Slalom boards the movie

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LeeD said..
Actually, it's kinda easy to install a base out in planing wind conditions, but 4+' ocean waves would be difficult.
Sit on board pointing downwind, lay rig on one side, base near your mast base.
Twist uni to line up....this you already know.
Bend uni, it's only rubber. Tendons are harder, mech easy.
Insert and jump into the water to waterstart away.
Seen girls do it in 22-30 knot conditions. Not in breaking surf.

Some people have three arms and for them it is easy. Disconnecting the rig from the board happened to me twice because ... I forgot to lock the base (I am an absent minded professor ...). Pop! a flying jibe! In both instances , formed seas with lightly breaking swell, it was impossible to put it back, even straddling the board, without much welcomed outside help.

If it is a failure of the tendon, instead of a silly mistake, the safety rope is there for something, it should take you back. But carrying a chinook pro-flex as a spare would be kind of fool proof.

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Loreni said..
been sailing for 13 years and one thing that turns me away from slalom is getting the back foot in back strap. Till this day I haven't mastered that small step.

1. Do more gybes. Stop doing looooong runs and start turning more.

2. Put you back foot in first in a slalom gybe while leaving your front foot between the straps where you can keep driving the board with it's much more powerful fin. After back foot is in you can very easily put the front one in. Hey, you have wasted 13 years trying to do the same thing over and over hoping to get a different result. Time to try a different thing.

Dave V.....
Did you remember to point your board downwind? That alleviates the rocking problem.
The weight of the foot of the sail laying across the deck also stabilizes everything.
You have to know where the pin should face....that takes a quick glance when you first connect. Then REMEMBER it.

^^^ Gybing is the best part of windsurfing.

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kato said..
And yet I do front foot first

Natural talent and perseverence can trump everything!

But laydowns are just for showboating!

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Shifu said..
^^^ Gybing is the best part of windsurfing.

I am starting to come around to this.

Sadly the majority of slalom boards do not gybe well.

The Severne Fox is insanely easy to gybe and i think the person in the Severne Dynamo 115 video would have a much steeper learning curve in terms of improving his gybes were he to try one.

Purchase the wrong board however and gybing will go from the most pleasurable part of the sport to the least enjoyable.

Really good video Kasper79 !

I have always had this approach in life: "Give People Tools, Teach them how to use them, and let Them Decide when to use: the sledge hammer, the chisel, file and when to use 1000 grit sand paper".

You can always pick up something new, or learn different way of doing stuff that might potentially work better for You.
Thank you for sharing !

For example:
Good sharing about using Mouldcraft NG09, I would also used that one on more expensive boards, while on a less expensive boards a Friend of mine, Jonathan, used a mixture of Gorilla Glue + Vinegar + Baking Soda to fix his Mistral Superlight.
You can watch the entire video (25min) including prep, considerations, etc.
But, here is the link to his video exactly to from the moment he talks about Gorilla Glue:

?t=363

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sailquik said..

inglis2021 said..
Sadly the majority of slalom boards do not gybe well.

The Severne Fox is insanely easy to gybe and i think the person in the Severne Dynamo 115 video would have a much steeper learning curve in terms of improving his gybes were he to try one.

Purchase the wrong board however and gybing will go from the most pleasurable part of the sport to the least enjoyable.

Modern slalom boards gybe very well. Modern slalom boards are designed to keep speed during gybes so make planing gybes easier.

People gybe badly!

I agree, The poor slalom board still getting stick for not gybing well, its not 1998 anymore... back then with the 'no nose' concept and severe emphasis on straight line speed, gybing was an afterthought really. Not so anymore, I was advised to buy "free race" board due to gybing but could only find a suitable few-year-old slalom board (JP Slalom pro) semi locally second hand, the thing gybes like it's on rails compared to 'olden day' slalom boards.

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LeeD said..
Dunno...
I was a better sailor in 1988 than I am now.

There is your answer right there!

Too old and stiff to learn and adapt.

I am a better sailor now than in 1988. Not as fit and strong, but better in every way!

Good for you! But you still can't Gybe the newer slalom boards better that are easier to Gybe. Go Figure!

Oh, you don't have any of the new fangled, 'wide ass'd' boards!! Silly me.

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inglis2021 said..
I stand by my claim the majority of modern slalom boards do not gybe well.

Sure they may gybe a lot better than the older narrower boards from a decade plus ago.

Sailquick - borrow a Severne Fox 95 or 105 for half an hour and get back to this thread.

The difference in the ease of gybing is breathtaking compared to most current slalom boards.

I agree with Sailquick. Its all about technique. With the right technique my 2020 Falcons are sweet to gybe.

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LeeD said..
Dunno...
I found the late '90's boards jibing really easy and planed out more often than now. I was younger 30 years ago.
Sputnik 265 was the best, Hypertec 8'8" and 8'4", Energy Tudors, purple E Rocks, were easy planing jibe boards for me.
My '10 111 Isonic doesn't jibe well.
My '16 Speedster 100 not great.
My '12 SSport 109 ok.
I suspect lots of you did not jibe well in 1996.
I was a better sailor in 1988 than I am now.

The Speedster isnt a slalom board. I remember on the old UK Boards forum you asked for set up tips as you found it difficult.
A local here had the 2015 version. First time out on it in Poole Harbour he did a PB on the alpha (500m with a gybe). Over 20 knots is decent. He also did his 500m spot PB and all time fastest nautical mile. I think he would say the board is fast and gybes well. He isnt a top class racer, just a decent sailor. He was in his late 50s then, not too old to learn and adapt quickly.
www.gps-speedsurfing.com/default.aspx?mnu=user&val=224177&uid=10587
I had a go on the 118 and thought it was easy to gybe, it turned quite tightly for a wide board.
If you cant gybe that................

Around a slalom course the Speedster would walk all over a 90s slalom board.

The 100 litre Speedster walks over all current slalom boards for gybing at least the ones i have tried and is especially fast in powered up super rough conditions but only with a low boom.

That said the Severne Fox is off the charts easier to gybe though it does feel much less of a slalom board than the Speedster.

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inglis2021 said..
The 100 litre Speedster walks over all current slalom boards for gybing at least the ones i have tried and is especially fast in powered up super rough conditions but only with a low boom.

That said the Severne Fox is off the charts easier to gybe though it does feel much less of a slalom board than the Speedster.

The easiest board to gybe I currently have is a 2009 Exocet Cross 106. It has enough speed to enter the gybes reasonably quickly and softer rails for easy gybing. But it isnt quick through the gybes, if I take the alpha 500m as a measure. Where I sail usually sail in Poole Harbour, if I wanted to have a crack at my PB for the alpha, I'd pick a 7m slalom sail & medium slalom board and slalom fin. If it was low tide and flat water in certain places, I'd pick a 6.2m slalom sail & small slalom board.

This thread is about slalom board tips. A tip for gybing slalom boards isnt use a Fox.

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inglis2021 said..
The 100 litre Speedster walks over all current slalom boards for gybing at least the ones i have tried and is especially fast in powered up super rough conditions but only with a low boom.

That said the Severne Fox is off the charts easier to gybe though it does feel much less of a slalom board than the Speedster.

So when you say 'easier' what exactly do you mean?

is it because the board turns tighter?
Is it because you can slam it around quicker on the face of a wave?
Is it because it hold speed through the gybe and comes out faster fully planing?
Is it because you can do a faster Alpha on it?
Is it because it gets you around quicker 180 deg. before it stops and floats you away slow, but dry?

So many way to look at it.

I was riding my Mistral 47cm (large) speed board the other day and I marvelled at how little rail pressure was needed to turn into the gybe at high speed. It was very easy to turn in, but that made it very sensitive to foot pressure and it was easy to over turn, stall, lose speed, be too late with the rig flip and foot switch. etc. I other words, while I had a ball doing fast gybes, it was much easier to stuff one up than on my 2017 IS80 or 87's.

I had a session on my wave board recently and same thing. Soooo easy to turn tight, and I could pull a fast gybe in seconds. But boy 'O boy it was hard to keep up with, and timing became very critical. I pulled off some very fast fun, tight gybes, but is that what you mean by easier?

My best Apha ever was done on my old 2009 Isonic 87 in perfect 30 knots winds. My most recent best (very close) Alpha was on my 2017 isonic 80. A board that I can repeatedly do a flatwater 27+ knots Alpha on is what I call an easy gybing board. The new one goes faster on a reach and tips in much easier at 30Kts plus speeds. It also holds it's speed better for a faster exit and accelerates to top speed again faster. Win, Win, Win, in my book! Easy! A fast board makes gybing easier and to come out planing.

I dont think I could match that on a Fox, but if I can find one to try I would love to prove myself wrong.