Author Topic: new Fanatic strike  (Read 16453 times)

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Re: new Fanatic strike
« Reply #30 on: July 01, 2018, 11:02:20 PM »
Eagle - Some impressive skills on display there. And it makes a good case for the Strike. The rear looks big on a board that narrow, doesn’t it? Must help with the buoy turning and stability when surfing.

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?

It’s interestjng to see the dominance of Australia emerging. The prediction for racing a few years ago was that racing would become predominantly an inland waters thing. But watching the Euro tour etc I’ve been struck my how much the races are still mainly conducted in or near the sea, and the top racers are still overwhelmingly ocean-based in background, as they always have been.

Maybe that will change when the ICF gets going. Although will people watch videos of people paddling up a creek in a dry suit and pfd vs. Seychelle wearing a skimpy bikini bottom while frolicking in the ocean, as she did in Germany this weekend? (Where she was the sole US elite competitor appearing on the podiums at that event.)

Maybe if racing is becoming just a loss-leading and photo-generating marketing exercise, then racing at the elite level will not become the predominantly inland waters thing we predicted after all. The sea is more interesting to paddle in, and generates bettter marketing coverage. If so, that will determine in part the designs of the boards - and maybe keep full-on clogs out of contention, and board asses fat. Are ocean brands like Fanatic going to build boards designed for ICF-sponsored inland waters pure flat water races? I can’t see it happening right now- even the FW designs like the Sprint and Strike have one eye on the ocean. If anyone had been on a true FW board (displacement nose, pintail, rounded hull) in Germany this weekend they would have finished in a woeful position. And the pintail clogs seemed to be struggling too.

Where was photofr and his buddies on their flat water Nelos etc in Europe’s races? If rounded hulls and displacement noses are so much faster, it’s amazing how few of them there are out there.

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Re: new Fanatic strike
« Reply #31 on: July 01, 2018, 11:25:37 PM »
from distance and to non-professional eye you will choose 2019 boards just by color/name. pretty sure they have their own thing on bottom/construction/tail dimensions/etc... :o

ukgm

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Re: new Fanatic strike
« Reply #32 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.

Granted the swell was small but buoy turn racing on a FW board?? Pretty special.



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.

ukgm

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Re: new Fanatic strike
« Reply #33 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?

2) Are ocean brands like Fanatic going to build boards designed for ICF-sponsored inland waters pure flat water races?

3) I can’t see it happening right now- even the FW designs like the Sprint and Strike have one eye on the ocean.
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.
« Last Edit: July 02, 2018, 01:07:02 AM by ukgm »

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Re: new Fanatic strike
« Reply #34 on: July 02, 2018, 04:29:40 AM »
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.

Give it up, old man. You were born too early for this sport :)

At least if racing dies, we won’t have all the nonsense that will come from entry as an Olympic sport. Then maybe the ICF will lose interest too, and we won’t all be forced by them to have a SUP licence (costing 500 dollars) and wear inflatable armbands, pfds, drysuits, and carry spare flashlights plus first aid and bicycle puncture repair kits. :)

yugi

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Re: new Fanatic strike
« Reply #35 on: July 02, 2018, 07:11:38 AM »
Just to add to the mix, Tim Cyprien won the Queensland State Title Technical Race on a 2019 21.5 Strike.

Granted the swell was small but buoy turn racing on a FW board?? Pretty special.



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.

FYI Fanatics top racer, Arutkin, is using their allwater board even on completely flat courses.

So there's that.

ukgm

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Re: new Fanatic strike
« Reply #36 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.

Give it up, old man. You were born too early for this sport :)

At least if racing dies, we won’t have all the nonsense that will come from entry as an Olympic sport. Then maybe the ICF will lose interest too, and we won’t all be forced by them to have a SUP licence (costing 500 dollars) and wear inflatable armbands, pfds, drysuits, and carry spare flashlights plus first aid and bicycle puncture repair kits. :)

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.

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Re: new Fanatic strike
« Reply #37 on: July 02, 2018, 04:13:50 PM »
Similar to the DEEP Fireball which is their flatwater speed machine. When they dropped off their boards after the PPG, the 21" wide version was the only one their team rider Lincoln Dews kept with him. He used it in some early season races that were anything but flat water (Carolina Cup Graveyard race) but he switched over the Dryft for the late season events and won the Mercedes Benz SUP World Cup this past weekend. I paddled the 23" wide version and at 175 it felt pretty good in flat water with small chop or bump. 
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Eagle

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Re: new Fanatic strike
« Reply #38 on: July 02, 2018, 10:32:29 PM »
ukgm you might be surprised.

The AS24.5 has some roll and the AS23 definitely more.  But if you can balance ok on the AS23 powered up then you should be ok on the dropped 21.5 Sprint.  The difference in tip is noticeable but not much more.  Was able to go max speed on flat with no balance checks.  But again technique needs to be on point.  Your size may make the 21.5 Sprint too far a stretch -> but the 23 Sprint might work.

Def the Fireball 21 looks like a nice efficient low vol board in the diversified Deep lineup.  SB will need to bring forward something special for 2019 as there looks to be some very decent low drag competition.
Fast is FUN!   8)
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ukgm

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Re: new Fanatic strike
« Reply #39 on: July 03, 2018, 12:19:58 AM »
ukgm you might be surprised.

The AS24.5 has some roll and the AS23 definitely more.  But if you can balance ok on the AS23 powered up then you should be ok on the dropped 21.5 Sprint.  The difference in tip is noticeable but not much more.  Was able to go max speed on flat with no balance checks.  But again technique needs to be on point.  Your size may make the 21.5 Sprint too far a stretch -> but the 23 Sprint might work.


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.

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Re: new Fanatic strike
« Reply #40 on: July 03, 2018, 02:52:20 PM »
I had a quick paddle on the NSP Sonic 14x24 wide and that feels narrow and tippy for (80kg/176lb 5'6"). I'm really looking forward to the 21.5 wide boards and see how they feel  :o ::)?

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Re: new Fanatic strike
« Reply #41 on: July 03, 2018, 03:26:24 PM »
I don’t think any of you guys would have any problems paddling a 14x21.5 board. But whether you could be fast when paddling it in typical race conditions is another matter altogether. There are plenty of people who seem to measure their worth by how narrow a board they can stay on top of. But that’s not worth a damn in itself. You have to be faster on it than you would be on a 23-25” wide board. And that’s the tricky bit :)

warmuth

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Re: new Fanatic strike
« Reply #42 on: July 03, 2018, 03:47:41 PM »
I don’t think any of you guys would have any problems paddling a 14x21.5 board. But whether you could be fast when paddling it in typical race conditions is another matter altogether. There are plenty of people who seem to measure their worth by how narrow a board they can stay on top of. But that’s not worth a damn in itself. You have to be faster on it than you would be on a 23-25” wide board. And that’s the tricky bit :)

  I drew the line at "do I enjoy paddling this board?". I raced a 23 in flat water but it just wasn't worth it as I had to train on it as well and I never really enjoyed it. The 24 was essentially as fast with all the added stability benefits and it was a board I wanted to paddle, not one I needed to. I never beat anyone paddling the 23 that I didn't already beat on the 24 anyway and the best performance I had was on a 25 because conditions were mixed and the guys on 23s struggled to keep up in the open water portions and couldn't make it up in the flat water.

Luc Benac

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Re: new Fanatic strike
« Reply #43 on: July 03, 2018, 03:54:10 PM »
I drew the line at "do I enjoy paddling this board?".

That is the most important question and the dominant criteria I use now.
As a contrarian, I like my board that is long and wide and fun.
But then again, I never race. I do participate from time to time to SUP races as long as they are over 14km, do not include lapses (boring) and do not include more than two buoy turns :-)
« Last Edit: July 03, 2018, 03:56:26 PM by Luc Benac »
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Re: new Fanatic strike
« Reply #44 on: July 03, 2018, 04:11:23 PM »
The Ace looks great out in its natural habitat...
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