Boards 2004 Trip to Isla de Coche New world speed record ...

Boards 2004Text: Jonas HörnsteinThe kite may be the most important part of your equipment, but the significance of the boardshould not be underrated. Indeed it’s the kite that gives you the power and to a great dealdetermines how fast you can get upwind and how high you’ll be able to jump, but most of thetime you won’t even think about its presence. The board on the other hand has a more directpresence and more directly contributes to the overall feeling of the ride. Here we try to guide youthrough the enormous variety of boards on the market so you can find the board that gives youexactly the feeling you’re after.Classification of the boardsTo describe every board on themarket in detail is more or lessimpossible. Instead we have togeneralise and try to group theboards into various categories.Traditionally the boards havebeen divided into three differentclasses: directional, twin tip, andmutants. Directionals aredesigned to be ridden in onedirection and hence have a frontand a back. The twin tips aretotally symmetrical and worksequally well in both directions,which means that you don’tneed to turn the board when youwant to go in the oppositedirection. A mutant can be seenas a mixture of the two previoustypes as they work in bothdirections but have onepreferred direction. While theclassification of the boards intodirectionals, twin tips, andmutants, give interestinginformation about their design itisn’t enough for a potentialbuyer. Ninety percent of theboards on the market could beclassified as a twin tip eventhough there are hugedifferences between them. Analternative way to classify theboards would be to classifythem according to their range ofuses. Is the board designed tobe used on flat water, in choppyconditions, or in breakingwaves? Should it be used instrong or light wind conditions?Is it designed with beginners orpro-riders in mind? However, tocover all combinations of thesevariables one would need lots ofdifferent classes that would alsobe overlapping. It would simplifyfor the buyers if industry wouldagree on a few different classesin which the boards could bearranged. Today there are nosuch classes. Instead theboards are described byparameters such as length,width, weight, stiffness, outline,and rocker. For those who arefamiliar with the terminology andthe mysteries of board designthese parameters give veryaccurate information on how theboard will feel in the water. Forthe rest of us it gets more orless a pure guessing game. Inorder to improve the odds offinding the right board we give ashort introduction to how thedifferent parameters affect theboard’s behaviour on the water.Finally we exemplify how theseparameters can be combined inorder to create boards forspecific types of usage.Length and widthWe start with the most obviousparameters, length and width.The more wet surface under theboard, the earlier the boardstarts to plane. Beginners andheavier riders need a little bitmore area than light weight,experienced riders in order toget going and be able to goupwind. To get a larger surfaceunder the board we canobviously choose to increaseeither the length or the width.What we choose has a biginfluence on the characteristicsof the board.8A long and narrow board gives asmoother and more controlledride. It is easier to get a lot ofrail in the water to get upwindand the board doesn’t bounceout of the water as easy whenthe water is choppy. On theother hand that bounciness maybe desire as it gives you a goodlift when you kick the board outof the water. Such a board isoften said to have a good “pop”.In short you can say that for acertain surface area, the shorterthe board is the more pop it willgive you, but it will also be moreunsteady in the water. It cantherefore be an idea to firstconsider the kind of conditionsyou will use the board in and ifyou first of all want acomfortable board that givesyou a good grip in the water or aboard with more pop. From thatyou can get an idea of whatcould be a good length of yourboard. If you primarily use theboard in flat-water conditionsand like to pull off the latestwakeboard tricks, a short boardlike 120 cm or even less couldbe good for you. If you, on theother hand, usually ride inchoppy conditions and like to beable to dig down the rail andpush hard in the turns withoutworrying of the board loosing itsgrip, a board of at least 130 cmcould be better for you. Thewidth is then determined by howmuch you weight and in howstrong winds you will use theboard. The heavier person andthe lighter wind, the wider aboard will be needed.