Like most people who are in the hunt for new gear I read the reviews. The trouble is, I would need to be gun sailor to make sense of the analysis. Secondly could I tell the difference between sailing a rig worth $2K and $1K? Is the price vs performance a linear relationship? I would be interested to know if equipment manufacturues have their gear reviewed by a folks with varying levels of skill.

On this site, anyone can do a review, which is appropriate, we need to know what a beginner, entry level sailor thinks of equipment, as for manufacturues?

Hazzelbanger said...

Like most people who are in the hunt for new gear I read the reviews. The trouble is, I would need to be gun sailor to make sense of the analysis. Secondly could I tell the difference between sailing a rig worth $2K and $1K? Is the price vs performance a linear relationship? I would be interested to know if equipment manufacturues have their gear reviewed by a folks with varying levels of skill.

Can be tricky working out if a sail is good, great or a dud in your own hands.
This year (near on zilch experience for me) I tried Loft 02'S the 7.4 went great first run the 6.6 however, wasn't even close.
However I managed to trash the 7.4 and had to use the 6.6 for a while.
Too my surprise after faffing with settings, its just brilliant compared to a couple of other brands I have.
So the moral is, you may need a few test runs before you can make a call.
Other more skilled, may have sussed the 6.6 out in a short time, me it took a few runs with it. Oh and they are "not mast specific (not that it ever makes much difference too me and my skill) But for those who are going for that fraction of an edge, some brands set better on mast designed for that brand.

The tests in the British windsurfing mags (Boards and Windsurf) are performed by sailors with varying skills from intermediate to expert. They have their regular testers who are usually associated with the mag, can sail very well and have tested A LOT of gear. Then they invite along a range of "guest testers", usually your average weekend punters, often people who are in the market for a new board/sail.

I found that one of the best ways to research the equipment is to go to www.zinio.com. Download the specific issue of the mag that contains the review of your board (you can see the contents page before you buy).

By reading a number of reviews from various issues, and trying to find reviews of boards/sails you have previously tried, you learn how to read between the lines of the review language (ie. most reviews are positive because they don't want to upset advertisers - but some reviews are more positive than others). So reading a single review in isolation from the rest of the article is often useless.

The tests in these mags also have useful snippets in the margins that will help you to understand the marketing information - such as volume vs width, "traditional" vs "new gen" wrt waveboards, mast/sail combos etc.

Good luck!

Well it's true that most board manufacturers now have two waveboard lines.
"Traditionals" and "New Gens" sounds better to me than
"Skinnies" and "Fatties"

Leech said...

Well it's true that most board manufacturers now have two waveboard lines.
"Traditionals" and "New Gens" sounds better to me than
"Skinnies" and "Fatties"

The Trads are getting wider and and shorter and the new gens are getting narrower in the tail soon theyll be the same board.
They started the litreage thing and now they seem to be poo pooing it.