Finally another brand has released a competitor to the JP SLW. Hope it's cheaper than the JP, then I might have a chance of owning one! I'm really surprised Starboard haven't released something similar since their board range is so extensive. Sorry this isn't a review, it would be if I could afford one.

Oh, at 241 and 147 thought it was an I sonic for fat boys.

But then again the Falion lightwind is not shown as a Freeride board in the range so perhaps it is just a falcon for fat boys even though the video spiel by fanatic tends to indicate otherwise

The new JP SLW like real nice.
Updated shape & cutouts.
What are he specs? God knows cos I've not found anything on the 2017 range. ??

first there was the JP SLW90, right ??
wrong !!
the first Formula boards were narrower than the current 100 cm
the BIC Techno Formula came out in 2002 and was 93 cm wide
it was a trimm fin first and eventually tuttle and then disappeared
great board , but top speed limited
still show up in used market for reasonable price !!

THEN there was the JP SLW90 in around 2010
and I believe the SLW92 came out BEFORE the SB UltraSonic/US 147
then there was only ONE SLW91 in 2015

Also, around 2015 there were Fanatic Falcon 152, Tabou Speedster 89, RRD X-Fire LightWind 150 and the Exocet RS 6.5



and if you can't afford one new, get one used !!
just have to be patient and keep your eyes open ...

AND i believe the recent success of big, wide , early planing boards led to the "free-move" board development

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djl070 said..

mark62 said..
Starboard have got something similar, it was released ages ago :)

http://www.star-board-windsurfing.com/2016/products/boards/ultrasonic

And before the Ultrasonic it was a Isonic 150,a mate had one and did its job ,not an alternative for Formula,just another light wind option.

theres an Ultrasonic & RRD 91w on the market now if anyone is looking....

Im considering a RS6 but its only 82 wide

I have an ultrasonic...revolutionised light wind sailing for me. Really fun board that has tripled my planing days!!!!

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snorkel692 said...

I have an ultrasonic...revolutionised light wind sailing for me. Really fun board that has tripled my planing days!!!!

What size sails are you using on the ultrasonic?

What sizes are being used on SLWs too?

And what wind conditions & water state?

I am using a reflex 9.7 on a 2015 jp slw. Works for me from nothing to solid seabreeze when i drop to 7.8 and 68cm wide board. Ive got a mistral 137 which is 82cm wide and the jp slw gets going way earlier. 92cm wide is great but pwa limit is 85cm so these boards are a bit rare. I cant imagine fanatics being cheap. The jp are great value, mine is perfect i wouldnt change a thing. Even better value second hand!

ads on all the time on SB for the Falcon family.

here is a JP SLW90 with a 9.5 in 8 to 14 knots
as a heavyweight , I take my JP SLW92 out in about 12 knots with a TR-4 10 m² sail



i really suck as a windsurfer no straps and poor sail trim
but here is an "average joe" heavyweight trying JP SLW92

and then there's cluffy on his SLW !!

My default is a 9.5 Gun Vector ( 3-cam); get it out anytime on that. My daughter sails it with a 5.0 and it works well...pretty versatile and as soon as she could sail a beginner board this is her default board, which is a bugger as we're then competing for it! I use the standard fin 95% of the time; when its windier ( like over 12 knots) I change down to a 52cm fin.

Once the Ultrasonic gets a bit bouncy its time to change down board as much as sail, so I use the 9.5 with it virtually all the time. I've had it out about 120 times already..lots of dastardly light wind up here!

And re what water conditions... Short steep chop even in lightish wind. The ultra means I can chuck one board and sail in the car and guarantee water time if I can escape work while there is light.

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Piv said..
I am using a reflex 9.7 on a 2015 jp slw. Works for me from nothing to solid seabreeze when i drop to 7.8 and 68cm wide board. Ive got a mistral 137 which is 82cm wide and the jp slw gets going way earlier. 92cm wide is great but pwa limit is 85cm so these boards are a bit rare. I cant imagine fanatics being cheap. The jp are great value, mine is perfect i wouldnt change a thing. Even better value second hand!

Have you seen the new JP SLW online. They look sooo sweet!

I'm not planing on selling my SLW 90 anytime soon as it's freeride heaven with it's smooth ride and long floaty gybes. However, if I was looking to upgrade my SLW I would probably get an isonic 134 85 wide. This is due to my recent experience with my new Isonic 97 and it's almost miraculous early planning abilities. Yes the Isonic's are wide which definitely helps but what I love about the 97 is the volume distribution. It has a ton of volume between the straps. I was worried at first about the very dished out nose but you never need to stand there so it's a non issue. first time out on the 97 was a very gusty westerly with a 7 metre R4 and in the lulls I found myself standing a lot further back than I usually would. I was expecting a few nose dives and general sinking around but it actually felt like my JP 68 wide which is 112 litres. The board was very easy to get going with a simple hook in and pull away and a few gentle pumps of the feet. Getting in the straps was painless too as I was already standing further back due to that volume placement so I didn't have to move my feet as far.

So getting to my point, I think an Isonic 134 at 85 wide might very well do the job of an older 90 wide board like mine due to the better volume placement. I realise width is the main factor in early planning but these Isonic's plane bloody early lol. My reasoning is that the sail I use on my SLW these days is only an 8.6 as I don't wan't to be using big rigs when I'm freeriding. The sail in the vid Joe posted is an 8.6 and you can see it's pretty cruisy stuff even though it was actually 15 to 20 knots that day. So based on this preference I think an Isonic 134 might do a good job. However If you want to use bigger rigs then a 90 wide board might be the go.

I haven't ridden the falcon light obviously but it looks like it would blow the doors off my old SLW town car. I might catch up slightly in gybes but I suspect by the first gybe mark that horse would already have bolted. Looking at the fanatic website the Falcon light seems to have a very powerful tail that would carry a big rig extremely well. Factor in to that the Falcon light hasn't had the grandpa treatment of the SLW and I think we are looking at the current lightwind weapon of choice for people who like to get going as early and as fast as possible in the light stuff. All the Falcon's are rocket ships my 90 litre falcon is a brown trousers death pencil it scared the crap out of me in Saturdays westerly lol.

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joe windsurf said...
here is a JP SLW90 with a 9.5 in 8 to 14 knots
as a heavyweight , I take my JP SLW92 out in about 12 knots with a TR-4 10 m² sail

i really suck as a windsurfer no straps and poor sail trim
but here is an "average joe" heavyweight trying JP SLW92

Now slide your front foot into the foot strap, then the back foot. Straighten your legs and all of a sudden you'll be going twice as fast.

Have we succumbed to the marketing yet again? So we can only use a board that has "Lightwind" written on it in light wind? There's a few beginner boards that make awesome Lightwind boards, any of the biggest GO models for example, my 180L Starboard Express is a cracking Lightwind aircraft carrier. They're heavy and not as 'high performance' as the dedicated Lightwind models but they're out there waiting for you to have fun on.

If anyone in wa gets one of the new lightwind machines please let me know because i would like to meet up and swap boards and or rigs to do a proper comparison.

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Piv said...
I am using a reflex 9.7 on a 2015 jp slw. Works for me from nothing to solid seabreeze when i drop to 7.8 and 68cm wide board. Ive got a mistral 137 which is 82cm wide and the jp slw gets going way earlier. 92cm wide is great but pwa limit is 85cm so these boards are a bit rare. I cant imagine fanatics being cheap. The jp are great value, mine is perfect i wouldnt change a thing. Even better value second hand!

Hi Piv,
What do you think of the new tail shape of the JP SLW?
I was looking at he JP site and the photos have a 6.7 V8 being used on it. In the vid there was an EVO maybe 7.8. These are small sails for this type of board wouldn't you think? Probably used because of the wind on the photo shoot day. Only guessing. Iv got to catch you on day this summer to have s look at your SLW. Dave

Bsn101 i just posted a new topic on the 2017 slw. I am a bit woried they are trying to increase its top end at the expense of its bottom end which is what i think most of us want this kind of board for. Also its 10cm shorter, my 2015 already seems very short. But weirner knows what he is doing so perhaps it really is a step forwards, which will be amazing.

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Piv said..
Bsn101 i just posted a new topic on the 2017 slw. I am a bit woried they are trying to increase its top end at the expense of its bottom end which is what i think most of us want this kind of board for. Also its 10cm shorter, my 2015 already seems very short. But weirner knows what he is doing so perhaps it really is a step forwards, which will be amazing.

Yep ive watched it about a dozen times!

Are there any other SLWs in Perth or similar? RRD, Ultrasonics ?

When i was looking for mine there were rumours of an rrd in perth but ive never seen it.

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Piv said..
When i was looking for mine there were rumours of an rrd in perth but ive never seen it.

theres an RRD on gumtree in WA that looks like light wind machine

I have windsurfed with SB Ultrasonic few times but anyways I bought RRD X-Fire Lightwind V2 for its looks. Both are nice but I feel that RRD goes faster

Trouble Maker

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Cluffy said..
I'm not planing on selling my SLW 90 anytime soon as it's freeride heaven with it's smooth ride and long floaty gybes. However, if I was looking to upgrade my SLW I would probably get an isonic 134 85 wide. This is due to my recent experience with my new Isonic 97 and it's almost miraculous early planning abilities. Yes the Isonic's are wide which definitely helps but what I love about the 97 is the volume distribution. It has a ton of volume between the straps. I was worried at first about the very dished out nose but you never need to stand there so it's a non issue. first time out on the 97 was a very gusty westerly with a 7 metre R4 and in the lulls I found myself standing a lot further back than I usually would. I was expecting a few nose dives and general sinking around but it actually felt like my JP 68 wide which is 112 litres. The board was very easy to get going with a simple hook in and pull away and a few gentle pumps of the feet. Getting in the straps was painless too as I was already standing further back due to that volume placement so I didn't have to move my feet as far.

So getting to my point, I think an Isonic 134 at 85 wide might very well do the job of an older 90 wide board like mine due to the better volume placement. I realise width is the main factor in early planning but these Isonic's plane bloody early lol. My reasoning is that the sail I use on my SLW these days is only an 8.6 as I don't wan't to be using big rigs when I'm freeriding. The sail in the vid Joe posted is an 8.6 and you can see it's pretty cruisy stuff even though it was actually 15 to 20 knots that day. So based on this preference I think an Isonic 134 might do a good job. However If you want to use bigger rigs then a 90 wide board might be the go.

I haven't ridden the falcon light obviously but it looks like it would blow the doors off my old SLW town car. I might catch up slightly in gybes but I suspect by the first gybe mark that horse would already have bolted. Looking at the fanatic website the Falcon light seems to have a very powerful tail that would carry a big rig extremely well. Factor in to that the Falcon light hasn't had the grandpa treatment of the SLW and I think we are looking at the current lightwind weapon of choice for people who like to get going as early and as fast as possible in the light stuff. All the Falcon's are rocket ships my 90 litre falcon is a brown trousers death pencil it scared the crap out of me in Saturdays westerly lol.

Should try one in Coal Pt chop with a slippery useless weedy so you can't even get out and commit to the harness to get mastfoot pressure... ..It should be better now I have a decent fin..

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sboardcrazy said..

Cluffy said..
I'm not planing on selling my SLW 90 anytime soon as it's freeride heaven with it's smooth ride and long floaty gybes. However, if I was looking to upgrade my SLW I would probably get an isonic 134 85 wide. This is due to my recent experience with my new Isonic 97 and it's almost miraculous early planning abilities. Yes the Isonic's are wide which definitely helps but what I love about the 97 is the volume distribution. It has a ton of volume between the straps. I was worried at first about the very dished out nose but you never need to stand there so it's a non issue. first time out on the 97 was a very gusty westerly with a 7 metre R4 and in the lulls I found myself standing a lot further back than I usually would. I was expecting a few nose dives and general sinking around but it actually felt like my JP 68 wide which is 112 litres. The board was very easy to get going with a simple hook in and pull away and a few gentle pumps of the feet. Getting in the straps was painless too as I was already standing further back due to that volume placement so I didn't have to move my feet as far.

So getting to my point, I think an Isonic 134 at 85 wide might very well do the job of an older 90 wide board like mine due to the better volume placement. I realise width is the main factor in early planning but these Isonic's plane bloody early lol. My reasoning is that the sail I use on my SLW these days is only an 8.6 as I don't wan't to be using big rigs when I'm freeriding. The sail in the vid Joe posted is an 8.6 and you can see it's pretty cruisy stuff even though it was actually 15 to 20 knots that day. So based on this preference I think an Isonic 134 might do a good job. However If you want to use bigger rigs then a 90 wide board might be the go.

I haven't ridden the falcon light obviously but it looks like it would blow the doors off my old SLW town car. I might catch up slightly in gybes but I suspect by the first gybe mark that horse would already have bolted. Looking at the fanatic website the Falcon light seems to have a very powerful tail that would carry a big rig extremely well. Factor in to that the Falcon light hasn't had the grandpa treatment of the SLW and I think we are looking at the current lightwind weapon of choice for people who like to get going as early and as fast as possible in the light stuff. All the Falcon's are rocket ships my 90 litre falcon is a brown trousers death pencil it scared the crap out of me in Saturdays westerly lol.

Should try one in Coal Pt chop with a slippery useless weedy so you can't even get out and commit to the harness to get mastfoot pressure... ..It should be better now I have a decent fin..

Sue My SLW is better in chop than you might think it kind of hovers along and doesn't drop much in the troughs and doesn't even lift off much unless I'm careless. As for Coalie, anyone who can break 30 knots in that chop has my respect. I usually take the Hawk or the Tabou 3S it's way easier and not much slower than I would manage on slalom gear.