Slalom Board opinions

Looking to purchase dedicated slalom boards for the up coming season and am looking for opinions, good and bad on

Carbon Art vs Fanatic Falcons vs Starboard Isonic

Boards would be in the 105-110 litre and 90-95 litre (or more importantly 58-60 wide) range

gybing, straight line speed, speed potential, control in rough water , ease of sailing - for a slalom board ;-) ???

Thanks

If your looking at Carbon Art it would be worth loking at Mistral , i have the 112 Mistral and is super fast, Great turn of speed and effortless drive makes it a great board for Gps/Slalom work.Amazed at how easy it is to drive fast.Havent found a bad thing about it yet.
I also have the Tabou Manta 113 ,its a really comfy ride, its easy gybe and quick to plain, it isnt as quick as the Mistral but is super comy and easy to drive. Good on ruff sloppy water.
Probably not the answer your looking for but i love both these boards hence the reason i have two in the same size.

Contrary to Mark's opinion on Falcons, I love mine. I am 90kg and sail my gear pretty hard and am stoked with the boards - they are light and fast, and I haven't had any problems with construction after caning them for 12 months.

I have 2012 models of Falcon in sizes 113, 99 and 79. My favourites are the 113 (69 wide) as it is fast for its size and so easy to sail, and the 79 (56 wide) because for such a small board (sinks with me on it) it is easy to sail and fast. The 99 is a great board too but you always have your favourites!

Speed is good, gybing slalom boards is always hard (compared to waveboards or freestyle boards) but I find the Falcons gybe as good as any other, and they eat the chop when you ride the right fin they sail straight over the top of the chop, not through it.

I had a mate buy a couple of Mistrals off Slowy and they look awesome, and he rates them highly. Next bit of wind we have I am taking his gear for a quick spin to compare. probably worth a look at the Mistrals like fuges says as well.....

Everyone is going to have their favourites and really it is probably hard to pick a dud if you stick to the brands you mention (and Mistral) - I reckon go and demo a couple and see what you like best......

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TASSIEROCKS said..

I just ordered the 2014 Exocet RS2



Worth a look as well just ask Remi from the Windsurfing shed for details.

happy board hunting

Regards Russ

Russ I thought you would have given that naish you have in buy&sell a plug or is it gone

Hi Mr Fish,

I haven't sailed Falcons, but my last two boards were CA SL58 (58cm wide) and now an iSonic 90 (60cm). I found both boards really comfy in the chop and are fantastic to gybe. The CA is an easier, more passive ride where the board will do more of the work for you, while the iSonic is much more active and needs a driver, not a passenger.

I had many thousands of KMs on the Carbon Art, and the iSonic is on the way to many more. Just look at the amount of older iSonics on the market and you'll see that slalom boards can last a long time. Sail any slalom board flat out all day, and don't jump them and they should last many years.

Maybe Chris Ting will see this post, he's been on CA, Falcons and now iSonics.

I've had quite a few slalom boards over the past few seasons searching for a controlled, responsive and quick board that is ocean friendly and still fast on the flat.

I'm 96kg and sail mainly in open water in wa. I've found the following work for me. RRD V5 114l 15-20kts Tabou Manta 100l 18-25kts Tabou Manta 87l 20-30kts

Hope this helps

Starboard Isonics all the way....I'm not byast at all!!

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firiebob said..

Everyone's going to pimp their ride

Me, I love my Carbon Arts, not made in the cobra factory, can talk to or email direct the guy who owns CA (James) and who is very helpful. I'm on my 2nd SL58 and have a brand new unused SL66. I sail open ocean 99% of the time and find them nice. Oh yeh and I can order them in red

The only other brand I would consider would be a Mistral and no I've never sailed one, not made by Cobra, designed by and I think imported by Chris Lockwood.

But honestly I don't believe anyone would make a bad slalom now days, as Vando said they'd just feel different.

My uneducated 2c worth

Unused Sl66 That's disgusting That with Venom 40 and a 7.5 mmmmmmmm

Thanks for all the replies, keep em coming

Unfortunately i'm in New Zealand and demoing some of the boards is not possible.

I have ridden some of the earlier CA's but understand that they have changed a bit in the last few years ?

Wasn't considering the isonics until a friend recently went to them from CA's and has been really impressed.

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djl070 said..

Mark _australia said..



In order:



Yes - falls to bits - yes

What falls to bits on the Falcons?

3 threads here about delam in the last year or so - 2 were Fanatic slalom boards and one was a Fanatic freestyle board. None were abused. All had major delam after not much use.
I'd not risk it.

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kato said..

firiebob said..

Everyone's going to pimp their ride

Me, I love my Carbon Arts, not made in the cobra factory, can talk to or email direct the guy who owns CA (James) and who is very helpful. I'm on my 2nd SL58 and have a brand new unused SL66. I sail open ocean 99% of the time and find them nice. Oh yeh and I can order them in red

The only other brand I would consider would be a Mistral and no I've never sailed one, not made by Cobra, designed by and I think imported by Chris Lockwood.

But honestly I don't believe anyone would make a bad slalom now days, as Vando said they'd just feel different.

My uneducated 2c worth

Unused Sl66 That's disgusting That with Venom 40 and a 7.5 mmmmmmmm

Just been looking at it, winds blowing but after eye opp doc says no I've got a 42 Venom and a 7.8 rearing to go

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Mark _australia said..

djl070 said..

Mark _australia said..

In order:

Yes - falls to bits - yes

What falls to bits on the Falcons?

3 threads here about delam in the last year or so - 2 were Fanatic slalom boards and one was a Fanatic freestyle board. None were abused. All had major delam after not much use.
I'd not risk it.

If one did a Google search for 'windsurf board delamination', read on and you'll notice delam issues with many other brands apart from Fanatic including Thommen, Mistral, Starboards and JP's! Also heard of delam probs around footstraps with Tabou Rockets (now have a Rocket after my Fanatic Hawk suffered a full bottom delam - vent plug not taken out when stored in shed the prob) as well as with a number of Tabou Mantas which many have raved about in this topic as being a great slalom board.

Let's face it, windsurf boards are advanced composites and there are bound to be some faulty products in any manufacturing process, either design, construction, materials or production related (I once worked as a Quality Inspector for a composite aircraft manufacturer and have seen my share of faults!).

On the subject of Fanatic boards, possibly what Mark-australia is getting at (correct me if I'm wrong Mark, which I'm sure you will!) is that SOME Fanatic boards appear to be lightly built compared to others, which is what I suspect from my own experience, also based on comments from a well respected WA board repairer and other Fanatic owners including a number on the Fanatic windsurf forum as well as on this forum. Even their so-called 'extremely durable layup with a very high strength to weight ratio' that they used in their std Freewaves and Allwaves a number of years ago has been criticised by some for not being anywhere near as durable as they make out!

So would I buy another Fanatic board? Hmmmm............

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firiebob said..

Kazza said..

By the way if your also looking for tough structure as well, my Isonic just had a huge head on collision with another board at full speed, didn't want to look at it but I did and the nose only had a few paint cracks on it, I'm absolutely amazed with it. :)

Kazza, PM Snags and ask him how tough his is (was)
Hope that leg of yours is mending, looked fully painful.

Yer I suppose it comes down to points on impact, some area's are marshmello, some area's are tough as, depends where you hit.

I reckon give them all a demo MrFish.

My cut is infected from the tropical waters so lot's of strong antibotics for me and a week of putting my leg up which I'm not really minding after the full on week at GI

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easty said..

I currently sail a 2005 *Board Sonic 90. I love sailing this board, but it is the only slalom board I have ever sailed.
What differences would I notice if I jumped on a CA SL55? They appear to be similar dimensions and shapes.
I'm 72Kg, and am happy to sail a bit de-tuned. I prefer to sail with freerace sails (5.3 and 6.6) rather than sails with cambers, and prefer to be under control most of the time.
I have a tax return coming up. Would I benefit from the upgrade?

Lucky bugger..I only get to pay accountant fees.. could use the $500 towards a board..

Easty whatever brand you get the modern boards are way smoother and user freindly then your old pointy nose. I reckon there will be lot's of Starboard Isonics for sale in the very near future down here.