Another revelation about the Barricuda style Kalama board!

[Fishman]

...Malo can probably paddle on a  beachball and make it look stable

Agree Malo is super talented but I can really see the lag in his turns compared to his usual style on smaller boards, 7Kg for 112L is REALLY heavy... a lot of swing weight. They've gone overboard on the dimensions in their V1 effort, too narrow, too thick and way too heavy (the biggest surprise). Not cheap either at 1200 Euro

Certainly not as turny as on smaller gear, but they say the foil in that video is the 122cmXXL Fluid H with the new fluid largest 47cm stab.  I suppose larger board feels better with the larger stab, longboard vs shortboard kind of thing.

Personally It would be nice to be able to get a board like that for that price in my area.

[Dontsink]

Agree Malo is super talented but I can really see the lag in his turns compared to his usual style on smaller boards, 7Kg for 112L is REALLY heavy... a lot of swing weight. They've gone overboard on the dimensions in their V1 effort, too narrow, too thick and way too heavy (the biggest surprise). Not cheap either at 1200 Euro

Is it that heavy?.
Do not think many production boards ,in any shape, get a lot lighter than 7kg at 112liters.
Hard to say because most of them chicken out from publishing weights.
I know that an 85l 5feet bodyboard shaped wingboard is pretty good at 5 to 5.5 kg.
So 7kg for 6.6 and 112l sounds reasonable to me.

I know that people are building ultralight custom DW boards but IMHO most of them will be waterlogged throwaways in a season.

1.0 density EPS + light glassing + long lenghts + paddles = a great  recipe for dings.
It only takes 1 little ding for the EPS to start sucking water.They are often really hard to see.

I am very tempted by this shapes, i think that something like a 6 x 16 x 85l could work pretty good for Upwind/Downwind wingfoiling in my unreliable wind conditions and be a fun pronefoiler in some spots.

Might perpetrate a DIY thingy along those lines next year as i will have more time off.

[SUPeter]

Agree Malo is super talented but I can really see the lag in his turns compared to his usual style on smaller boards, 7Kg for 112L is REALLY heavy... a lot of swing weight. They've gone overboard on the dimensions in their V1 effort, too narrow, too thick and way too heavy (the biggest surprise). Not cheap either at 1200 Euro

Is it that heavy?.
Do not think many production boards ,in any shape, get a lot lighter than 7kg at 112liters.
Hard to say because most of them chicken out from publishing weights.
I know that an 85l 5feet bodyboard shaped wingboard is pretty good at 5 to 5.5 kg.
So 7kg for 6.6 and 112l sounds reasonable to me.

I know that people are building ultralight custom DW boards but IMHO most of them will be waterlogged throwaways in a season.

1.0 density EPS + light glassing + long lenghts + paddles = a great  recipe for dings.
It only takes 1 little ding for the EPS to start sucking water.They are often really hard to see.

I am very tempted by this shapes, i think that something like a 6 x 16 x 85l could work pretty good for Upwind/Downwind wingfoiling in my unreliable wind conditions and be a fun pronefoiler in some spots.

Might perpetrate a DIY thingy along those lines next year as i will have more time off.

A good reason to use Innegra/glass. Two layers of each on rails.  Makes them very difficult to ding.

[SUPeter]

Just read back and was intrigued by the reference to kids wingfoiling with their Barricuda style boards. I've wingfoiled on my 8'x20" "Barricuda" and have to say it was remarkably easy to get on foil.  When I have my mast in the correct position, it is quite an enjoyable ride.  Got me to thinking it would make a great winging "adventure" board for those long, lonely downwinders. With little to no wind, you could still make headway to a destination.  Less need to worry about always having enough wind.   It pumped easily and the extra inertia in the nose stabilized the ride. Of course, it's not as stable while kneeling and getting my front foot in position but that's over once the back foot gets settled.  Took some time getting used to it as far as tacking (heel and toe side). Maybe it was me being too worried about catching the nose.  To be honest, there is not much more board out in front of me than there is on my 5' 2" wing board.

[Badger]

Wing foiling a Kalama E3 6'1 x 23"  105L.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lL6ozlTcUs

[Thatspec]

  To be honest, there is not much more board out in front of me than there is on my 5' 2" wing board.

Yet another issue with V1 Gong, the boxes are a little too far back. I've always been super happy with their products, don't currently own any but I might consider a V2 Cruzader if they make some improvements. Everyone is going to have different requirements, mainly volume but lightweight is a basic need. The Kalama 115L custom I bought used has been through one season and is anything but waterlogged at it's original 12# (5.2Kg). The production versions are about a pound heavier and likely more ding resistant. Regularly available on the used market for 12-1500.

Yup, those are some pretty impressive turns for a 112cm span wing regardless of the board

[Badger]

I forgot to mention in my post above that it's not me in the video. It's just a YouTube video I found while researching the Kalama E3.

[jondrums]

Bumping this thread to get the conversation back going.

I became the proud owner last night of one of Dave's production models - the 8'0" x 21" 111ltr (I'm #205+wetsuit)

I've been bugging him about it for months and finally they got the production run in stock and things all happened fast.  Buying from him was a great experience, shipping to my local airport included in the price, and shipping only took as long as a plane flight.

Well, I got it out on the water this morning.  A dismal day otherwise with howling onshore winds and short period slop but with some energy behind it.  Getting used to standing on this thing was quite a trip.  At first it seemed absolutely impossible, but within half an hour I was up and standing even in the terrible conditions.  Not easy by any stretch, I would more say - possible.    I was still falling a lot with the jumbled conditions but doable.

I had both the strap and the foil in the wrong place, but once I adjusted my approach its a swell catching machine.  With the onshore wind, I just paddled directly out to sea as far as I wanted and then turned and grabbed pretty much anything that was clean swell to surf back in.  The really nice surprise was that the board pumps almost as well as my short wide "door" foilSUP so I was able to get a few double and triple ups.

Overall a fun time, and I can tell it will only get better as I figure out the tuning/placements.

[jondrums]

I'm almost a month in and I've been exclusively surfing the barracuda in all conditions.  Balance on the board is pretty much nailed now, but does take constant focus.

After about a dozen sessions, I decided to take my old "barndoor" style foil SUP out for a spin.  I could absolutely not believe how hard it was to catch waves.   Its so slow I took it right back in and traded out again.  I'll never use it again I reckon.

I've ridden everything from tiny tiny tiny non-breaking waves (the only limit here is when it gets this small it gets shallow too).  To big fast long period (not huge like Beasho).  Catching waves super early is really fun.   This board catches waves.

Riding and pumping works fine and honestly the board is light enough that it all works well.  I can feel the size, but you get used to it quickly.

And I've been winging the board as well.  For wing on the lighter side or gusty, its really really nice.  Never worry about getting up on foil.   When the wind is stronger or more consistent, there's no benefit and its much more fun to be on a small board.

[ninja tuna]

Nice to know.  OK so how is handling bigger  choppy conditions.  I just got the armie 7'7. Have not taken it out in the surf yet cuz of work at the moment, but had a few minutes to take it paddling in some river chop and surprised how stable it was. Ocean will be a different story but its a start.