Hi Seabreezers,


Neil and Matt here from Windtech. We just wanted to formally say hello and let you know about the re launch of Windtech.


Many of you are aware of the legacy of Windtech from an earlier era of Windsurfing.
To have the opportunity to re apply Windtech's precision and functional shaping to Windsurfing is a very exciting journey for us.

The core windtech innovation is Active Trim technology. This is effectively an elegant adjustable tail rocker system that allows you to transform your board relative to conditions.

There are 2 analogies that are effective to intuitively demonstrate what this technology does.

1. A hard tail vs a soft tail mountain bike analogy gives some insight into the control that is delivered in varying sea states.

2. The ability to adjust the tail rocker has a lot in common with the ability to down haul a sail - leave the leech tight for power or loosen it up for high wind control.

We have explored a combination of fast continuous rockers with longer rail lines and we are really happy with the overall feel this design element delivers.
We believe we have a product that delivers something truly different yet highly functional to Windsurfers.

And if you value carving turns and gybes you are going to be over the moon with the turns and exit speed Windtech technology delivers.


The overall design concept delivers such improved all round performance and range that we believe (at this stage) we only need 2 models in varying sizes. - a Speed/ Freeride / Race range - The Silver Bullet.

And a wave range - The Magic Bullet.

The wave board has proven to be an incredible revelation - Such is the massive influence of adjustable tail rocker you can have a wave board that is CRAZY fast and ridiculously loose all at the same time.

We have put a heavy focus on grip and drive in the wave boards and as such we have come up with a board that is great in small waves yet also hero maker when the waves get over head high. For large waves confidence and speed in bottom turns combined with lip projection (to keep you out of trouble) is the golden combo.

We are leaning towards deeper fin / single / bonzer set ups on the wave boards as we are committed to keeping boards fast for maximised early planing, upwind ability and absolutely maxxed out jump height.

The lean towards deeper fins maintains a similar fin efficiency / lift feel between disciplines so that when you switch from race / speed to wave sailing you maintain efficiencies and speed.

The Silver Bullet - Speed / Freeride / Race boards are ready to go. Available in 72cm wide and 64 cm wide models.
The wave boards are in final beta.


There is so much we could say - but a video can do it a lot more effectively so:




We are doing a launch special - with preordered boards available at a significant discount.


Check out our website for more details

https://www.windtechwindsurf.com/

Good stuff, Neil is back!
Liked your early '90's rocker for slalom boards, just a slight bit of rocker to free up the widepoint in choppy waters.
Owned a bunch of your Kinetic slalom shapes, but they were too heavy for your shapes to be effective in slalom races. They were great fast freeride boards, however. I know, Kinetic made them heavy because they didn't have the technology to make lightweight styro epoxy boards then.

Exciting!

Does that carbon tail plate actually flex while you are sailing, or is it just adjustable to a fixed position?

Btw, dont know about anyone else, but the subtitles on the video told me that Matt is ripping the wives

As a weekend free riding hack, which is probably not your target market, but anyway, looking at your board specs the big question I have is about the lenghth of the boards. Significantly longer than mainstream equivalent boards today. Care to share the the reason? My apologies if it is obvious to the experts.

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Simonzee said..
Exciting!

Does that carbon tail plate actually flex while you are sailing, or is it just adjustable to a fixed position?

Btw, dont know about anyone else, but the subtitles on the video told me that Matt is ripping the wives

The tail flexes while sailing as soon as there is any travel applied via the Active Trim adjuster. In light wind you can lock it off for a traditional hard tail feel.

At the moment, on the Freeride / Race board (The Silver Bullet) I leave mine as a hard tail in the bottom 1/3 of my sail's wind range.

As soon as I start to have any power i am craving the control that the Active trim gives in chop (and fin power management) so I start putting some travel into the tail.

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Orange Whip said..
As a weekend free riding hack, which is probably not your target market, but anyway, looking at your board specs the big question I have is about the lenghth of the boards. Significantly longer than mainstream equivalent boards today. Care to share the the reason? My apologies if it is obvious to the experts.

The length is a key part of our product differentiation. The longer boards allow us to apply rockers we feel the board needs to be as fast as possible. These are generally shallow fast continuous curves.

The planing action is very smooth and progressive without the power threshold / bump that modern short boards need to overcome to get planing. That isn't to say that modern designs are not functional , we are just offering an alternative that suits the way we like to sail.

The boards are actually very "freeridey" due to the way the Active Trim Technology lets the boards gybe. I am loving the gybing ability of the boards, the carve action and exit speed is particularly bonkers.

The narrower widths also deliver a bit more feel compared to wider boards (this is not a criticism of wider boards ,we are simply offering an alternative)

This is great to see!

I had two Windtech boards in the early 90's, and one of them, an 8'11" bump and jump from memory, was without doubt one of the best boards I've ever owned.

When l got the wind bug years ago .l remember the old skool guys using them.they use to fang.

Can you give more details on your wave boards?

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barbarian said..
Can you give more details on your wave boards?

Yes that were nice

We have a Prolite in our GPS team which is the riders main board. Its way quicker than his wave board

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barbarian said..
Can you give more details on your wave boards?

The all round wave board has been signed off - its around 85 litres - has a crazy fast rocker and a narrow ish tail to control the speed that the entry, rocker line and fin set up delivers.

The gybe is just insane on this board - I am literally getting slingshotted out of the gybe with speed to burn.

The 95 litre board is based on the same concept. We are going to keep the same feel across the wave range - and indeed all the boards in terms of early planing, upwind efficiency and high speed control.

Our Culture is that windsurfing is Windsurfing - we aren't trying to be surfing. So we aim to take advantage of all the speed, efficiency and drive that fast rocker lines give us- while leveraging the grip and looseness that the Flex in the tail is giving us.

The tail is also giving us incredible energy return in the second half of the bottom turn - where the stored kinetic energy in the plate gives us a nice flick of speed as you go neutral in your rail push and transition into the top turn.

Neil pulled off this peak speed on Thursday at Pelican point- with a 6.2 in chop.

In many ways this pic is all that Windtech DOESNT stand for.
This is because we see windsurfing as an experience that is more than a number. Its too deep to be described in such a 2 dimensional term.

These boards are gybing stupidly well and achieving effortless speed and control all day long- without having to push the envelope of control to the scary edge.Or chase perfectly flat water for good speed.

However one take away is that these speeds are being done by a 75kg rider who is often comfortable in conditions where traditionally they wouldnt be.

It seems that ATT tail technology is levelling the playing field amongst heavier and lighter riders.

Every day we are discovering more about the potential benefits of this design and we are getting even more excited.

You may want to download the track and check it for spikes, because that looks like one. All the other runs are close, within a few knots, but that one is 7 knots higher than the others. They may be wonder boards but not that wonderful!

Matt here from Windtech - just a heads up that I may have been a bit hasty putting up that GPS data, as Neil didn't really want it made public. He suspected (and I would say rightly ) that GPS numbers can open up a can of worms.

(There were some really fast 10s averages in there too )

Our culture is really not to break down an amazing sailing afternoon into a raw number. I saw some fast numbers and knowing the conditions they were done in got excited (as I do) and posted them here.

Having said that I am confident that the boards are delivering sensational control and speed in chop.

What country are they manufactured in.

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windtech said..
Matt here from Windtech - just a heads up that I may have been a bit hasty putting up that GPS data, as Neil didn't really want it made public. He suspected (and I would say rightly ) that GPS numbers can open up a can of worms.

(There were some really fast 10s averages in there too )

Our culture is really not to break down an amazing sailing afternoon into a raw number. I saw some fast numbers and knowing the conditions they were done in got excited (as I do) and posted them here.

Having said that I am confident that the boards are delivering sensational control and speed in chop.

So in other words that 42.68 knots was a spike but the other numbers are valid? Why not just post the track to KA72.com so we can have a look and see how well the boards are doing. As they say: the BS stops when the data drops!

I've had my 72 out a few times now. I've used it in 8-12kts with a KaRace 8.7 and 48cm Zulu Umbani. With the ATT dialled to zero flex I was able to get on the plane at 12kts and glide through most 10kt patches. water state was very flat..no more than 6 inches. I didn't get enough time to try and open up the ATT. I would've liked to try that combo in 15-20kts to see if i could keep it tame without dropping to a 44cm fin.

Another session was with a Ka Koncept 7.5 in 25-30kts with the ATT dialled to full open. I ballzed up and had the mast 3cm back in the track. The rig was a handful..not enough downhaul and 28" harness lines. I was on a single 20km tack about 45 degrees off square. Chop was about 0.5-1.0m and thankfully there was about 7km+ of flat water I could put the foot down and drag race a couple of the other racers. The 20k run took me about 20 minutes. The longest 20 minutes EVER! Scary fun

On Monday I sailed the 72 at Melville with my KaRace 7.1 and 30cm Vector Rockit...ATT dialled to full open. It was 30kts+ and thankfully apart from the fin being too small for that combo and spinning out a lot, I had a couple of nice runs before I pulled stumps. The chop was getting hectic further out and I could only gas it sailing square and broad but the board was remarkably controlled considering. It would have been a lot more fun with a 6.3 and 32cm fin. This season I'm going to limit my quiver to the Silver Bullet 72 and 8.7 & 7.1 race sails.

The Magic Bullet 95 will be my next purchase :)