Picked up a new '12 Fanatic Hawk 110L (245 x 65) a few weeks ago and am really impressed with this board.
So far have used it with a 6, 6.6 & 7.8 freerace sails with 36cm fanatic freeride fin & 40cm black project race fin.

I think this is the ideal board for moreton bay blasting, with my 80kg sits in the water enough to carve through the chop and feels fast, is really responsive to where you want it to go when planning ( and off the plane); gybing heaven, then has just enough buoyancy to uphaul if the wind drops off out the back.

If your not into GPS and just want to go out and have some serious fun then this is the board.

Was on a older 7.5m KA koncerpt other day,around 2009.

Compared to current model sails it felt so light!

Cam rotation was heaven,nearly as good as a no cammed sail.

Then i sailed a unnamed 2012 7.8m on same board and it felt about twice as heavy.

What feels great may not be fast.

Think they have taken this performance obsession thing too far,especially with the wide luff pockets.

With boards will have to try the model back from slalom to see if they are more enjoyable to sail.

Sounds like a nice board Stanly, think I may need to bum a ride off you

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Haggar said...
Sounds like a nice board Stanly, think I may need to bum a ride off you

Will have to drop into redcliffe over the Xmas hols

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petermac33 said...
Was on a older 7.5m KA koncerpt other day,around 2009.

Compared to current model sails it felt so light!

Cam rotation was heaven,nearly as good as a no cammed sail.

Then i sailed a unnamed 2012 7.8m on same board and it felt about twice as heavy.

What feels great may not be fast.

Think they have taken this performance obsession thing too far,especially with the wide luff pockets.

With boards will have to try the model back from slalom to see if they are more enjoyable to sail.

a lot of sailors get caught up thinking that the slalom sails are great for light wind, i dont think antoine or bjoern stand on the beach thinking hmm looks like 8.6m weather but i reackon if i pump for a bit ill get the 7.8 going...

newer race sails are about stability, power and efficiency when powered up.


oh and the hawks are great fun, good jumping and gybing boards

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jsnfok said...

petermac33 said...
Was on a older 7.5m KA koncerpt other day,around 2009.

Compared to current model sails it felt so light!

Cam rotation was heaven,nearly as good as a no cammed sail.

Then i sailed a unnamed 2012 7.8m on same board and it felt about twice as heavy.

What feels great may not be fast.

Think they have taken this performance obsession thing too far,especially with the wide luff pockets.

With boards will have to try the model back from slalom to see if they are more enjoyable to sail.

a lot of sailors get caught up thinking that the slalom sails are great for light wind, i dont think antoine or bjoern stand on the beach thinking hmm looks like 8.6m weather but i reackon if i pump for a bit ill get the 7.8 going...

newer race sails are about stability, power and efficiency when powered up.


oh and the hawks are great fun, good jumping and gybing boards

I gotta say that my slalom sail is excellent in light wind, it's 8m (I'm 92kg) Even fully downhauled I use an adjustable OH and have no problem with planing in 12 knots and I can hold onto it (just) in gusts up to 25 knots. So the range is excellent. they are more fiddly to tune but rewarding when set up right. But if you want fuss free easier to rig and not fussed about an extra few percent of performance then a free race sail is the go. For me in a large size I wouldn't consider anything else but a slalom sail.

Petermac, if your sail felt heavy then it may not have been rigged correctly.

Btw, the Hawks are a great board. Every time I've jumped on one I've been impressed with the smooth easy performance and xcellent jibing. Enjoy it!

Make sure you open the breather screw if you store the Hawk anywhere hot as my recent beloved 2009 Hawk 93 suffered a full bottom delamination (the Fanatic light sandwich construction is pretty thin so take care).