Sport Today

S.F. Bay Windsurfers,

It's time to replace my old slalom board with one of those designs that have
been passing me at Crissy, Berkeley, etc.

What is your favorite board for the bay?  It's got to be floaty enough to
get through the lulls, thin enough in the rails to slice through voodoo chop,
and very strong.   What fin works for you?

It seems that production boards work pretty well in the bay.  

Looking forward to your comments.

-David

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- - Design features to look for are

        Moderate no-nose :      i.e. most of the volume in the tail, fairly wide
                                in the tail.

        Lot's of Scoop   :      Makes chop alot more easier to deal with.

        Soft Rails       :      Let's you hold all that volume in the water on
                                turns.

- - If you're just interested in flat out speed, go to ASD and get one of their
slalom boards. Or in the east bay, get a Mike's Lab. I really like Seatrend,
but they've had some quality problems with their production. The shapes are
great for the Bay and they do fix every problem( or give you new board). If
you're into durablity and a smooth ride, take a close look at the Tiga boards.

- - The best advice is to demo any board that you are considering. Even if you
don't have the $$$ for an ASD, it's a great place to demo boards and figure out
the design features that suite your sailing style/ablities.

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Go directly to Mike. Best boards on the Bay. If you're wondering which
boards have been passing you, these are them. Oh, but you'll have to wait
three months, so order now for next year. 510.222.7338

Marian

is this true that he builds them from Meritex blanks?
Jan

: >
: > Go directly to Mike. Best boards on the Bay. If you're wondering which
: > boards have been passing you, these are them. Oh, but you'll have to wait
: > three months, so order now for next year. 510.222.7338

: Ditto. Mike's been making living building boards for the last 10 years, has
: some top racers using his boards lately, definitely knows what he's doing.
: Prices are hardly any higher than new production boards.

: Marian

Marian

   You forgot to mention one of the drawbacks to Mike's boards, though...
the fact that a 6.8m sail won't always hold it on the beach and it might
decide to take flight into the parking lot...  

You never had this problem w/ your 19 lb Fanatic..!  ;^)

                               |                
    Pray for Wind!            /|    Kevin Clark
                             / |    Design Engineer
                            /  |    Alcatel Network Systems
                           /   |    Dallas, Texas

                         ------------

$1500 for a board you can't jump, no one makes fins for, and has almost no
resale value.  Hmm.  I agree that if you are racing, and have lots of
money then there is no better board than ML.  For most recreational
sailors, however, production boards are where it is at.  You cannot demo a
Mike board before you buy.  Each one is different, so you don't know what
you get until the check is cashed.  Seatrends Bic, etc come out of a
mold--they are all the same, so you know what you are getting.  Also the
resale value on production boards is consistently higher.  Racers usually
only sell their Mike's boards when they are no longer competetive with the
current Mike shape.  So who wants to buy a board that is really hard
edged, but not really raceable?  I have seen a racer eat $1000 on a board
that was only a year old.  That doesn't ALWAYS happen, but it can and
does.  Don't get me wrong--Mike makes some of the best boards in the
world, but they are NOT for everybody.  

Au contrair, Mike's Lab boards can be jumped.  Have jumped mine many
times, and it is none the worse for wear.  I have a 92 vintage 8'10" which
still weighs 12.5 lbs.  Of course,  I'm  not talking mega jumps with flat
landings.

Mike is now offering bump and jump as well as course slalom designs.  In
fact, he has even made one wave board that I know of.  The B&J boards are
not as fast as the slalom boards, but are more user friendly.

I agree ML boards are not for everyone.  They are more prone to dings than
production boards.   Also the light weight can make them feel skittish in
high winds and chop.  However,  once you put in some hours on the board,
you realize that the skittishness is in fact responsiveness, and that the
board is controllable (provided that the fin is not too big).  Oh yeah,
Mike will put in your choice of fin boxes.

Anyway, any sailor ready to sail Seatrends&AHDs is ready for Mike's boards. And for
any buyer willing to spend $1200 for new production board an extra $100 for Mike's
board might be a smoking deal...

Marian

While everyone is plugging ML boards, I think you shoud investigate
Roberts boards as well.  I have owned two ML boards...but I sold both
of them and switched to roberts.  I am not a racer, (well I do race
every once in while but I am not that good), but I do like being one
of the fastest sailors on the water.  I have 3 Roberts boards now & I
love all of them.  They are so good that a great number of World cup
pros who are sponsered by large manufacturers actually have roberts
boards which are painted to lood like other boards.  

My two favorite thinks about sailing are jumping and going fast.  
Roberts are the most durable boards I have ever sailed. They are the
first boards that I havent broken.  Additionally, they are very light
and fast.  The expensive carbon/kevlar models are truly incrediable.  
Rob Mulder (no relation to Fox), is a big guy and he designs the
boards to stand up to anything.  Do not focus on volume...Choose the
sail range you want the board to work for and ask your shop's help (or
email Roberts boards) for finding the right board.  The boards have
less volume than most boards.  While they will force you to become a
better sailor, the lower volume will be a little uncomfortable at
first.  They make a complette line of custom and production boards.  I
have 2 custom boards, and one pruduction.

And you can demo a board in any of their standard sizes before you buy, then
tell Bob how you want it tweaked (if you do). And, BTW, they make a LOT of
boards, so they have long ago seen (and fixed) virtually any production
problem the smaller shapers have seen.

Sorry, I'll never go back to production boards after having had boards
made for ME and what *I* want to do with them.

Jaime
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