How often do you buy a new board or sail and get the conditions to sail it right away? Not often…that’s just not the luck of the windsurfer. Particularly when it’s high-wind gear. But I hit the jackpot on Saturday when my Fanatic Freestyle Wave 77 was on the water 30 minutes after I picked it up at the shop.
“77 liters!?” the Wolf exclaimed when I showed him my new board. It sounds so small, but the board handled just fine and seems to pop onto a plane easily.
“Lets have all the gumpf…length, freeride/all out slalom? etc etc weight etc etc and most of all comments on your christening run!” commented Bunty when she learned of my new ride. Check it out:
It’s 7 feet 9 1/2 inches long (remember when 8′ 6″ was short?) just under 13 pounds according to the specs from Fanatic, and planed off lightly powered. At 56 cm it’s a little wider than my previous high wind board (a Naish 8’5″ Wave that’s for sale cheap), which helps the board sail “bigger” than its size suggests.
“Short and wide is the way to ride!” opined Peconic Jeff after he took the board for a spin.
It’s a freestyle wave design, which I opted for because I’m doing at least as much bump and jump sailing in this wind range as I am wave sailing, but it jibes more tightly than any board I’ve ever sailed. I have to get my thoughts together before starting the jibe, because it all happens so fast, but the actual carve is forgiving. The virgin session was on a 5.0, powered to overpowered.
I’d been sweating the “pure wave vs freestyle wave” question for much of the summer. I lightened up about it a bit after this episode, and then was more focused on the volume question. When at the recent ABK clinics Andy Brandt mentioned that Sally should be on a 77 liter board instead of her 93 when she’s on a 4.0 the decision was made. A 77 liter high-wind board would be just perfect for the Mrs.
“I love when that happens! True love at its best!” says Jill Marr. (Jill and George share all their gear. George is wise in the ways of windsurfing marriage.)
But the talk about 77 doesn’t end there. Sally’s online handle in the Peconic Puffin is Surfergirl777, so the cosmos appears to be fully in accord with this purchase.
Now the new challenge: To name the board. It’s replacing Little Wings Two, so I could just go with Little Wings Three (Little Wings was an F2 Axxis 258). Sally (who hasn’t named a board in quite awhile, though she used to be into it) thinks that something with sevens is appropriate. I like to sail a board several times to see if it suggests a name to me…that may be the path, though I’m open to suggestions. For now, I’m just eager to get back on her.
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