Author Topic: NELO is in for the games with Light Signature Race  (Read 259510 times)

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Re: NELO is in for the games with Light Signature Race
« Reply #1050 on: March 29, 2019, 10:31:21 AM »
ukgm - that might work for you since you will be talking to highly skilled riders. But most people aren’t. The information you get from less experienced paddlers is highly variable in quality.

I reckon you could get a custom that would be much better for you than anything you’ve tried so far, for you. But since you aren’t willing to take the financial risk that would involve, we’ll never know.
I reckon you could handle a narrower board with your self-professed balance excellence but since you aren’t willing to take the financial risk or put the hours in, we’ll never know that either  ;D
Au contraire, Pansy Potter, I did put my money where my mouth is, and I did find my limit. It was a humiliating and expensive experience. Like you, I decided at that point there there was no point competing any more. But then I didn’t get much out of racing anyway - I enjoyed the training but the races were usually a rather hollow and dispiriting experience, far away from the joy of paddling. So now, unlike you, I just do the training. But it has to be on boards so wide that they would mark me out as a sad old man (which I am) at all but the smallest local races, where I’d be getting my butt comprehensively kicked by the best 14 year-olds.

But today I spent 2 hours surfing my raceboard in rippy conditions, and didn’t fall in or wipeout at all in that session, which covered nearly 8 miles. And that’s how I like it. Stable enough to rarely fall. In 15 or so years when you are my age and you can’t even stand on the boards the teenagers are paddling, you’ll probably feel similarly. No need to make it any harder than it has to be. After 12 years of SUPing 4x week on average, and at my age, my balance skills aren’t going to miraculously improve not matter how much I struggle with a super-narrow board: I have reached a plateau determined by age and the hard demands of life.

Personally, you should have done my event this weekend and kicked some wrinkly arse in your age group. We'll never know the result of that either. Nobody uses a narrow board past 50  ;D

Good one UKGM -
You do realise though, that I am 51 ?!?!
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Re: NELO is in for the games with Light Signature Race
« Reply #1051 on: March 29, 2019, 12:36:56 PM »
Yeah, but you weigh the same as Pansy Potter’s (aka ukgm) left butt cheek.

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Re: NELO is in for the games with Light Signature Race
« Reply #1053 on: April 04, 2019, 04:46:10 PM »
He did not say if he was to become a team rider or whatever is the equivalent and race next year sponsored by Nelo and Braca or not at all.
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Re: NELO is in for the games with Light Signature Race
« Reply #1054 on: April 04, 2019, 06:21:29 PM »
Review by Zoltan

https://www.facebook.com/zoltandoterdelyi/posts/10214809554896701?__tn__=K-R
Not quite sure what to make of that “review”, except that it sounded like several experienced I’ve had om boards that were too tippy for me.

But he won a sprint championship on a nelo board last weekend so I’m guessing he’s fully on board with it, if you’ll forgive the pun.

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Re: NELO is in for the games with Light Signature Race
« Reply #1055 on: April 04, 2019, 09:35:13 PM »
The reviewer has almost 20kg more body weight than me, yet he's finding exactly the same thing I am finding:
- The board is voluminous.
- That volume is a welcome addition for open water.

I'd still prefer a whole lot less volume though... no doubt about it for my featherweight.
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ukgm

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Re: NELO is in for the games with Light Signature Race
« Reply #1056 on: April 05, 2019, 12:00:00 AM »
He did not say if he was to become a team rider or whatever is the equivalent and race next year sponsored by Nelo and Braca or not at all.

He isn't a team rider. He's currently being loaned demo boards by the UK's distributor on a short-term basis. However, a paddler of his standard (he's ex-C1 Hungarian national squad), will no doubt be pursuing such an arrangement at some point I would imagine. I would say that his account provides some natural bias towards that. However, you can read that account as someone out there using a tippy board...... albeit in very challenging conditions (I was out there round the corner on a demo Nelo surf ski having a similar experience but I didn't see it as a negative thing either - some might).

For what its worth, he's raced the 24.75 twice now. One was a winter low key race a fortnight ago (beating our longstanding national champion in the process) and the second was a win in our National Sprint Championships last weekend. He's got the skills to eventually tame the 23 width of that board but aside from the likes of Bruno (who currently has got social media footage of him using a 22 inch version in rough water at full speed), the 23 inch width boards are frankly beyond 99.9% of us in my view.
« Last Edit: April 05, 2019, 12:34:04 AM by ukgm »

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Re: NELO is in for the games with Light Signature Race
« Reply #1057 on: April 05, 2019, 10:56:16 AM »
He did not say if he was to become a team rider or whatever is the equivalent and race next year sponsored by Nelo and Braca or not at all.

He isn't a team rider. He's currently being loaned demo boards by the UK's distributor on a short-term basis. However, a paddler of his standard (he's ex-C1 Hungarian national squad), will no doubt be pursuing such an arrangement at some point I would imagine.

I thought that he might be considering this with Nelo if the board(s) were to his liking. And it looks like this might be the case so Nelo could challenge Starboard and their Sprint for Elite racing boards. Good for them. This might entice them to also design boards for everyone else or entice other brands to adopt the technology (like ONE might be doing on UL boards) in their standard lineup. A true all-around board with nice lines might be in the making somewhere and there might also be less length limitations be it because of blanks or weight. The era of the one board, 16 foot long included in a standard catalog might be soon upon us :-)
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Re: NELO is in for the games with Light Signature Race
« Reply #1058 on: April 05, 2019, 01:28:54 PM »
I was watching ukgm and his buddies sprint racing in Nottingham, and it struck me how ludicrously short the 14ft boards looked, with all the other “proper” paddlecraft around. Please, please, if this becomes an Olympic sport, take the opportunity to make the standard size 16ft or above.

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Re: NELO is in for the games with Light Signature Race
« Reply #1059 on: June 30, 2020, 05:28:24 PM »
Still no USA dealers for these boards? It appears to still be a Europe only thing, bummer.
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Re: NELO is in for the games with Light Signature Race
« Reply #1060 on: June 30, 2020, 06:03:41 PM »
Still no USA dealers for these boards? It appears to still be a Europe only thing, bummer.

Not a real tragedy. If you are eying a aboard like that, maybe even better, look at https://www.facebook.com/SpeedboardUSA.
Not my taste but looks fast. Done at same NELO factory, designed by a long time US board manufacturer Speedboard.

Should be coming up for sale very soon If not already.
in progress...

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Re: NELO is in for the games with Light Signature Race
« Reply #1061 on: August 16, 2020, 04:25:03 PM »
Finally got to try some Nelo Lightboard Corp Signature 2 boards. Tried both the 24.5 and 23.

Tried the 24.5 first and found primary stability to be pretty well non existent and secondary to be pretty good. The lightness was instantly felt with the first strokes and acceleration is incredible. It was the fastest sprinting board I have ever been on. The light weight also makes steering ver6 easy as a quick draw with the paddle will quickly move the nose to the side. I could paddle on one side all day on the board. Top speed average was pretty good at around 5.8 mph. Felt good enough on this board to go into one meter waves within 10 minutes.   Going upwind was interesting as the light front would get pushed around a bit and the feel and sounds from the hollow construction were odd. It was not bad on the waves but I would need more work to be able to catch the Bumps as I was still rolling to much to put the power down to catch the waves. Overall I like the board but it was not fast enough on average to make me want to switch.

Now for the 23. I can say for sure that this board is fast. Easily able to get into the over 6 mph average on flat water and sprints into 9mph are possible. The issue is there is again almost no primary stability but also almost no secondary so I did not go out in the waves. I also was sinking the board to the standing area so tak8ng water in every slight tip and I am 150 lbs. Not a board that I would like for cold water and also not a board I could easily use in chop or waves without a lot of practice. One other note is due to the sides design as they get wider as they go down I was really cramped and found my feet pressing ver6 hard on the sides as I was trying to get my feet wider. This was not really an issue on the 24.5 just the 23. Also these were newer boards and had the pads all the way to the sides so at least I had padding.

So the next question is would I buy one? The answer is “I do not think so” the 23 is the speed I want but it was not stable enough compared  to other boards on the market. I think they need some straiter and higher rails with a side which allows for a wider stance before I would get one.
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Re: NELO is in for the games with Light Signature Race
« Reply #1062 on: August 16, 2020, 04:42:18 PM »
Great review, thanks. Sounds like most of the boards created over the years by people who don't SUP much: fast in theory but in practice unusable for most people. The favoured racebosrd designs these days don't look anything much like what made sense at the outset of the sport. The reason for that is mainly ergonomics, rather than that new hydrodynamic principles have been discovered.

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Re: NELO is in for the games with Light Signature Race
« Reply #1063 on: August 17, 2020, 07:41:30 AM »
I assume the bottom is rounded, like a surfski. If so they could add a little flare to the sides to gain secondary stability without compromising the waterline width. I tried gyro stabilizing an old surfski once to turn it into a usable SUP race board. The stabilization worked somewhat but the constant rolling to each side was so distracting and worrisome (early spring in hood river--no one wants to fall in that water) that I never got comfortable. The talented pros can make almost anything work, but it's not for us mortals.
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Re: NELO is in for the games with Light Signature Race
« Reply #1064 on: August 17, 2020, 09:11:01 AM »
...If so they could add a little flare to the sides to gain secondary stability without compromising the waterline width...

That exactly what Bob Blair did on his new SpeedBoards, also manufactured by NELO:
https://speedboardusa.com/product/speeder-ss/
in progress...

 


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