Sport Today

If anyone at Wind Surfing magazine is reading this, please do at least
a few scientific tests next time. I would like to know which manufacturer
makes the most durable boards, booms, masts, and sails. A scientific
method of comparing equipment would be much more preferable to the
personal opinions know offered. The whole industry is riddled with so many
wild and unsubstantiated claims about durability and performance and so
much hype that one doesn't know what to believe.

I would like to see a comprehensive ding test for boards, a stress test
for masts & booms, a durability & rupture test for sails, a speed test for
fins, etc.

--
| Boris Litinsky                                                             |

| "The views expressed here are my own, and not those of my employer."             |

        Personally I have YET to see a decent issue of Wind Surfing. Though
I don't realy like the magazine, I wouldnt mind having Tom James's job! :-)

--
                        David C. Troup - DC12

ask me about...
SEATREND, SIMMER, FIBERSPAR, BODY GLOVE, THULE, TRUE AMES, VISUAL SPEED

--
Rick Peterson
Health Sciences Library, University of ***ia
C***tesville, VA  22908

This is a constant point of debate at the mag--how much detail to
include.  I'd like to hear more opinions.  Of course, people
on the Internet are likely to be more tolerant of detail than
others.

You may also notice that the findings reported are more conclusive
than in recent tests.  

K. Winner

I admit that some of the numbers in Surf are probably pretty much
meaningless and confusing, but no one is forced to look at them. What
I really like about their style is that they almost never quote what
the manufacturers say about the equipment. We can read that in the
adverti***ts and brochures.

Currently Windsurfing is the only windsurfing magazine that I subscribe
to. I usually buy and (try to) read the test issues of Surf and I plan
on subscribing to the French "Wind" magazine.

I like technical articles. The more advanced the article is, the better.
If I don't understand it the first time I read it, I'll probably read it
again in a year or two and understand it better. I also like to read about
new equipment developments in the world cup circuit and I like board &
sail designer interviews.

I think a lot of people would be interested in articles on board
constructions (shapes & construction itself) and equipment repair. Fin
tests are badly neglected by almost all magazines, although it might be
because the board, rig and fin all have to "match" in order to work
well. Harness tests and reviews are also welcome.

--
  Juri Munkki                           Newton: It's 1984 all over again...

The test numbers are VALUABLE!  I want them.

As a low-budget sailor with not much access to borrowing and renting
boards to try them out before buying, I depend on publications.  The
Gorge report is cool for some things, but the people who write that
have not demonstrated to my satisfaction that they are concerned with
anybody who isn't a living windsurf god(dess), so I must take their
opinions on performance with a bit of leavening.  Windsurfing magazine
has tended to approach the sport at more the appropriate level for me.

On the other hand, in past years, I have had trouble getting useful opinions
from the magazine, since they nearly always praised all gear and rarely
panned any but the very cheapest.  You had to really read the paragraphs
carefully to figure out if there were any flaws that might make a board
more or less appropriate for you.  I always suspected that the writers
felt that should not say bad things about their advertisers.  Even if it
is not so, my impression that it might be, led me to perhaps read more
into the articles than was there.  (Which wasn't much, sometimes)

When there was test data, this at least gave me a more objective way to
compare things.  It was especially helpful when the data was accompanied
by text explaining what the significance of the data might be for various
types and levels of sailors.  Durability DATA (as opposed to speculation)
was of particular value, since I tend to buy used gear and keep it a long
time.  For example, I found out the hard way that my Mistral Shredder has
a much thinner skin than my E-Rock, by having the same thing poke through
one and not the other.  Maybe I would have bought a different board if I
had known in advance?  Maybe not -- it was a good deal.

One year, Windsurfing carried text from different types of sailors about each
board.  This was useful, as my small, timid lady shares my quiver of gear,
and it helped us know what to look for.

ANYWAY, the main reason I keep renewing my subscription to Windsurfing Mag
is the travel articles.  We do blow money on vacation, and we like to sail.
I keep hoping that if I read about enough spots I'll find the ideal place
to move to some day.  This BB is great for this also (better in fact!)

My take on the latest issue was to breeze through it and put it
down.  Why?  I saw more of the same from previous years.  It
doesn't do me any good AT ALL to talk about a board in the absence
of direct comparison with other comparable products.  A good case
in point (IMHO) was the Bic Tempo.  Windsurfing mag had a review
by Tom James in which he almost drooled on the page, but it was
never placed in a harsh light against the other boards in the class.
My opinion on the board:  it's a good fun board, but not particularly
good at anything.  Would have been nice to hear this BEFORE I bought
and sold one.  One model for testing would be the European glossy
(I forget the name but it's French).  Each year the
results come out with tests of
boards in the same categories.  They deal with fun boards, race
boards, wave, and in each they break it down in sizes as well.  They
have numbers rating the board for speed upwind, off the wind, jibing
hard, jibing slow, liveliness and so on.  You just look there and
can get an instant appreciation of the board's strength and
weakness.  BTW, the Tempo was shown to be mediocre in those tests
but I didn't catch the issue 'til later.  Bottom line:  without
the ability to say "This rots", or at least "Forgiving for the
intermediate sailor", I won't get anything out of these issues.    

|> >If anyone at Wind Surfing magazine is reading this, please do at least
|> >a few scientific tests next time. I would like to know which manufacturer
|>
|> Boris:  There was no room in the Equipment Guide for all the testing.
|> That comes in April and May issues.  As for scientific testing,
|> many readers were boggled by all the numbers included last year, so
|> there aren't as many in this year's tests.  That isn't to say
|> tests weren't done.  Just not all the details are to be published.
|>
|> This is a constant point of debate at the mag--how much detail to
|> include.  I'd like to hear more opinions.  Of course, people
|> on the Internet are likely to be more tolerant of detail than
|> others.
|>
|> You may also notice that the findings reported are more conclusive
|> than in recent tests.  
|>
|> K. Winner

--

What I want in the equipment reviews can be summarized as follows:

- Open discussion of equipment's flaws,as well as its strengths.
- Mention of what type and skill-level of sailor might profit from a piece
of
  gear.
- The return of the reviews by sailors of different size, gender, and
style.
- Head-to-head testing of comparably-sized boards and similar-type sails.
- Inclusion of durability, and objective performance data.(boom stiffness,
etc.)

As for the inclusion of tables of data, I think that one must be something
of a technoid to enjoy a sport where the set-up takes so much effort, so a
large portion of the readers probably want to see it.  Also, if it's in a
table that takes up half a page, those who desire can skip over it and it
doesn't preempt a lot of other magazine content.  Personally, I find
there's a lot of useful info in a small space.

Thanx for asking-
-df

A couple of years ago I saw a picture of you in Windsurfing with some
kind of instrumentation back pack on.  I think you made some kind of
comic comment about ultimately measuring how much fun some one was
having while testing a board as part of the test results.  Maybe  the
technology isn't quite ready to test brain level endorphins yet but,
a subjective fun factor analysis, (they kinda do this in Performance
Windsurf Report), along with some description of the rider would
be an enjoyable addition.

My .02

Craig

8'10" Bailey jump, 9'9" Sailboards Maui
Wt 155#, Ht 6'3", Usually sail on high desert lakes near SLC in Ut
Go short or go home

Here's my recommendation:
Tests as good and as thorough as German Surf magazine
"How to" articles as good as UK Windsurf (Peter Hart's articles)
Photo Layouts as juicy as the Japanese mags
Race coverage like UK Boards magazine

and you will have a subscriber.....

Regards

Sukhdev "the trades have gone on strike here" Singh

5) ACTUALLY, WHY NOT HAVE A SURVEY FROM YOUR READERS FOR ALL EQUIPMENT,
and report the findings in one the issues.  Now this would give every one
a good perspective on the quality of the equipment out there.

Generally the magazine does a true displacement test and their figures
on displacement are more accurate than the manufacturer.  If a board
doesn't appear to have changed from one year to the next, they just use
last years figures.  They could easily have swapped the weight figures
on the two big boards but I think the excellerator is one of the
heaviest boards I've ever picked up.

BTW, I own a ProAm, use it for my kids to ride, but there's nothing to
be ashamed of, I've ridden it past many higher tech boards.  The design
hasn't changed in a long time because people continue to buy them
(like Astro Rocks).  They're cheap, they're sturdy, and they're pretty
fast.

Craig

8'10" Bailey jump, 9'9" Sailboards Maui
Wt 155#, Ht 6'3", Usually sail on high desert lakes near SLC in Ut
Go short or go home

8'10" Bailey jump, 9'9" Sailboards Maui
Wt 155#, Ht 6'3", Usually sail on high desert lakes near SLC in Ut
Go short or go home

Earl

Do they actually test sails in a wind tunnel and measure pull, put fins in a
tub and measure drag, etc., or is it all subjective opinion by a couple of
people sailing around for an afternoon?