Hi all
looking for a light wind board, is it just as simple as getting a LONGER board than i already have (currently ride a slingshot misfit 136) Or should i be looking at a specific board/boards ???
Will mostly be riding in flat water (either at a lake on the south coast or in the Lake at canberra)
Suggestions ???
Thanks all
Better to go with a wind specific light wind board as the major difference with light wind boards is the width. A longer board may not necessarily be wide enough to make it a good light wind board.
The other options to consider would be freerace or light wind specific surfboards. It may seem weird to use a surf board in flat water but the extra floatation gives you much bigger low end. The best light wind boards would typically be race boards or freerace then moving to the light wind surfboards.
The kinds of boards to consider on the freerace side would be the Airush Sector or Cabrinha Alias and for more of a light wind fun surfboard that you can jump with, the North Nugget would be a good option.
Select to expand quoteMaxiy said..
Hi all
looking for a light wind board, is it just as simple as getting a LONGER board than i already have (currently ride a slingshot misfit 136) Or should i be looking at a specific board/boards ???
Will mostly be riding in flat water (either at a lake on the south coast or in the Lake at canberra)
Suggestions ???
Thanks all
Depends what you call light wind.
But no don't look at simply a bigger board of the same type to what you have. Look at a light wind specific board. Talking TT's 145x45 is a good size for the average bloke.
You need to look for shallow rocker, rectangular shape. stiffish. That will get you rocking upwind in flat water. But stiff, flat wide, long boards are pretty crappy in choppy conditions. The more chop you have the more rocker, flex, rounded the shape you need. The will give better chop performance but worse light wind performance.
But you truely have butter flat water then get the flatest widest stiffest most rectangular mofo you can find.
Also who needs find for butter flat water. ditch the fins to give you better low end.
Select to expand quoteSaffer said..
It may seem weird to use a surf board in flat water but the extra floatation gives you much bigger low end. the North Nugget would be a good option.
Love my 2013 Nugget, the moment I step on it I lose about 30 kilos, best diet ever. It's really nimble, too. It gets a handful when you're overpowered and turns quite wide at speed but you get used to it. North has changed the board shape significantly in 2014, so no idea how the new board performs.
A proper light wind board wont just be a normal board oversized. The rocker line and outline will make a big difference.
By far the best bottom end out of a Twin tip is the Flyrace by Flysurfer. Downside is it's really race orientated and doesn't really work for freestyle.
the spleene monster door is the original door and still the best light light wind twin tip i have ridden.
My 2cents depends what you want to do in the light winds.
Being flat water if its course racing then the race boards, sectors suit.
But if its just to freestyle around hard to not try skim boards and small alaias easily made and cheap.
Depends on the wind strength you want to ride in, the kites you have, your weight and importantly - how you want to ride..
Im 77kg and my biggest kite is a 14m. I tried a few light wind specific boards and didnt like any of them. I normally ride a Tona so the difference in feel and pop between the light wind specific and my reg board was massive (as you'd imagine). But since Im fairly light, I decided to try a freestyle/freeride board that had some attributes of the light wind specific boards - flattish rocker, straight outline and light in weight and go its biggest size. I ended up with a Crazyfly Raptor Pro (not the LTD, which has more rocker) which is working well for me and I can still unhook and do some limited tricks in ~13knots on flat water. It essentially gives me a couple more knots bottom end... But if you're really serious about light wind, buy a Zephyr.
to mow the lawn and crusing I use a malibu 9 meter and I am able to kite from 6 knots on a big kite. For free style you will need a light wind board. I had two 145x45 (Cardboard glide) and 134 x 47; both were amazing going upwind and jumping but the 134x47 (oxyigen from Epic Kites) was easier to ride it due to short length. Demo demo and demo is the only way.
I just go light wind specific twintip. But you want to have fun as well. Spleene door is good. But North Textreme Spike is lighter and stiffer. A little smaller but with better top end is the Nobile XTR large. A little less bottom end but a lot of range and fun, good weight as well! Be wary of the Naish boards they are heavy, weight and stiifness also affect bottom end.
Well I use the CF cruiser pro (only 145 by 44 @76kg). The carbon in the pro models really helps for weight. Now again it depends on what you call light wind...if I was serious about 10/11 and below id be going bigger. But light wind to me is anything below 16 knots. So the board I use is not so much a 'light wind TT' it's a board that extends the range of all my kites and infact I consider it an extra kite if you like. Gives me another metre to a metre and a half squared below each size and allows you to ride in the sweet spot far more often! especially given variable wind conditions on any given day.
If you want to really get a 'light wind TT' I wouldn't go anything below 46 wide. Length not as big a factor.
Thanks for all the info guys, it is greatly appreciated.
as many of you have mentioned, i have to figure ou what i mean by light wind hahahah. I guess i would consider light wind as 10-16 knots, i often get days that are just a little too light wind for my 14 (i think this does have something to do with my skill level aswell) my budget at the moment is pretty tight so i shall have to keep an eye on the buy and sell section, then again i may embark on a board building adventure hahah.
thanks again for the help everyone, i have a much better understanding of what i should be looking at.
cheers
