New Board Day
It may seem like an extravangance to buy two new windsurf boards, and it would be. That’s why I’ve bought these two 2nd hand windsurf boards – even that is quite a considerable investment as boards don’t come cheap these days.
In my defence they were to replace and in some ways supplement boards that were quite old so it’s not as though I’m buying boards all the time. In years gone by, when windsurfing, there was alsways one old guy on the beach sailing retro kit and looking a little out of place. I think over the years, the fact that I haven’t updated my boards means that I’ve become ‘that guy’! So, it was time for some updates.
An 85ltr Wave Board
The first of these was my favourite board of all time, a Naish Hybrid Freewave 85ltr. This is a tiny little board at only 214cm long and it’s so much fun to sail. It’s not fast but it just loves bouncing around in the chop and carving tight turns on wave faces. I first bought it in 2005 so as alluded to above it’s quite old. I actually snapped the first one I had in the first year of ownership and managed to get it replaced with a 2006 model under warranty. So, the last time I bought such a board was 17 years ago, but it was actually 16 years old.
I still sail this board and I still love it, but it’s looking a little tired. There are a few scuffs and little cracks here and there. The non-slip coating on the deck wore away a long time ago and the deck pads are completely worn away too. Over the years the screws that hold the footsraps on had snapped off from time to time as well. This means that I’ve had to move the footstraps to slightly different positions as the holes they were screwed into contain snapped off screws. I’m actually onto the last set of holes, so if the screws snap again there’s nowhere else for the straps to go.
I think that all justifies a replacement board. I couldn’t decide between a Fanantic Stubby or a Sevrne Nano but in the end went for a 2nd hand Severne Nano 87. It’s a nice small board, if not as short as the Naish Hybrid Freewave and it’s classed as a full-on wave board rather than a hybrid board. I haven’t tired one before but hopefully it’ll suit the conditions I’m likely to sail it in. It certainly looks good and is much more up to date with it’s thruster fin set up and the ability to sail it as a quad. I’ll sail it on the seafronm in the waves with sails from 4.5m to 5.7m.
A 105ltr Bump and Jump Board
The other board I repaced was a similarly old (2006) 104 ltr Starboard S-Type. Again, this was looking a little tired with no deck grip remaining, deck pads that had come off and a few scuffs and scratches. Again, it’s still a perfectly servicable board and I’m keeping it and will still use it, but probably not as much as the replacement I’ve bought.
The Starboard S-Type was a fairly fast free-slalom type of board. That’s a free-ride board with some slalom leanings. It was certainly fun blasting around in choppy conditions and nice on flattish water too, but it always felt a bit of a handful once out in the waves. I’ve therefore replaced / supplemented it with a similar sized freestyle-wave board. A JP Freestyle Wave 103 to be precise.
I’m hoping this will be more fun in the waves, will be a little looser, a little more manageable when things get hectic and that it’ll feel smaller in the air. Again, I haven’t used it yet so we’ll see. I’ll keep the S-Type for similar windspeeds but flatter conditions.
Fins
As mentioned, the Severne Nano comes as a thruster / quad set up and therefore uses compeltely different fins to any other boards I’ve got. It did come with three fins needed for a thruster set up and I’ll probably just stick with those, but I might need some different sizes at some point.
The JP can be configured as a single fin or a thruster. It came with a single 29cm Powerbox fin. I do also have a 32cm Powerbox fin and a couple of Powerbox speed fins that won’t really be suitable. Typically I have loads of US Box and Tuttle Fins from my previous boards but they won’t fit any of these.
All we need now is some decent wind so that I can try them out.
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[…] worry, I haven’t gone out and bought yet another board!! The JP Freestyle Wave Board that I bought last week had a little issue so I got in touch with Boardwise and arranged to swap it for something else. […]
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I didnt understand a word of what I’ve just read but if it makes you happy then I’m happy too x