nerdycross said..

mariachi76 said..
Hi all,
so I went surfing again, around 18kn of wind, with my fox 105 and a new Severne Overdrive 7.0. I kept my legs as straight as possible, front leg completely stretched. Having hands closer together helped a lot to have my weight mostly in the harness and keep the hands more relaxed.
Still, I reached max. 22kn of Speed (40 km/h).
I think the main reason was that I went too much upwind - I didn't go 120-130 degrees downwind.
@dizzy, how do I keep the board more on the downwind rail? If I keep my legs straight, I automatically press on the upwind rail... so I don't really know how to put the board tilted to the downwind rail? Are maybe my harness lines too long?

best regards
mariachi76

How's it goin with the fox 105 now mariachi76 have you refined your set up and stance? I am goin down the windsurf foiling direction now but still love to sail the tho when it blows!
I sailed 105 last week in 30 mph on flat water ,34 fin and 6mtr NCX totally maxed on the edge of control but was insane fast ,but did jump on my 94 fsw for a bit more control with smaller board after an hour of adrenalin ( an age thing)

Hi Nerdycross,
lately we had less wind here (Shanghai, CN), mostly 12-14kn so I went surfing with my lightwind gear only. But I think with my fox in the next strong wind session I just have to go more downwind on my speedruns, and will also put the footstraps a bit more to the rear and outside, mast foot a cm back. I let you know...
In fact we jus have a typhoon coming now, but my surf spot closes with winds over ~28kn...

best regards
mariachi76

Sea Lotus said..
Hi Mariachi

I used to live near TaiHu lake (Huzhou side), I always wanted to windsurf there but never pulled the trigger due to many reasons.
Its usually windy there, flat water, but a lot of fishing net/etc.. near shore, and maybe a little muddy water. Fast train is 5mins from lake, by car about 2hrs from SH, it can be a good alternative spot.

I olso have a fox 105 btw, its my favorite board, very fast and easy.

Hi Sea Lotus,
what a coincidence. I surf at the Bihai Jinsha club in Fengxian, can store all my equipment there.
I might try Tai Hu lake in winter or early spring when my club is closed, or go to Qidong to surf in the open sea...
best regards
mariachi76

TopcatRacing said..
Took out my new Fox 95L board today at Melville water after purchasing from Paul at
Revolution Boards in Osborne Park. Is a second hand 2018(?) board that's had its tail cutouts filled in as a trial and this design has now been incorporated into current boards. Was a patchy 15-20 knot sea breeze for the couple of hours I was out. Previous board is a 115L Tabou Rocket of unknown vintage but could be 10 years old! Anyway, the Rocket is a very sweet board that will hang onto but wanted something for those 25+ knot days which I'm hoping will still arrive this summer and something with a good turn of speed so thought the 95L Fox fitted the bill. Started off with my 6.4m Gaastra Cross and the Severne 320 F-series fin while the wind was on the lighter end and in the gusts was nice but not really floaty enough to carry my 80kg through the lulls. Changed to a 7.2m Gaastra Savage, which is still a rotational sail and went up to a JP 31 Weed Freeride (Same length in the water but 50% bigger fin). I was fully expecting this sail to be a bit on the big side for this board but it absolutely loved it and I had a blast. The speed through a committed gybe caught me out as I was accelerating, not just maintaining speed through even a reasonably tight gybe. The board went upwind just as good as the 115L Rocket and the speed and control on the reach was great and my small amount of slightly downwind stuff was scary-fast. Looking forward to some higher wind days on a smaller sail/fin combo to test out its true niche. Would say a 105 or 120L would be a better fit as a multifunction board but the 95L looks like a high wind freeride rocket that doesn't mind a decent size sail on it. I've yet to hit some heavy chop on it but I don't think that will phase it.
Paul

Hi,
in the meanwhile I went out sometimes with my Fox 105, mostly with a Severne Overdrive 7.0.
It was a sweet water lake with very gusty15-25kn, and also the 105L made problems in the lulls. It seems the narrow shape and pronounced V are not really ideal to keep planing. I also weigh 80kg.
But I can confirm that in choppy conditons and fully powered, the board really eats the chop.

Next time I will try the board with a Select S1 pro 35cm fin which i bought since then to replace the 36cm F-Series, but I guess that fin would also not help to plane through the lulls, but maybe keeps the speed a tiny bit better.
Anyway I am really looking forward to use the board in better and more stable conditions (and warmer - temperature here in Shanghai was around 8?C).

best regards
mariachi76

nerdycross said..
Just interested in how your progressing with the fox 105 ?

Hello Nerdycross,

Only few times a year the wind here is strong enough for the Fox 105. Last time I went about a month ago with the Fox was under perfect flat-water conditions, around 20kn steady wind and I went with a 7.8 Overdrive. I was quite overpowered, but had really really lots of fun with the Fox 105.
It was at the end of an already 4hr session on my SLW 165 and 9.2 (at around 12-14kn), when at the end of the day the wind picked up. So I gave the Fox 105 a try, put the 7.8 OD which was already rigged from the previous day, and went literally flying!

I really think the Fox needs a well-powered sail, and due to its pronounced V at slow speeds is not easy to get on full planing. But with good wind and a powerful sail it starts flying over the fin and is then a real racing machine. I was in some 1:1 "competitions" quite a bit faster than any of the other guys on their (larger) slalom boards. The battery of my GPS was already empty, but the other guys went around 28kn and I guess I made ~30kn. I was so happy that I went for another 1 1/2 hours, until I had no more skin on my palms :-).

Just the footstraps were mounted in the medium and not outer position. And when flying on the rails over the water, really fully powered, that felt like not enough grip for the heels when in full slalom stance. So I really need to mount them in outer position and maybe would have been even faster. btw I also replaced the fin with a Select S1 pro 35cm carbon fin which works well for me.

So overall, I am now very happy with the Fox and would wish more often wind conditions for it. I think the problems I had last winter were really due to the extremely gusty conditions (buildings either blocking or funneling the wind), plus the freezing cold air and water, and probably too few downhaul in the sail.

To the initial question, it was the right choice for me to buy the 105 and not the 95.
In the meanwhile I also replaced my Magic Ride 130/79cm with a Isonic 123/72cm.
So I am perfectly fine with the 165L/72cm SLW, 123L/72cm Isonic and 105L/65L Fox. And I believe the Fox 105 I could easily control up to 30kn of wind, which is anyway conditions I almost never have here in Shanghai. So no smaller board needed for the moment.

So... all is good now!
best regards
mariachi76