I can't compare it to an old Wally Chris, but the BIC windSUP's have that plastic coating on them that's as tough as nails as opposed to a resin/glass mat type construction. I dunno whether "stronger" is the right word or "durable" would be better, they can take knocks because of the hard plastic shell basically. Because they have a nice flat bottom they're not as tippy as the old Wally which makes them a little easier to learn on. The new LT is totally different to the old wally and has a flat underside with a harder rail, much like the BIC. But the LT is a little narrower and has a straighter rail (front to rear) where the BIC is more egg shaped like a big malibu board.

Paddles B'mere said..
I can't compare it to an old Wally Chris, but the BIC windSUP's have that plastic coating on them that's as tough as nails as opposed to a resin/glass mat type construction. I dunno whether "stronger" is the right word or "durable" would be better, they can take knocks because of the hard plastic shell basically. Because they have a nice flat bottom they're not as tippy as the old Wally which makes them a little easier to learn on. The new LT is totally different to the old wally and has a flat underside with a harder rail, much like the BIC. But the LT is a little narrower and has a straighter rail (front to rear) where the BIC is more egg shaped like a big malibu board.

just to clarify the new LT isn't flat.

its has a continuous rocker that starts with a V and goes into a double concave. the rails are soft up front into a tucked rear. I didn't measure but maybe 60/40 tuck.

I found the LT very manoeuvrable and I'd say it would leave the bic for dead performance wise. the LT acceleration surprised me. i'll write a review in the next few days.

Mine

RichardG said..

Gestalt said..

Paddles B'mere said..
I can't compare it to an old Wally Chris, but the BIC windSUP's have that plastic coating on them that's as tough as nails as opposed to a resin/glass mat type construction. I dunno whether "stronger" is the right word or "durable" would be better, they can take knocks because of the hard plastic shell basically. Because they have a nice flat bottom they're not as tippy as the old Wally which makes them a little easier to learn on. The new LT is totally different to the old wally and has a flat underside with a harder rail, much like the BIC. But the LT is a little narrower and has a straighter rail (front to rear) where the BIC is more egg shaped like a big malibu board.

just to clarify the new LT isn't flat.

its has a continuous rocker that starts with a V and goes into a double concave. the rails are soft up front into a tucked rear. I didn't measure but maybe 60/40 tuck.

I found the LT very manoeuvrable and I'd say it would leave the bic for dead performance wise. the LT acceleration surprised me. i'll write a review in the next few days.

The Windsurfer original was always a great board. It was always more versatile than the nemesis that was the Dufour Wing and I have no doubt the LT will prove better than the Bic, the successor of the Dufour. I have no doubt the LT will beat all of the windsups. Mine is coming in September but the pleasure of this is the one design. Get on board while it is new as it won't be new again.

mine will be here in September too.
today I got to use a demo board in a good range of conditions from 6-20 knots.

I'm on mobile phone so will share some review love when in front of a pc.

my overall comments are they are a lot of fun to sail and comparing them to windsups is not comparing apples with apples. Its more like a one design on steroids.

I haven't used one as a sup yet. Id say it's great there as well because the stability is very good and it feels light in the water.

I currently use my one designs as sups for my wife and kids. While they track well in the water they are a little narrow. The new LT is very stable and 7 kilos lighter which you can definitely feel on the water and carrying the board.

All we need now is for some bright spark to get a foil to work on a Wally and booooommm!!!, forum explosion

Orange Whip said..
All we need now is for some bright spark to get a foil to work on a Wally and booooommm!!!, forum explosion

the thought had crossed my mind as well. It was done 30+ years ago so why not now.

I'd guess the photo is Manly, NSW?

sailquik said..

Gestalt said..
good turn out at the demo day. I took a drone shot.

I didn't know they had drones in the early '80's

We had one of those Windrush Clubman's with the Aussie flag sail. Lots of our friends got thoer start windsurfing on it.

Some of us lost our end!!!

Manly Cove. Stubbies Marathon. Light s to se. Down to Middle Harbour and back. Im in there somewhere ?? first time i found out what "starboard" meant. ??

I just came accros this deep in my archives. Thought it might interest some people here.

Were the glory days of WS OD racing were on the wane by then? There are no Windsurfer one design world champions listed on Wikipedia since 1997/1998.

Chris 249 said..

Gestalt said..
good turn out at the demo day. I took a drone shot.

Guess who that is with the the Division 2 board with the white sail and number 249 on the centre right.

I think that was the Stubbies Manly Marathon about '86, which could have been the year I did 80% of the race sitting in third in Open Class behind the French world champ Robert Nagy and Lachlan Gilbert. Coming past the Bombora we lapped a lot of the fleet who were continually falling in the swell and slop. It was like a Battle of Britain dogfight in there, and Rob Howard and Jessica Crisp both got past. Oh well.

i think its great that photo is in oz and you guys are actually in it. 86 is about when i started learning to windsurf on a one design with Peter N. i wonder if he was in that photo too.

I had a sail with dags and a few guys on Saturday. whilst everyone will have their own take on the new boards I thought i'd add to the chorus of positive reviews providing a side by side comparison to the Old Windsurfer One Design and the New Windsurfer LT as i sailed them back to back.

The demo was at pebble beach near bribie. We had 6-20 knots and flattish water.

First overall impressions were the Windsurfer LT felt more nimble than the previous Windsurfer One Design. The LT also felt much lighter (its about 7 kilos lighter) and a lot more stable. It did feel different to the Windsurfer One Design one the water with the ride being higher as the board is thicker. Plus the lighter board weight translates.

from what i'd read i thought the new LT was like a cross between a One Design and a Mistral Superlight. But it's not. It's more. It's like a cross between a Mistral Superlight, a One Design and the Starboard Phantom.

Some of the noticeable differences to the Windsurfer One Design are that the new Windsurfer LT won't submarine when sailing off the wind. The new LT sits on swells and wind chop and is fun to surf. I'm not talking wave sailing i'm talking downwind sailing and broad reaching.
When running downwind the old Windsurfer One Design took a lot of skill and technique to sail fast. the nose digging in, the centerboard not being fully retracted and the narrow board width all added up to a lot of effort and skill being required. The New Windsurfer LT doesn't have those issues. the rocker, the hull v and the extra board width meant i could bare off, set myself and go. i think for most the LT is able to be sailed deeper with more ease.

Another Noticeable difference was the acceleration. The old Windsurfer One Design slowly builds up speed. It's more about momentum with the board weight and rocker all playing a part in the feel. The new Windsurfer LT just lifts out of the water and accelerates. With each gust i could feel the board accelerate as the gust hit. At one point i started to feel like the sail was holding the board back and i started to feel like i wanted to put my feet in straps and blast. i'll be keen to try it with an 8.5m race sail to see what happens and of course there are no straps.

Sailing upwind the New Windsurfer LT doesn't rail over like the old Windsurfer One Design. I think the new LT also responds to body and stance movements a little better. I'm not sure which board was faster but the LT felt looser and felt like i could respond to headers and footers faster.
i was using someone else's board and sail and whilst i adjusted the tension for my weight before heading out i didn't feel like i had truly dialed in the upwind performance of the LT. I really just need another session to sort out track position.

from the initial demo it seems that little changes in centerboard rake make a noticeable difference to balance. The centerboard is also a major step forward from the old Windsurfer One Design. no more stuck centerboards. the LT centerboard is awesome.

Tacking was easier because of extra board stability from increased width. that was very noticeable to me and carve gybeing in chop also seemed easier i guess because of the change in rocker and v. flare gybes i think the One Design sinks and spins easier than the LT.

in under 8 knots i think i prefer the old Windsurf One Design. it is just so much fun in really light stuff. Over 8 knots and the LT was my pick and 12-15+ knots and the LT is an absolute blast! it's easy to sail and responsive with lots of sailor feedback. it's fun and lively but stable. it put a big smile on my face. I'll not be selling my 2 Windsurfer One Designs but i'll be using the new Windsurfer LT a lot more.

it seems like a board that for teaching won't produce road blocks. it will keep on allowing learners to progress and for those that can already sail it's just fun longboard sailing where you can go anywhere upwind or down. exploring your local spots or cruising in no wind.

if i was part of the LT beta testing i would have asked for 2 things. footstrap plugs for reaching and about 3-5cm less width. The guys i spoke with on Saturday didn't really feel the same way tho.

the last thing i did with the LT was put my son on the front and go blasting, when mine turns up the kids will be sailing it and using it as a sup.
there is a good chance i'll try one in small surf soon.

hey yeah it ROCKS! as dags said.

cammd said..

Chris 249 said..

cammd said..

RichardG said..

windsufering said..
Those numbers are just Australia !
LOL

Probably more Windsurfer LTs sold here in one year than RSX or Techno. Indeed how many RSX and/or Techno have been sold since those classes were created, globally ? and in Australia ? These figures would be interesting. I think Windsurfer LT may now be the best selling windsurfer for 2018 in Australia...!

RichardG the numbers are not comparable globally, Techno has over 10000 active sailors. Here in Australia we have maybe 30 or so and that number is up from maybe 6 or 7 a couple of years ago.

Techno has the problem of needing a constant crop of new kids, its a youth class, they out grow it. All those new LT's being sold are most likely going to guys that are updating. I would expect it would be difficult to repeat the sales number next year. that aside it great the class is excited, hopefully they don't just sit in garages and actually make in onto a course.

The T293 is doing well which is great, but 10,000 active sailors? The income the IWA reports is only about 2.5 times that of the Raceboards, and about double that of the RSX class which doesn't have too many. Also given the rate of production they reported earlier, it looks as though almost every T293 would still have to be active to get that many sailors afloat.

It's a great class though, and as noted seems to be the only really big windsurfer class these days.

That's what the IWA website says

www.internationalwindsurfing.com/userfiles/documents/T293_Original_Next.pdf

Techno 293 OD is the single biggest windsurf class with 10 000 young riders sailing somewhere in the world. Tens of thousands of young sailors are racing or have raced on this board. Techno 293 OD was recognized by World Sailing as a class in its own right in 2006. Since then it has seen phenomenal growth in more than 55 countries and on all 6 continents.

10 000 active
tens of thousands racing or have raced

I don't know myself just going off what the IWA has published

The Mistral One Design (MOD) board was first produced in 1989 by Mistral Sports Gmbh. An estimated 30,000 boards exist worldwide. Interestingly the adoption of the RSX as the new Olympic class in place of the Mistral IMCO One Design probably was ill advised and set back the class beyond repair. Seems to have been very dumb. I think Windsurfer LT and raceboard will be the racing classes which grow outside the Olympics. I don't know about foiling just looks too complicated equipment ("grease" and stripping down) wise to me, although I am sure it is fun, it won't be where the sport grows, unless I am mistaken. RSX as we know it, will die if foiling RSX is the future of the windsurfing in the Olympics. The Windsurfer LT will I believe become more popular to race than the Olympic windsurf classes free of all politics in the Olympic sailing world.

It means it's going to be available "unbranded" for other companies to distribute as their's, with their branding on it.
The idea is to get it out there and bring windsurfing back again as a more accessible fun sport/activity, whilst keeping it affordable.

shoodbegood said..
^^^
When you say affordable, How much $$$

You've got me thinking !

I think it's still $750.. (board only)
My order's in.. I can't see it staying that price for long.

shoodbegood said..

DavidJohn said..

shoodbegood said..
^^^
When you say affordable, How much $$$

You've got me thinking !

I think it's still $750.. (board only)
My order's in.. I can't see it staying that price for long.

Cheers David,

Do you know about a complete set up?

Are the prices expected to go up? Is this like an introductory offer.

You don't get much board for $750 these days, that just doesn't seem right ?

Yes.. pretty sure it's an introductory offer and also pretty sure it's $750 for board only and $2000 for board/sail/mast/boom/mast foot.