Sport Today

Hi,

yesterday I bought a BIC Tecno 283. When
I picked it up from the dealer, it was still in the
originale wrapping from BIC. When I unwrapped at home
I discovered something I did not like:

Around the finbox there were some "scars", probably from
the process of inserting the fin box. They are about
3-4 millimeters long, less than 1,5 mm wide at the widest,
and 1-2 mm deep, deepening towards the fin box. It
may not seem that they are big, but it's no problem
spotting them.

Underneath is a drawing, trying to illustrate what it
looks like. The "I" and the "--" makes up the fin box,
the "\" and the "/" beeing the "scars". I have looked at
the two other BIC's I currently have, a 19995  Vivace
290 and a 1996 (?) Vivace 270, and they don't have the same
"scars".

        I--I
      \I   I/
        I   I
        I   I
        I   I
        I   I
        I   I
        I   I
        I   I
        I   I
       /I  I
       /I_I\

So, my questions to the group, and to owners of
Bic Techno's in particular are:

 - Have you noticed the same thing on one of
   your boards?
 - Will this in any way have any effect on
   the performance of the board? It's not pretty
   to look at, but...it takes me 4-5 hours of driving
   to make a switch for a new one...

The reseller (actually the Norwegian importer), not
beeing aware that this was a problem, said on the phone
to me that he had noticed the same thing once, but told
me it did not matter. He did, however, tell me to just
start using the board, have a look at other Techno's,
and if other boards did not have the same injury, he would
give me a new one whithout any argument. The board
was shipped from France just a couple of weeeks ago,
and is supposed to have been manufactured this year.

One other thing: A couple of weeks ago I asked the rec.windsurfing
group about a lightweight edition of the Techno 283. According
to the communication manager of BIC in France, a new
version at about 8 kg (app 17.6 lbs) will be released
in sep/oct this year.

And sailing the Techno: Today it's sunny, hot (25 deg cel),
and the wind is under 1 m/s (2 knots) .....and the weather
forcast is not too good for next couple of days either...
meaning ligth/no winds of course... I'll just have to wait....the
board looks good, though...

Regards,

Knut
Oslo, Norway

Hi Knut,

What you are seeing is a minor common cosmetic flaw that occurs on a number of
Bic boards.  It was also common in the older style fin boxes from 10 years
ago.  We've been selling Bics as long as they have been made, and we've never
seen a problem develop from the little indentations around the fin boxes.

Thanks,  Jon

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Hi Knut,

My Techno is a 99 model and has the same indentations. They haven't affected
the performance of the board in any way, and the finbox is still nice and
firm. I wouldn't worry about it.

Cheers, PT.