach plateaus and then take significant steps up.

I think that's a very good and accurate description that applies to both boards and sails. Sometimes, a given design is a local optimum, and small changes actually make things worse (at least in some aspects). So year-to-year, the changes are not always noticable or positive. But over 4 or 7 years, you'll usually have a quite a bit of improvement. I have replaced 8-10 year old gear a couple of times just because it fell apart, even though I still liked it a lot, and was surprised how much better the new gear was. With big jumps like that, though, you sometimes have to adjust your technique a bit to really enjoy the new gear.

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boardsurfr said..

sailquik said..

... development tends to reach plateaus and then take significant steps up.

I think that's a very good and accurate description that applies to both boards and sails. Sometimes, a given design is a local optimum, and small changes actually make things worse (at least in some aspects). So year-to-year, the changes are not always noticable or positive. But over 4 or 7 years, you'll usually have a quite a bit of improvement. I have replaced 8-10 year old gear a couple of times just because it fell apart, even though I still liked it a lot, and was surprised how much better the new gear was. With big jumps like that, though, you sometimes have to adjust your technique a bit to really enjoy the new gear.

Interesting, maybe I should re-phrase the question. What have been the major step changes (as opposed to incremental tinkering) in sails and boards over the last years?

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Sputnik11 said..

Interesting, maybe I should re-phrase the question. What have been the major step changes (as opposed to incremental tinkering) in sails and boards over the last years?

To me the biggest difference is range. Looking at race sails and boards, the wind ranges you can push them in now is really quite ridiculous. Even compared to only a few seasons ago. The boards have become quite a bit wider, but tail sizes have somewhat reduced (like the RRD/Starboard tail designs) which gives you more control in highwind whilst at the same time boosts your lightwind performance [*not actually marketing spin].

Definitely though, the gear has NOT got any faster (I agree with Yuppy). It has got friendlier in my belief. But it's incremental .. i don't think you need to go and buy new gear every season by any means ... but every 4-5 seasons you can see pretty radical changes and improvements.

I think a lot of the comparisons here are from gear that is 10+ years old when your average slalom board was 270-280cm.

The question was 7 years old, so that would be 2007 equipment.

Here are some 2007 board examples to help people align their feedback with 7 years old equipment ...

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quatro25 said..

I think a lot of the comparisons here are from gear that is 10+ years old when your average slalom board was 270-280cm.

The question was 7 years old, so that would be 2007 equipment.

not quite sure what you mean here quatro - is this a picture of 2007 equipment? or 2104? guessing the latter - can you get the same pic for 2007?

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FlickySpinny said..
Freestyle boards and wave boards have changed a lot in the last seven years.
2 years ago I took a 2001 F2 Maui Project wave board to Gnaraloo. ... The difference was massive.

2001 is 13 years ago.