Sport Today

Hi,

I was advised a while back that the best option fo high wind chop sailing
was a plastic wave board.  We don't get much of such conditions, so I don't
want to spend much.  Anyone got any thoughts?  Tiga 259 was one
suggestion as I recall, but the model numbers over the years are hard to
remember!

Would I need obsolete sails with such kit, or would a modern small (4ish)
sail be OK?

Thanks for any shared experience,

Michael

When I lived in a place which often had extreme chop -- thigh-high and very
sharp-edged with zero pattern to it ... I owned a chop board. Shape
notwithstanding, there's nothing like plastic for comfort and speed on
serious voodoo shop. WSMag found Tiga's plastic 263 B&J board to be just
about the fastest board in their entire '97 (was it '96?) test fleet in
heavy chop, and both that and HiFly's old 260 Spad were exceptionally
comfortable WFO in heavy chop. But now that really severe shop is merely an
OPTION for me (Celilo, for you Gorge sailors), I've not replaced the trashed
HiFly and I sold the Tiga. Ordinary (whatever the heck THAT means) chop --
the stuff we all face every windy day) doesn't require plastic, but it is
still a very fast, cushy option if you want to haul around the extra board.
It needn't be a wave board, though ... no point in going that slow. When you
can buy a very maneuverable plastic B&J board that still wipes race boards'
noses (again, according to head-to-head tests and radar guns) in chop, why
go slow?

OTOH, any good slalom, convertible, or B&J board should handle most chop
quite well if ridden aggressively. A swept fin, a flexy fin, a slotted fin,
and/or multiple fins, in that increasing order of competence, will aid
control and tracking in chop. A narrow board with plenty of vee also helps a
great deal. And there are a long list of techniques to minimize the impact
of chop.

And while I might buy a chop board, I'm not about to pay or haul around even
a small extra quiver of cloth just because my board is more than 3.7 years
old. I ain't even competing against Joe Turrist, let alone Bejorrrnn. I use
the same sails on my '92 Bailey slalom board as I do on my '99 Gorge Animal
sinker, and I get across the river and back, with dozens of twists and turns
thrown in, just fine and more quickly than the average sailor. It's only
worth one van full of %*!#, not two.

Mike \m/
To reply directly, remove the SpamDam.

Yes, ordinary chop with a _very_ ordinary sailor is what I am talking
about.  I think the idea was that control makes high wind
sailing for the less talented sailor less daunting, especially
with the chop of an inland location.

Is the 263 reasonably forgiving (for its size)?

Michael

The 263, as with all the 8-10 plastic boards I've sailed from Bomboras to
Tigas, are exceptionally smooth riding in chop. Plastic simply absorbs shock
better thanmore rigid materials, and I suspect part of that occurs at the
molecular level, rather than the obvious greater flex. But lest youthink
flex is slow, WSMag tests and testers and gurus stopped rating board flex
years ago after they decided it did not harm speed, and even allowed greater
speed in some cases.

In addition, the 263 is narrow and has plenty of vee, two more very
important factors for comfort and control ... and therefore speed ... in
harsh chop. Both if these also help it jibe smoothly and tightly in heavy
chop. OTOH, its narrowness is felt when trying to plane maginally powered,
and its rearward rider-position bias (straps and mast step) makes it
weathervane quickly when slogging. IOW, it's a bear to slog on.

But when you hit really harsh chop and just***up your courage and put
the hammer down, it rides like a Cadillac ... with a jet engine. It rides
too smoothly to feel like it's fast, as both I and WSMag observed
immediately, but we quickly noticed how rapidly the scenery went by ...
including all the other boards we were passing. Its ride and planing manners
are very forgiving, but it's not much fun to sail when not planing ...
downright difficult, in my estimation, as it behaves too much like the
stereotypical no-nose as it MUCH prefers to point into the wind when not
planing. Lighter rider weight (I'm  goo180+) would help that issue, as would
better slogging technique. I had bought it as my marginal-wind board, one on
which I needed to be able to slog upwind when caught out underpowered. Too
much work! I got a Flow instead, and it slogs much more easily. Of course,
the Flow is very good but not AS good in chop, and will probably last about
0.0016 as long as the Tiga.

Mike \m/
To reply directly, remove the SpamDam.

I've recently gotten another board, next to my tiga wave 257 (91er vintage,
the first year this model was built), the other board is a f2 ride 282 (with
7.0 NS strike, for the more marginal conditions) and I must say, the Tiga
definitively has a smoother ride. It's probably more fun to sail when the
wind gets really up (although i HATE it when my board gets blown away after
catching wind when a wave lifts it up :)

one thing: plastic tends to dent (as you can clearly see on my board, you
can also see i MUCH prefer jumping sailing one way, the dents are much
deeper there), but contrary to sandwich boards, the dents will not bother
you (the outer skin will not pop up again and allow for air/water to get in
you board)

have fun sailing plastic :)

regards,
Cornelis

Hmmmm,

I was thinking of it as a high wind cheapie (don't get much here).
Unless of course as a gorge sailer you think anythin < 25knots = marginal.

Michael

I bought it when living in New Mexico, for chop at two particular spots in
two lakes. On many days the best, or even only, wind was right where the
chop is worst. And in this case by marginal  was referring to very up and
down winds. We got MANY days there at 10or25 or 10or30, with little in
between, where you're either planing or not on the gear we had available
then. Some days it was gusty, as in cycling rapidly between slog and rip
modes, other days it would spend 10-20 minutes at 8 mph and then 10-20
minutes at 25+. Man, would I like to have one of today's wider, rangier
fat-bodies for those conditions!

Mike \m/
To reply directly, remove the SpamDam.