Author Topic: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!  (Read 40327 times)

PonoBill

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Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!
« Reply #45 on: December 02, 2022, 10:32:40 AM »
I can't help but notice the single footstrap. I thought you were nearly religious about the benefits of a rear strap.
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Beasho

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Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!
« Reply #46 on: December 03, 2022, 07:27:28 PM »
I can't help but notice the single footstrap. I thought you were nearly religious about the benefits of a rear strap.

My religion is stronger than ever. USE STRAPS.

I was trying no back strap because the local young downwind 'grom' (age 34) has been hounding me about going strapless for downwinding.

But we were out during a Mavericks day last week.  We run to a protected spot and catch 7 - 12 foot waves at the local foil park.  I had the back strap on, but that still wasn't enough and I took off my booties because me feet, with the booties, were still not connected enough on the board. 

Here was an example of where this board WAS able to catch the waves.  I am now of the belief that these boards GLIDE to catch waves 20% better.  BUT they are 10% to 30% harder to stand on meaning that you wobble and roll. Forget about getting hit by whitewater and taking off.  For big waves I have been switching back to the "Barn Door" philosophy.  Boards > 7' long and 30" wide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRq3y__A4Bk
« Last Edit: December 03, 2022, 07:29:41 PM by Beasho »

SUPeter

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Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!
« Reply #47 on: December 05, 2022, 07:06:53 AM »
I can't help but notice the single footstrap. I thought you were nearly religious about the benefits of a rear strap.

My religion is stronger than ever. USE STRAPS.

I was trying no back strap because the local young downwind 'grom' (age 34) has been hounding me about going strapless for downwinding.

But we were out during a Mavericks day last week.  We run to a protected spot and catch 7 - 12 foot waves at the local foil park.  I had the back strap on, but that still wasn't enough and I took off my booties because me feet, with the booties, were still not connected enough on the board. 

Here was an example of where this board WAS able to catch the waves.  I am now of the belief that these boards GLIDE to catch waves 20% better.  BUT they are 10% to 30% harder to stand on meaning that you wobble and roll. Forget about getting hit by whitewater and taking off.  For big waves I have been switching back to the "Barn Door" philosophy.  Boards > 7' long and 30" wide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRq3y__A4Bk

Straps definately help me when  I am in the surf zone as my feet always tend to stay in the same place during take-off, ride, and pump back out.  For downwinding, all that changes as I find myself gradually moving my feet closer together into a more restful position.  Downwinding, being so energy consumptive, one needs to conserve every last bit, especially at my age.

Beasho

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Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!
« Reply #48 on: December 16, 2022, 07:54:36 AM »
I thought so, but actually, they (Kalama boards) are not just designed or used for pumping. It's very weird seeing most of the good wingfoilers on Maui on Kalama long, skinny boards. Last winter the trend was toward lunch trays. Now I'm a couple of steps behind on a short(??6'2" is SHORT??), wide (6'2"X 30" 125L) board. Everyone is rapturous about how quickly they reach foiling speed. The rap I heard over and over is that as soon as they lift the wing from the water the board is accelerating. I thought this was all about pumping up on flatwater or doing sup or prone downwinders. But no. It's wingfoiling too. And definitely prone as much as SUP.

They're calling boards like mine "doors". I'm a little freaked out with FOMO. With my shit balance, I don't think those are for me. Yesterday a guy looked at my new board and said "That's 125 liters?? It looks much too short for that." WTF?

What I've heard from the prone folks is that as soon as they get to their feet they are at foiling speed or just one pump away.

Pono:  Can you speak more to this? 

Our local 'kid' (age 34 weight 175 lbs) has been riding his homemade Kalama style board a 6' 1" x 24" @ 110 Liters for

1) Downwind SUP Foil
2) SUP Foil and
3) Winging

The other day I was on my Ocho, 8M CWC in the wind, he was riding a 4.2 and mocking us for the need of bigger wings.

Another session he said "With my 5.5 F-One Strike V2 I can ride in the lightest wind.  When everyone was struggling to get on foil with their 6's and 7's I was up and flying immediately - NO PROBLEM!."

He attributes it to the rapid catch of these style boards. 

I am thinking "Why fly with an 8.0 if I can get by with a 5.5?"

Alternately in Hawaii why fly with a 5.0 if you can get by with a 3.0 . . ..

« Last Edit: December 16, 2022, 07:56:12 AM by Beasho »

PonoBill

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Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!
« Reply #49 on: December 16, 2022, 08:21:31 AM »
Yes, the conversion of wingboards from short/wide to long skinny has been astounding on Maui. All the cool kids have Barracudas. I'm wobbling around on my "old style" (less than a month old) board with a 7.0 f-one CWC while the cool kids are out on 3.5s. Part of the difference is my weight and age--I need all the help I can get to stand, get up on foil, and then do something useful once I'm up. The Barracuda fleet of 6 and 7 foot boards that are 18-25" wide get up to foil speed as soon as they are standing no matter what size wing they are holding.

You'd think the boards would be hard to turn, but the noses are extremely light, and I suspect that little mass at the end of a long arm gives very smooth pitch control. They certainly turn and pump as well as shorter boards, and when they are going down the line on a wave they are spooky smooth, with no hint of the up and down searching for trim that I see with the shorter boards. Folks here were headed to less than 4', now they're headed toward 8'.

Dave Kalama is AWOL, I haven't seen him on the beach since I got here, he's refining and changing these boards as fast as he can. The Kalama-style boards remind me of Ford vs. Tesla, the copies are at least ten steps behind, and if anything, Dave's boards are still pulling away. I would not have believed all this if I hadn't seen it myself.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

jondrums

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Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!
« Reply #50 on: December 16, 2022, 10:27:31 AM »
I'm personally excited about the possibility of going to hollow boards that are super lightweight now that we are seeing long thick narrow hull designs.  Hollow sucks on wide short thin boards and using foam wins for those type of shapes.  But the barracuda shape is screaming to made in a mold with honeycomb composite shell.  I think you could get a board as light as the small prone boards but with all the benefits.  Bring the tech over from the OC1 and race kayaks

PonoBill

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Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!
« Reply #51 on: December 16, 2022, 11:07:00 AM »
Yup. The biggest problem with making hollow Barracudas is the investment of time and money to build the molds. And the development is still underway--building a mold kind of locks you in at the point of development that you built the mold. That's why SIC was always kind of slow to change their hollow boards, and once Mark sold the company they pivoted to EPS boards. The only hollow boards were built on Maui, and there were never enough molds to ramp production. Mark was making hollow foil boards for a while but there are no time savings in building hollow boards and it's an impediment to development.

There's also a rejection rate issue since it's a more complex product. The hollow board Mark gave me that I'm using for a boosted board was a reject because the internal PVC foam backing popped loose in one place.

But if you're doing a one-off, then the mold could be a bit less complex. It probably won't be OC1-level production-capable tech, but you could do a sandwich skin in an open mold and glue it together.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

jondrums

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Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!
« Reply #52 on: December 16, 2022, 01:15:47 PM »
I'll post some ideas to shape-shack when I get around to sketching them.  I'm envisioning a build system that wouldn't require a mold, which could be very exciting.  The only thing is I think it will require a digital board design and a CNC router

Badger

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Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!
« Reply #53 on: December 19, 2022, 01:13:39 PM »
I'd love to see some video of people winging with those Kalama-style boards.
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StellaBlu

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Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!
« Reply #54 on: December 19, 2022, 01:30:20 PM »
In my mind, the theory works well for a neutral or positive buoyancy lightwind board, but I don't really see the benefit on a sinker like the FFB Nugget.  On a sinker, I feel like most of the resistance is in bringing the board to the surface - and I can't see the barricuda tail helping there.  If Im powered enough to get the board onto the surface, I generally don't have much struggle pumping up onto foil from there (which is where the barricuda would have the most benefit).

I suppose if the board has less resistance on the surface, I might be able to ride a smaller foil - if thats what I was after.

I would love to try one and my suspicions could very well be proven wrong.
« Last Edit: December 19, 2022, 01:33:18 PM by StellaBlu »

jondrums

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Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!
« Reply #55 on: December 19, 2022, 03:12:43 PM »
In my mind, the theory works well for a neutral or positive buoyancy lightwind board, but I don't really see the benefit on a sinker like the FFB Nugget.  On a sinker, I feel like most of the resistance is in bringing the board to the surface - and I can't see the barricuda tail helping there.  If Im powered enough to get the board onto the surface, I generally don't have much struggle pumping up onto foil from there (which is where the barricuda would have the most benefit).

I suppose if the board has less resistance on the surface, I might be able to ride a smaller foil - if thats what I was after.

I would love to try one and my suspicions could very well be proven wrong.

I think that's because you're "overpowered".  Now try riding on a day with not enough wind.  I can imagine that a low resistance hull can get up to foiling speed with very little pull from the wing allowing you to ride with a much smaller wing or on a day with what others consider not enough wind

StellaBlu

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Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!
« Reply #56 on: December 19, 2022, 06:32:00 PM »
In my mind, the theory works well for a neutral or positive buoyancy lightwind board, but I don't really see the benefit on a sinker like the FFB Nugget.  On a sinker, I feel like most of the resistance is in bringing the board to the surface - and I can't see the barricuda tail helping there.  If Im powered enough to get the board onto the surface, I generally don't have much struggle pumping up onto foil from there (which is where the barricuda would have the most benefit).

I suppose if the board has less resistance on the surface, I might be able to ride a smaller foil - if thats what I was after.

I would love to try one and my suspicions could very well be proven wrong.

I think that's because you're "overpowered".  Now try riding on a day with not enough wind.  I can imagine that a low resistance hull can get up to foiling speed with very little pull from the wing allowing you to ride with a much smaller wing or on a day with what others consider not enough wind

That’s why I said it would work for a neutral of positive buoyancy lightwind board. I’m still skeptical on a sinker. If you aren’t powered on a sinker you aren’t going to get the board to the surface and the tail isn’t going to help with that.

jondrums

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Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!
« Reply #57 on: December 19, 2022, 10:38:39 PM »
oh, not I got what you meant.  Yeah, I agree with that sentiment

PonoBill

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Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!
« Reply #58 on: December 20, 2022, 08:38:05 PM »
No one I've seen is riding these things as sinkers. The boards are deep from the first third to the tail, and 7' X 19" boards are in the 120l range. And those are the small ones (though I've seen a few 14" wide ones). I'm sure someone will try a sinker barracuda, but they don't really make sense. From seeing how people are riding these things I think the days of tiny boards and sinkers are numbered. Given the way the boards can be constructed the nose (the front third of the board) probably weighs a pound or two. Overall they're practically weightless. A sort, wide, thin board is mostly skin (heavy), and a long, narrow, deep board is mostly foam. They turn like a lunch tray, foil smoothly, and get up on foil with a breath of wind. There has to be a downside, but I haven't seen it, other than they probably aren't for geezers like me, though I just ordered Mark Raaphorst's latest ideas in a board with similar dimensions (7' X 25" 125l) that he's aiming at geezers like me. I hope to see it before I'm 77. Mark has a hideous waiting list.   
« Last Edit: December 20, 2022, 08:50:46 PM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

jondrums

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Re: Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!
« Reply #59 on: December 20, 2022, 09:39:41 PM »
my connection to Maui these days is JDfollowcam - and I haven't yet seen anyone on a barracuda style board on there.  Looking forward to seeing more of this trend

 


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