Its a good video, there is still life in old kit even if its not as user friendly.

I think it prompted Maciek Rutkowski to put his video on youtube, apparently it was filmed earlier this year.
Just 1.5 knots slower on speed, but way down on early planing, acceleration, gybing, comfort etc. If he had used an old fin and rig there might be more of a difference, although Jim Crossley (UK speed sailor) has done some runs on all old kit and been around 10% slower. But top speed was the only criteria it was close on.

Gestalt said..
this video will hopefully put to bed the idea that longer narrower shapes are somehow superior at early planing, upwind and gybing.

These videos are nice, but sort of confirm the obvious: boards have improved (a lot!) in the last two decades. The idea that somehow all that board development was all for nought seems to be a bit more than silly ...

Shifu said..

Gestalt said..
this video will hopefully put to bed the idea that longer narrower shapes are somehow superior at early planing, upwind and gybing.

Bus still superior at feeling good!

Feels like the Severne fox put that idea to bed.
So i guess we can say its the width and not the length... lol...the old windsurfing double entendre

New school sail might not be the best choice.

Not saying old crap is nearly as good as new state of the art.
Please feel really bad when someone on 10 year...or 15 year old gear constantly passes you.

We DO know the sailor is part of the equation, and that sailor needs time to dial and acclimate to any gear different than his own.
How many hours did it take you to dial in a new board?
3 runs? I doubt that..

Would a 1999 PWA slalom journeyman become a champion on 2020 gear?

Shifu said..

Gestalt said..
this video will hopefully put to bed the idea that longer narrower shapes are somehow superior at early planing, upwind and gybing.

Bus still superior at feeling good!

I really don't think a long and narrow board "feels good" when going downwind in chop and swell. Or, as the video points out, when trying to jibe in overpowered conditions. ...

The last hang out I owned of that era, a 2008 100L Carbon Art Slalom 250x58, was significantly less comfortable (read scary and catchy) than the same year Exocet Slalom 235x62 when pointing down wind. Go back the previous slalom generation and my 98L Sonic 274 x 58 was lovely in acceleration, felt fast (not sure it was, I had no GPS), and it was simply terrifying in high winds.

Yesterday on the river in a gusty North Westerly around fifteen to very high twenties wind Slowboat was smoking on a 2005 Carbon Art 129 litre.

It felt pretty choppy to me but he reckoned it was quite flat.

Not sure its dimensions something like 250 by 68. He was on a 6.3m KA and one of his new 36cm carbon fins.

I was on a 5m race sail with max downhaul and was still overpowered in the gusts.

I was amazed how fast he was going in the 25 to 30 knot gusts. Only found out afterwards he was on a big board.

I heard he did go over the front once though

93kgs helps a LOT.

The thing is that while Nico is obviously a fantastic slalom sailor, he hasn't got the faintest idea of how to sail a Windsurfer, so it's a completely unfair "test". He's also sailing in conditions suited to slalom gear. It's as if a top Windsurfer sailor who had never stepped on a modern board was comparing them in 6 knots of wind; they'd say the slalom rig was stupidly heavy, the board was slow, and the whole setup was impossible to sail.

It's like bikes; if you compare a 1970 road bike with a 2020 dual suspension mountain bike on a rocky downhill course with a rider who has always had suspension and discs, the old bike looks terrible. But put them both on the tarmac with wind and a climb, and in the hands of someone who knows that style of bike, it's a very different story

The reduction in length over the last 20 years is not as important as the changes in rail shape, tail width, thickness and cutouts.

That's not an OD, it's an original design Aka Regatta. The originals are much harder to sail in a breeze than the OD. Whether the OD is a dog depends on the sailor's skills and preferences. A 4wd may seem like a dog to a Porsche owner but put them in the bush and see what happens.

duzzi said..

Shifu said..

Gestalt said..
this video will hopefully put to bed the idea that longer narrower shapes are somehow superior at early planing, upwind and gybing.

Bus still superior at feeling good!

I really don't think a long and narrow board "feels good" when going downwind in chop and swell. Or, as the video points out, when trying to jibe in overpowered conditions. ...

If you go to either extreme of being long and narrow (Raceboard) vs short and wide (Formula) for "feels good" down wind the long and narrow feels soooooooooooo much better. My heart rate would be probably 30% less on a RB powered up down wind vs being on a Formula in the same conditions.

Hash brown don't fill so bad,Chris is a freak.l guess that's what 30 years of windsurfing can do to someone.

John340 said..

Chris 249 said..
The thing is that while Nico is obviously a fantastic slalom sailor, he hasn't got the faintest idea of how to sail a Windsurfer, so it's a completely unfair "test". He's also sailing in conditions suited to slalom gear. It's as if a top Windsurfer sailor who had never stepped on a modern board was comparing them in 6 knots of wind; they'd say the slalom rig was stupidly heavy, the board was slow, and the whole setup was impossible to sail.

It's like bikes; if you compare a 1970 road bike with a 2020 dual suspension mountain bike on a rocky downhill course with a rider who has always had suspension and discs, the old bike looks terrible. But put them both on the tarmac with wind and a climb, and in the hands of someone who knows that style of bike, it's a very different story

This is true and the sail did not have enough downhaul for the wind conditions. This does not change the fact that the OD is a dog to sail in those conditions.

The thing that matters the most in the conditions the Windsurfer is used is the rider on any identical board. Everything else is detail.