Sail Repair WA said..
Hi Gaz Man

I hope your getting closer to choose your board.
Lots of tips and opinions above :)

Is it correct ( reading between the lines ) that you will mostly use a weed fin on the board? ( sailing in Albany )
Or even use weed fin 100% of the time?

This will effect the feeling of the board a lot.

If the above is the case, then the boards with the more narrower tail sections, will in general feel better with a weed fin.
Free race / freeride / Windtech - or older style slalom boards.

The wider tail more modern slalom board, can be (is ) more fin specific + can a lot ( most ) of the time feel like more work with a weed fin.
As you don't really get the same lift with the weed fin vs pointer fin, the wider tail can be more work to trim out 'out of the water' ( excess back foot pressure )

Where the narrower tail boards you can easier trim and feeling 'less sticky on the water'

Just something to consider I guess.

If you don't use weed fins , then just disregard the above :)

J

Many thanks Jesper, that's great advice!

Will mostly be using weed fins and haven't sailed any proper slalom boards since the 90's (where the slaloms I think if I remember right were a bit narrower than today's boards) so I'm not particularly aware of how the wider tail boards react when using weed fins compared to narrow tail boards which is what I've been sailing exclusively for over 20 years

Maddlad said..

GazMan said..

Sail Repair WA said..
Hi Gaz Man

I hope your getting closer to choose your board.
Lots of tips and opinions above :)

Is it correct ( reading between the lines ) that you will mostly use a weed fin on the board? ( sailing in Albany )
Or even use weed fin 100% of the time?

This will effect the feeling of the board a lot.

If the above is the case, then the boards with the more narrower tail sections, will in general feel better with a weed fin.
Free race / freeride / Windtech - or older style slalom boards.

The wider tail more modern slalom board, can be (is ) more fin specific + can a lot ( most ) of the time feel like more work with a weed fin.
As you don't really get the same lift with the weed fin vs pointer fin, the wider tail can be more work to trim out 'out of the water' ( excess back foot pressure )

Where the narrower tail boards you can easier trim and feeling 'less sticky on the water'

Just something to consider I guess.

If you don't use weed fins , then just disregard the above :)

J

Many thanks Jesper, that's great advice!

Will mostly be using weed fins and haven't sailed any proper slalom boards since the 90's (where the slaloms I think if I remember right were narrower than today's boards) so I'm not particularly aware of how the wider tail boards react when using weed fins compared to narrow tail boards which is what I've been sailing exclusively for over 20 years

I can confirm that the slalom boards with the wider tails dont love weed fins. We use them at safety bay for the slalom series, but they dont feel anywhere near as good as with the pointer fins.

What is the tail width verses weed fin size of your setups ? (I won't ask what boards these are)

I want to buy a brand new 110 slalom or frace board next year to replace my 10 year old 2012 109 Supersport. All my fins are weedies. I'm reading this thread with interest.

jn1 said..

Maddlad said..

GazMan said..

Sail Repair WA said..
Hi Gaz Man

I hope your getting closer to choose your board.
Lots of tips and opinions above :)

Is it correct ( reading between the lines ) that you will mostly use a weed fin on the board? ( sailing in Albany )
Or even use weed fin 100% of the time?

This will effect the feeling of the board a lot.

If the above is the case, then the boards with the more narrower tail sections, will in general feel better with a weed fin.
Free race / freeride / Windtech - or older style slalom boards.

The wider tail more modern slalom board, can be (is ) more fin specific + can a lot ( most ) of the time feel like more work with a weed fin.
As you don't really get the same lift with the weed fin vs pointer fin, the wider tail can be more work to trim out 'out of the water' ( excess back foot pressure )

Where the narrower tail boards you can easier trim and feeling 'less sticky on the water'

Just something to consider I guess.

If you don't use weed fins , then just disregard the above :)

J

Many thanks Jesper, that's great advice!

Will mostly be using weed fins and haven't sailed any proper slalom boards since the 90's (where the slaloms I think if I remember right were narrower than today's boards) so I'm not particularly aware of how the wider tail boards react when using weed fins compared to narrow tail boards which is what I've been sailing exclusively for over 20 years

I can confirm that the slalom boards with the wider tails dont love weed fins. We use them at safety bay for the slalom series, but they dont feel anywhere near as good as with the pointer fins.

What is the tail width verses weed fin size of your setups ? (I won't ask what boards these are)

I want to buy a brand new 110 slalom or frace board next year to replace my 10 year old 2012 109 Supersport. All my fins are weedies. I'm reading this thread with interest.

A lot of people use weedies in the Windtechs to settle them down a bit. The extra rail length means they still go upwind great . They still scuttle across the top of the chop.. I only ever use weedies on mine and they are the boards that have taught me about going across chop rather than through..
I mainly used weedies on my slalom boards which may be why I felt I smashed through chop.

Amen to that maddlad .

Thanks Ned.

I had the 2007 94L wood isonic reasonably smooth in chop for a slalom board. I now have the 2014 90l isonic and quite hard in the chop. I'm now looking for a 90l isonic 2017 upwards as SB are stating that they are just as fast but a much smoother ride, also gybe better.
Can anyone confirm this and if anyone's got a 90L isonic for sale PM me please.

jn1 said..

Maddlad said..

GazMan said..

Sail Repair WA said..
Hi Gaz Man

I hope your getting closer to choose your board.
Lots of tips and opinions above :)

Is it correct ( reading between the lines ) that you will mostly use a weed fin on the board? ( sailing in Albany )
Or even use weed fin 100% of the time?

This will effect the feeling of the board a lot.

If the above is the case, then the boards with the more narrower tail sections, will in general feel better with a weed fin.
Free race / freeride / Windtech - or older style slalom boards.

The wider tail more modern slalom board, can be (is ) more fin specific + can a lot ( most ) of the time feel like more work with a weed fin.
As you don't really get the same lift with the weed fin vs pointer fin, the wider tail can be more work to trim out 'out of the water' ( excess back foot pressure )

Where the narrower tail boards you can easier trim and feeling 'less sticky on the water'

Just something to consider I guess.

If you don't use weed fins , then just disregard the above :)

J

Many thanks Jesper, that's great advice!

Will mostly be using weed fins and haven't sailed any proper slalom boards since the 90's (where the slaloms I think if I remember right were narrower than today's boards) so I'm not particularly aware of how the wider tail boards react when using weed fins compared to narrow tail boards which is what I've been sailing exclusively for over 20 years

I can confirm that the slalom boards with the wider tails dont love weed fins. We use them at safety bay for the slalom series, but they dont feel anywhere near as good as with the pointer fins.

What is the tail width verses weed fin size of your setups ? (I won't ask what boards these are)

I want to buy a brand new 110 slalom or frace board next year to replace my 10 year old 2012 109 Supersport. All my fins are weedies. I'm reading this thread with interest.

Hey Jn1,

If you decide to go with a new JP slalom or freerace board then they've got awesome fin selectors on their 2021 website:

jp-australia.com/p/windsurfing/boards/super-sport/

jp-australia.com/p/windsurfing/boards/slalom-2021/

GazMan said..
Thanks to all those that gave great feedback and advice as it's helped me a lot to come to the conclusion that the smoothest riding 'slalom' board is actually a narrower freerace style board (apart from maybe the Exocet slaloms!), particularly when mostly using weed fins.

Fyi decided to buy a new Windtech Silver Bullet 57 as versatility in a range of conditions has always been a very important factor for me when choosing a board and the Windtechs appear to do this job really well!!!

I wish you lots of windy days to enjoy your new toy

Have fun with the new toy. You'll have a ball!

Well done GAZ ,with freerace you have a bigger sail range too ...hope you can tell how fast it is

and TerryA yes walking the next day is important... some of those full slalom boards are a killer ..i have a couple ..lol.

Here's some video taken of the Windtech 57 ( 90ltres) last Saturday.
I'd been out 1.30hr in patchy crappy stuff so I was pretty tired by the time we got some decent gusts. The board is c 25 ltres over my weight.
It was getting to the top of the range for that combo so I was backing off a little at the biggest ramps to keep it on the water. I was surprised to see how lively the board looked in the footage as although it was hardwork it was fun , I was comfy and I had no control issues. The gybes weren't pretty but I was happy they were dry.. I wasn't getting forward enough to engage the rail so I lost speed but it was happy to safely bounce around in the bumps.
If I had stayed out I would have come in and put more tailflex on , mastfoot forward , a smaller fin and gone down to a 5.7m but I was too tired so I only had a few more runs after lunch and went home.
I'm not good enough or dedicated enough to sail a slalom board above the chop but I can have a heap of fun on a forgiving setup like this!