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Sneak Peeks, Rumors, and Wish Lists / Re: It’s that time of year - 2018 Race Board Gossip ?
« on: July 06, 2018, 04:37:28 AM »I’ll bet sales of the Blitz will bomb in the UK.
But maybe in Germany they will be keen.
Very subtle.
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Sneak Peeks, Rumors, and Wish Lists / Re: It’s that time of year - 2018 Race Board Gossip ?« on: July 06, 2018, 04:37:28 AM »I’ll bet sales of the Blitz will bomb in the UK. Very subtle. 392
Sneak Peeks, Rumors, and Wish Lists / Re: It’s that time of year - 2018 Race Board Gossip ?« on: July 05, 2018, 10:28:09 AM »
2019 Fanatic obviously have the new Strike, the Falcon (which is now a clog) and finally the new 'Blitz'.
https://www.facebook.com/fanaticsupaustralia/ 393
Gear Talk / Re: new Fanatic strike« on: July 03, 2018, 12:19:58 AM »ukgm you might be surprised. Yep, you're right. I'd be more likely to go for a 23 width and if stability was still an issue, I'd probably install a small ventral on it. 394
Gear Talk / Re: new Fanatic strike« on: July 02, 2018, 03:42:48 PM »Well, it’s only really old farts like me and you who worry about stability. The kids coming through just want fast, have energy to burn, and could balance on a log. Their parents will be buying them these boards. True, true. I'm actually going to try a 21.5 at some point soon just so I can talk myself out of racing any more. 395
Sneak Peeks, Rumors, and Wish Lists / Re: It’s that time of year - 2018 Race Board Gossip ?« on: July 02, 2018, 11:55:27 AM »
I have heard about the new Starboard sprint today. Similar but more rounded off edges to make it better in rougher waters.
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Gear Talk / Re: new Fanatic strike« on: July 02, 2018, 12:25:39 AM »1) How do you feel about racers getting off their boards and pushing their boards round the inside buoy? It looked like that gave some competitors a distinct advantage over staying standing up. I know it is within the rules, but should it be?1) That's one of my old surf lifesaving tricks. We used to sometimes have 1 or 2 turn cans in the breakers and I could do the same and gain major distance back. It's legal but the loophole on it should be closed. 2) I think it will take 2 or 3 years of the ICF to attempt to get traction before we'd see that. The ICF will need to take SUP seriously. However, I do know that Nelo are going to have a major presence and PR promotion effort at this years champs (EDIT: I see in the entry list they are now sending their entire team to it). They see an opportunity and being a sponsor, may well help shape future formats (now where have we seen that before ?!). 3) They certainly have one eye on chop and they are merely playing the general condition averages for most paddlers I think. The 2018 board is depowered on the pure flat a shade over the 2017 version but its still fast enough. The other brands have realised this and there seems to be a scramble to copy the concept. Whether they get the stability right though is a big question. I've seen two new narrow boards out that haven't paid much attention to stability at face value and that's basically putting board design back 5 years. 397
Gear Talk / Re: new Fanatic strike« on: July 02, 2018, 12:16:45 AM »Just to add to the mix, Tim Cyprien won the Queensland State Title Technical Race on a 2019 21.5 Strike. It's not FW in the purest sense though as the board was reconfigured with a wider tail and volume in 2018 to handle light chop. Personally, I think that's the one board quiver racing concept that the brands are going to head towards in the short term. It makes a lot of sense and the sharper edges and aesthetics are good for marketing. The only anomaly is Naish who dropped their FW Javelin entirely and went for what is an excellent ocean racer but not great on flat stuff. 398
Gear Talk / Re: new Fanatic strike« on: July 01, 2018, 12:32:51 PM »With so many dropped decks the advantage to SB will be cut back. So makes sense they will push the envelope once again in 2019. Well to be fair, I’m not an international standard paddler anyway (hardly any in the uk are). As a result, the race fields are shallow enough here that I can dip in and out of the sup scene and not really lose out much as most of us are the same age. It just means I’m not that motivated to go back to the sponsored team/paddler route and I’ll cherrypick my events. 399
Gear Talk / Re: new Fanatic strike« on: July 01, 2018, 08:23:37 AM »Mo Freitas and Travis Grant are coming to my local beaches this week. Will be interesting to see if they are on 2019 models. Mo’s balance is off-the-scale so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him going sub-20... come along, ukgm, and be made to feel like a hopeless old man like the rest of us Sadly I couldn’t fit London in (although it sounds like the turnout should be decent). I’m double booked with other events in other sports I’ve got going on. I’m really curious to see what Starboard will do for 2019. I’ve seen nothing yet. I’m hearing whispers a 21 inch wide board might be on its way. 400
Gear Talk / Re: new Fanatic strike« on: July 01, 2018, 03:50:42 AM »
It's a bit 'me too' but the JP looks interesting.
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Gear Talk / Re: new Fanatic strike« on: July 01, 2018, 01:28:55 AM »And most of us agree - but it’s still happening. WHY? What is driving this sprint towards obsolescence and irrelevance? Because commercial interests and sport development don't generally work together. Starboard don't realise they are actually destroying their own sport in the long run by having race boards too high in price, 12 month development cycles and widths that 95% of the sport can't use. 402
Gear Talk / Re: new Fanatic strike« on: July 01, 2018, 12:38:54 AM »We have gone over this ad nauseum. The pointy end of the elite racing spectrum are ok with 21.5 wide for certain races. ukgm noted this even in his races. Many dropped down from 23. Robert is much heavier and older racing on his custom 21 in 11 Cities. These narrow boards are designed to be used by a specific sector of riders that can balance on them. Pretty sure the Brands do not expect to sell a lot of these each year. They are a big promotion tool. The key thing for the UK is that the majority of its regular racers are 35+ and no more than a dozen in number. This means that the number of us migrating to sub 23 inch width boards is probably not going to change much more now without any growth, there is now a relative polarisation between the regular racers and the occasional speculator too and whilst the fast paddlers are going narrower, I suspect the rest are not really. The sport here is frankly stagnant and unlikely to change in my view. The actual racers at our national series rarely exceed 20 per class. I agree that the narrow race boards are really floating billboards (often sold as a loss leader) to team riders and I'm not going to keep racing in a sport that isn't growing and whereby I can't move up the standings much more. A few of the older SUP hands are also migrating to other paddle sports (OC1 is getting increasingly popular - although still niche). Personally, I've only done a couple of board races this year and have spent more time on my surf ski of late. I may well do some of those races next year instead (I also trialled and was selected for the GB Dragonboat team this year but I couldn't make the date of the european champs - I may go for the worlds next year though). My current opinion is that the fears that Terrell, West and myself all raised is now coming to fruition. The only saving grace may be the more inclusive racing formats/classes the ICF is piloting at their worlds this year (probably to get one up on the ISA) such as age groups and inflatables. 403
Gear Talk / Re: new Fanatic strike« on: June 30, 2018, 06:20:52 AM »Competitive for who, and in what race, Eagle? ukgm for instance is a self-confessed “training robot” and a highly competitive individual who is fitter than either of us ever will be. But even he won’t be able to use the 21.5”. Yep I agree. I'd been keeping an eye on this brand (thinking ahead for 2019) but the 25 is too wide and the 21.5 far too narrow for me. I don't know why a board so specialized was made so relatively wide or narrow without something between the two sizes. A 23 or 24 would seem to be an obvious choice. 404
Gear Talk / Re: new Fanatic strike« on: June 30, 2018, 06:18:39 AM »Boothy has taken some spills on his sprint and lost valuable time. He's cutting it real close sometimes using his Sprint in tricky conditions. When you see someone like him struggle you know it's harder for us mortals. He's super used to his Sprint. Things are changing though - two of the podium of our recent Icon Classic (which is a full on ocean race for surfski's, SUP's and OC1's) were on Starboard 21.5's. One of those is a teenager who has been on narrow boards from day one. 405
Sneak Peeks, Rumors, and Wish Lists / Re: It’s that time of year - 2018 Race Board Gossip ?« on: June 29, 2018, 02:17:17 AM »
The new Fanatic Strike has officially been launched. The two widths are a long way apart from each other though. 21.5 is too narrow and 25 is wider than i use now !
https://www.fanatic.com/product/strike/ |