Hi,

Anyone know anything about Delta boards? There's one on E-bay but never read any reviews on them. How do the tri-fins sail - any good?

Mr Bugus I've had my Euphoria (tri fin) board nearly a year now and they really excel in our W.A. conditions, but instead of dribbling on and on how good they are, the person you need to talk to is the Delta man himself, Marty Littlewood. Check out the below web sites they both have all the info you'll need regarding the Euphoria. Another person worth contacting is Robbie Raddis.

www.deltadesigns.com.au
www.kineticsports.com/euphoria.htm

depends how old it is, may not be a euphoria.
Delta's been making tri fins since last century.
They were all originally polyester/urethane, heavier than the later styro/epoxy, so it's a good idea to find out just what it is.
But whatever, they have a good reputation.

I have been using the Euphoria shape for 2 seasons now and have four of them in the shed now. Best shape I have ever ridden, sailed in big stuff and little stuff and can't really fault them in most conditions. The transition from single fin to thruster takes a little getting used to at first and puts some people off I think. A 2 + 1 setup (2 side bitters and 1 normal centre fin) is a useful transition and works well in the really big stuff where you want a bit more down the line speed. 99% of the time I have them set up with the 3 equal size fins. It pays to experiment with fin positioning in order to find the best compromise between control and looseness.

I too am a convert . I absolutely love my Euphoria 85 , for a biggish guy , 90 kgs , this thing rips . I am using the smaller side fins as I like a bit of speed , and it,s no slouch , I rarely get passed ,but it,s manouverability and shere "fun factor" are it,s strongest points . Do yourself a favour and try one !!!!

Hi Sando,

How are the Euphorias handling the Gero winds and all the jumping you guys do up there? Are you sailing Kinetics or Delta customs?

Cheers, Jens

Hi All,

mr love, I'm thinking about replacing my 88Acid with a euphoria, my wife got the 63 recently and totally digs it, but I wasn't sure if it would suit my style as I like fast boards as well as a loose feel.

What sail range do you use with your 85?

I see the 85 is 58.5cm wide, don't you find it a bit 'big' in high winds?
I'm thinking maybe the 77 would be a better bet as it's 56cm wide (same as my Acid)

I'm about 90kilos

Anyone else got one? How fat are you?

Cheers

Hi Sinker,

I weigh 83 kg's and sail my 77 litre Kinetic thruster most of the time but then again I live in a windy place. The 77L is the best board in the range in my opinion for someone around 75-85 kg if you do get 18 knot plus wind on a regular basis.

At 90 kg if your sailing mainly in 15-18 knot wind range I would go the 85 litre board.

A friend on mine has a 70 litre Kinetic and wieghs the sames as me. He struggles a bit once the wind gets below 25 knots on that board so I don't think you will get to use your wifes 63 L board much.

Like I said before they do take a little getting to use too. Some people love em (like me) and some don't. People tell me that I am pretty much a front foot sailor rather than back foot which is probably explains why I like em.

Hi Sinker , it was a bit of a toss up for me between the 77 and 85 . I was actually replacing a Kombat 85 , so decided to stick with the same volume in the end .
The Euphoria 85 actually feels a little less in volume than the Kombat , and I am suprised how well behaved it is in harsh conditions , conditions in which the kombat 85 was definitely getting too big .The tail although wide is really thinned out dramatically , so it is not super volumous .
I am 90 kg,s and also race Formula , so I am used to sailing boards that are probably too big and being really overpowered , so maybe I am not the best judge.
I think you need to base your descision on what sail range you will use most . I am using 5.8 80 % of the time and on occasion have thrown a KA 6.6 Koncept slalom on it dumb as it sounds .My 4.7 only comes out in over 25 knots , which isn't that often .
I think if you are doing 4.5 to 5.5 most of the time I would go 77 , but if the bulk of your time is more in the 5.8 range I would go 85 .
Just a note on speed , they are not slow . There is a bit of extra drag from the 3 fins ,and they don't feel particularly quick , but I rarely get passed .
Hope I helped

Hi mr love,

Thanks, that's really useful info, generally I use either a 5.0 or 5.8 (about 50/50)on the Acid.

I rarely need to go down to the 4.7 and in lighter winds (20 or under) I use my Freewave board.

Guess I'll have to give both boards a try and see which feels best...

Cheers

my thoughts...go the 85 sinker,

i think the 77 would be cool in powerd up 5m conditions, but i think you'll be battling in the 5.8 weather, which is quite a lot of the time for us 90kgers. The 85 will probably cover both size sails better and get u on more waves in the long run.....maybe invest in a cheap old secondhand trad wave board for these rare 25knt+ days and trips up north or even better buy both boards

Hi Sinker,
I weigh 78 kg and have had a euphoria 77 for a year; easily the best board I've had (have had lots); sailing mainy waves. For me, the 77 feels a bit lower volume than most similar vol boards I've had; relatively sinky. I reckon I need 18 knots with a 5.3 wavesail to get going well, so I think @ 90 kg you'd need a lot of wind to get the most out of the 77. Assuming the different boards sail the same relative to sailor's weight, I'd agree with other comments that you'd love the 85.

Have Fun

Sold!!!

Let me know how it goes Simon

No worries Rooster, Nat says I've got to break the Acid in half before I can have a new board...!! Don't suppose you want to have a go on it do you?

Snapping *boards is my specialty Been through two of them Would love to do the deed so you can get a new stick mate. Dont tell Nat though

Hi Rooster
I "heard" that!!

OOps

Glad you didnt snap mine!!

Well finally managed to destroy my Acid, so what with it being 25-30 kn Yesterday I thought it would be a good chance to try out Nats board (63l Euphoria)

Being over 90k it was a tad small for me however gave me an idea of the feel of the Euphoria. It initially took a bit of grunt to pop onto the plane but got easier as I found the centre of balance.

I found that the tri-fin setup gave heaps of grip and didn't manage to spin it out. It points up well probably 5 degrees more than the Acid

It is both grippy and very loose at the same time giving it a skateboard feel. Turning on chop and waves it slices so sharply that it can trip you up.

It is not slow, I'm not sure how quick it would be in a straight line as I never managed to maintain a straight line with it!!

Jumping was quite scary as the slightest foot movement will cause a change in direction which has disastrous consequences if it happens just before takeoff (aaah headache....!)

Not sure if I want one as keeping it in a straight line was a bit like herding cats.... on the other hand it was totally good fun and maybe a slightly bigger one would be less frantic.

S

Your comments match a review of the Euphoria 70 in Boards magazine (UK):

On the Water:
Despite a relatively conventional new-gen planshape the Kinetic is definitely not from the same mould as the others, in many ways. The most noticeable peculiarity is the tri-fin arrangement that sees two 14.5cm toed-in thrusters accompanying a slightly smaller 13.5cm central fin. If this is visually the most striking feature, the most immediately noticeable when you get on the board is the extremely early departure of the nose rocker. The 2cm point is by some distance the furthest aft that we have ever measured.

Initially this means that you either need good wind to get going or you need to really work it onto the plane. If you sit and wait to be lifted onto the plane, you can wait a long time; there's so little planing flat that you really need to pump it up and get the relatively large combined fin area working for you. Once up and going the board becomes the loosest in a straight line that we can remember sailing. It doesn't really know which way forward is and although we wouldn't recommend this to novice wavesailors, it feels fun and exciting when you get used to it. Despite the looseness and delay to plane the board really will motor upwind on its many fins, given sufficient power.

Pitch stability (front to back) is almost non-existent so it gets knocked around a bit by the chop and certainly doesn't track well, bit it flicks up into a jump in the blink of an eye and can be thrown around off swell and waves in an instant. When cranked into a gybe it can be a bit unreliable and skaty if too much back foot pressure is used, and it needs to be banked off a wave to exit with speed. However, if you bury the rail (a lot easier to do than on most boards), it grips and turns superbly, giving one of the tightest and most fluent arcs ever.

It's a real shame that we didn't get more ideal wave conditions to use the board in, because from what waveriding we did get it looked likely to provide us with a real new and exciting experience.

...

Overall:
The Euphoria is clearly a very riding specific board and could be sensational for proper waves, particularly in cross-onshore conditions. It's inspirationally loose and really needs to be held back from turning rather than asked to.

As a 'one only' waveboard for UK conditions it's lacking in low power planing and is much better suited to riding than jumping. However, as a riding specific board for relatively strong winds ( a good Force 5) in decent waves it could be a perfect and very unusual and eye-catching quiver partner to something a shade more conventional.

Sinker , I haven,t riden the 63 , but from what you are describing the 85 sounds like it is definitely not so frantic . I have little trouble keeping mine going in a straight line and I find it acually planes up quite early ( although it definitely likes lots of power and a bit of pumping certainly helps ) I am not running the full thrusters but a large centre fin with the mini side fins . This will certainly help the straight line stability . I should try it with the thrusters to see how much the character changes .
Again I can,t stress how much I like this board .

Yeah, I didn't mean to sound negative, its a really good board.

Considering the one I tried was 25litres smaller than my current waveboard and it was my first time out on it I think it actually got planing pretty well (just takes a bit of getting used to like any new board)