Why I'm thinking about this for my next purchase:

I'd love to get more time in the surf but I honestly haven't been out in years. Work and family and events and travel time and on top of all at needing the right conditions mean it just isn't going to realistically happen. I'm never going get to sail cross offshore unless I go on a dedicated holiday, for example. By myself.

Freestyle doesn't work either because time on water is so precious I end up spending it all blasting and jumping and gybing. Enjoying myself rather than grinding away at improving myself, if you follow.

Bump and jump is what I do.

So, if I were looking to up the adrenaline a little it seems speed might be where it's at. I've taken slalom gear out for a ride and found it no problem to handle or gbye and quite loved the fully powered up sensation and riding the fin and being able to power upwind etc. etc. more fun than it might appear.

And of course GPS pops up on the radar if I get slalom gear, which prompts this question; why not just get full-on speed gear?

I'd be sailing Kyeemagh in a NEr. And probably nothing else. It's pool table flat and a nice angle for a speed run. Is there any reason I should pick a slalom board over something even wilder? I can't recall seeing anyone on a speed board ever So perhaps I'm missing something.

(I'd still keep wave gear for storms)

'Speed' boards really only really come into their own in stronger winds and speeds over high 30's. (Unless you are smaller or larger than 'average' ). So unless you regularly get winds in the high 20's and over, you will probably go just as fast and have more fun on a smallish slalom board (with approximately 10-15 litres more volume than your body weight). Most of the top 80-90 litre slalom boards are quite capable of 40 knots in the right conditions, although when they are, you could likely gain a knot or three in a smaller 'Speed' board.

There are a few 'Speed' boards in the 80-90 litres size range and in broad reaching conditions on flatish water, they are probably slightly faster than the pure Slalom boards, but the extra versatility of the Slalom boards would make them a lot more fun in most conditions. More riding = more fun!

Slalom boards are quicker than speed boards in decent size chop from my experience.

More comfortable especially when the wind picks up too.

Speed boards are very poor at going upwind due to their extreme narrowness.

Had two and couldn't wait to get rid of them!

Select to expand quote

sailquik said..
'Speed' boards really only really come into their own in stronger winds and speeds over high 30's. (Unless you are smaller or larger than 'average' ). So unless you regularly get winds in the high 20's and over, you will probably go just as fast and have more fun on a smallish slalom board (with approximately 10-15 litres more volume than your body weight). Most of the top 80-90 litre slalom boards are quite capable of 40 knots in the right conditions, although when they are, you could likely gain a knot or three in a smaller 'Speed' board.

There are a few 'Speed' boards in the 80-90 litres size range and in broad reaching conditions on flatish water, they are probably slightly faster than the pure Slalom boards, but the extra versatility of the Slalom boards would make them a lot more fun in most conditions. More riding = more fun!

Cheers. Very useful info.

Go to gpsteamchallenge.com.au/ and check out one of the NSW teams sessions and see what they are riding. Better still go to one the speed spots when it is windy and check out the gear that they use.

Yes

Buy 2 speed boards, 3 slalom boards and 1 formula board.

I'm an intermediate sailor in WA evlPanda. I've been a member of a GPS TC team for several years. I have two young kids so time is precious and taking road trips to speed strips is rare.

I bought a 54cm wide speed board a few years back to compliment 1x med and 1x large slalom boards. But in 12 months (with my personal constraints) I never got to use it in suitable conditions - steady 25+ knots with flat water. So I traded it for a smallish slalom board which I could use more often.

Since then I've traded my slalom boards for freeride boards. For me at my level, they are just as fast but can be used in a wider variety of conditions and are considerably easier to gybe, especially when you are tired. Right now I'm considering a second hand 95L Tabou Rocket as my "speed" board 'cause I can't get enough speed out of mmy FSW.

As Sailquik says "More riding = more fun!"

What sailquik & paddymac said. My 90 l slalom board gets used about 20 times more often than my 62 l speed board.The days where everything lines up for the speed board to be the right choice are just to rare where I sail, even though I get about 100-150 days on the water each year. My wife uses the speed board more than I do - but when the wind dies, she sinks only to her ankles (if that), not to her hips like I would.

I've never seen anyone riding a speed board, something around 55cms in width at Kyeemagh. The NE seabreeze would be too inconsistent to make riding a speed board much fun. Unless you want to go sailing at one of the lakes north or south of Sydney its probably not a good idea to buy one. Even then the wind is usually too inconsistent to make riding a speed board much fun on most days.

If you consistently sail at Lake George SA where the wind seems to be a steady 20 knots plus, and by steady I mean steady, a speed board would definitely be a viable purchase.

I have used a 46cm wide board out there a couple of times and the wind and the chop is a big issue. The chop especially wants to catch the rail and through you off. When you do get a run you are so broad you end up down the bay. Your best choice would be a 90 liter slalom board is the go.

Select to expand quote

boardsurfr said..
What sailquik & paddymac said.

Yep. I have an 87 litre isonic which is exactly in the range sailquik mentioned, ie 10-15 litres above my weight. So it's uphaulable and can be used from the very lowest end of the wind range (~16kts) up to high 20's on flat water. Heaps of fun. And I sail back from the end of a speed run. Definately fast enough to scare the sheet out of me.

Yes! according to N+1 rule