Hi,

I have a question about the volume of Freestyle boards.

I now have a RRD Twintip 109 '10.
My weight is about 90kg.
My level is stuck doing spocks/grubby/forward.

I have the impression that the turning of the board is very slow in the moves (F.ex. spock).

Would a 100L board will do for me ? It is narrower for sure.
Is it that much of a difference in the start of planing ?

Grtz,

Philip.

Hi Philip,

Well, 90kg is pretty heavy,... for you, a 109 liter board is like for me a 90 liter board (70kg)...

The RRD Twintip is a pretty forgiving board with a lot of volume in the tail (which helps you to not sink the tail during your slides).

You could for sure use a 100L board, but you will definitely feel it in your early planing abilities.

What sail sizes are you using mostly,- what winds are you usually sailing in ??

I would say the 109 is good for you - what fin size do you use? maybe you can speed up your rotation speeds by fine tuning the board --> move mast foot a bit back (in 5mm steps), moving your footstraps back, smaller fin,...

What's exactly your problem in Spocks/Grubbies?

Forwards? how far do you get??

An 109 liter board is just not a small board,.. but for your weight it is the only way to get planing early and have the stability during slides and so on...

good winds
Rossi

Thanx for the reply Rossi,

I'm using this board as only freestyle board.
From lowwind to heavy winds. Using sails sizes : 5.3, 4.7 & 4.2.

Mast foot is at the back completely.
I use a 18cm fin.
I think I will set my foot straps 1 hole more backwards to test.
Most used is 4.7.

While performing spocks, I get a huge splash on landing, this is getting the speed out of my move. I ain't got the time to perform the whole rotation.
Grubby : I'm standing still after 180° of the rotation.
I'm landing the forwards on my back, able to waterstart. On a waveboard, I'm standing them.

I think I'll stick to the 109L, to be comfortable in low end.

Regards,

Philip.

Hi Philip, where are you windsurfing - 5.3 as "lightwind" is cool!!

well you could probably go for a 100, as the wind seems pretty strong where you are. However, for your body weight the 109 is just right i would say! - gives you some extra volume when you need it in slides and stuff...

Spocks and Grubbies:
Probably it's not the board that doesn't want to slide - it might be just some more practise that is missing...

Hard to say without seeing it on a video or in real, but for the Spock it's important you grab the other side of the boom at the same time as you rotate the board, so that you are almost on the other side once you land. also keep your weight on the front foot and extend the back one... you need to force the board to slide backwards, then you will also get it spinning...

Grubby: almost the same thing - try not to jump too high, rotate by lifting the back foot slightly to get the nose into the water and rotate around it. Extend the back foot once you are facing the wind. Don't twist your body, extend the sail hand and bend the mast hand to let the sail help you rotate.
Start the Grubby (jump) out of a slight carve downwind, not just from sailing straight downwind, that will help you to keep on rotating after landing.

Forwards:
It's definitely harder to do them on a 109 liter board - just so much more volume - also the volume prevents you from pushing the tail of the board really down to create that pop when taking off.
If you're landing them on your wave board, just keep on practising - you need to develop the perfect "light wind" technique...

later
Rossi

Hi Rossi!

I have an Starboard Flare '10 98 litres and I weight 64 kg. I sail in Gran Canaria (Pozo, Bahia, Vargas) in Summer, the wind is really strong!


¿¿98 litres is a right volume for me??

Thanks!

Hi Benjamin,

The Starboard Flare is a very good board, but man - Gran Canaria!! - i am in Fuerte right now in Sotavento, we have wind for 4.2 and 3.8 usually... i guess you have similar wind forces over there most of the time - or even more...
So the board is actually way too big for your weight - you should have at least the flare 88 or some other small freestyle board if you do freestyle mostly.. or a freestyle-wave board if you don't do that much sliding tricks...

Guess you have a wave board too?

If you can - go get a board with 90 liters (or flare 88 for example) - for your body weight this will be just right...

also get used to use very small fins, this will help you a lot in spinning/sliding moves...

All the best from Fuerte!
Rossi

Hi Rossi!!!

I was in Fuerte last week!! Gollito is cool!!!

Thanks for your reply, Rossi! Yes I have a Fanatic NewWave TE 68 and a Starboard Evo 75 for the waves!

I have a "custom" 18 cm fin for the flare! I guessed 98l is too big volume for me!

Thanks again!

PD: I have Tricktionary II book, and I wait de Tricktionary DVD, the best purchased I made in a long time!

Hey, great you like the Tricktionary book and DVD!!

yeah 18cm custom fin sounds good!
You'll do your moves safer on the 98, but you'll be more comfortable on an 88 or so...

Haven never been to GC - see you when i get there one day, hopefully soon...

good winds
Rossi

I can´t believe that! Fuerte has the most beautiful beaches on the world... but not is Pozo!

if you like windsurfing, You must sail in Pozo!

I´m beginner (only 2 years sailing) but i see the pro´s and it´s insane!

I hope see you in Pozo!

You have my mail!

Thanks and Regards!

Hello Rossi,

I really hope this thread is still open.
I kind of have the same question.

Last two years I was working in greece as windsurfing instructor. I was always a good rider, but never really did tricks. So last year I started to practise freestyle. I landed my first Airjibe quite quickly. Also some backloop attemps where almost landed.

I live in holland, the summer (2 months) I usually spend in greece (naxos). At the moment it is too cold for surfing, the ijsselmeer is frozen! I hope to get back on the water soon, to go on practising. Hopefully in march!

But now my actual question. I bought euipment last year as followed:

RRD TWINTIP 100 (2012)
FIN: MFC 20cm (Standard)
NEILPRYDE THEFLY² 4.2/4.8/5.4 (2012)
NEILPRYDE MAST X100 470cm
NEILPRYDE MAST X6 400cm
NEILPRYDE BOOM X9 140-190cm

My weight is 67KG and my hight is 1.76m

Do you think the board is too big? The planning abilities are great! I really like the board. But sometimes it feels a bit hard to get it out of the water for jumps, also in strong wind when I am on 4.2 it feels to big for jumps. Maybe I just need more practise to get more POP?!
I also tried the RRD TWINTIP 90 last year with 4.2 - It felt much more lifely and I had a better feeling for jumps, but more difficult to land and manouver (switch stance, etc.)

DO you think I should get rid of the 100lts and go buy a 90lts - Or is it with my leevel too early for a smaller freestyle board??

What do you think about the sails? Some people said that the difference between the sizes is too big?! And I was also thinking about buying an X100 MAST in 400cm - Is there a big difference to X6 ?!

Last but not least I also want to buy a wave-board this year. I tried every single board from RRD. Wave-Twin, Wave-Cult (Single & Quad), Hardcore-Wave and thruster.
The boards I liked most had been:

Wave-Cult (Single) 75lts. I think this one I used it most of the time, but sometimes it was not aggresivve enough, too much forgiving.

WaveTwin 72 lts: This board was amazing, I only had the chance to ride it once. Very smooth, but also good in turns and jumps. Great board.

Hard-core Wave (Quad) 68 lts: I used it in rough conditions, 4.2 and 3.7, it was really aggressive and sharp in turns. Sometimes almost too difficult to handle for me. Also heavy feeling in the back, because of the $ US-box fins.

What do you think, which board would fit best to my sails and weight, als allround board?


I would really appreciate it if you get the chance to answer my questions. You really sound like you have great knowledge, and know what you are talking about! So thank you already, for any effort you will put in this case...


Regards & best wishes from Holland

Jan

Hi Jan,

Thanks for your message - haha yeah threads don't really close over here...

Size of your freestyle board depends a bit on your preference, but in my opinion, the 100 is too big for your body weight. You just don't need 100 liters when going on 4.2 or 4.8...
with the 5.4, the 100 would maybe fit better than the 90, but the 90 would still work well - i am also using 5.2 and always the F2 Rodeo 90 - i am 72 kg.

A slightly smaller freestyle board would definitely give you better pop. Yes, you might plane slightly later, but if you ride actively, that's not a problem, but you gain a LOT of agility..the board feels smaller under your feet and fits better to your body weight. You might learn a tiny bit slower, but some moves quicker (where you require more pop) - you will get used to the smaller volume quickly and then you'd not wanna go back to the 100 i guess. A smaller board definitely gives you better style in your moves!!

Sails:
well depends on the spots you are sailing at - if you feel you are constantly over or underpowered, it might make sense to get smaller steppings, otherwise,... i was always using 4.0 4.7 5.3 in the good old days... now i have 4.0 4.4 4.8 5.2 - but cause there's no other sizes... mostly i would prefer to use one sail overpowered or the smaller one and pump... depending on the conditions... so it doesn't really matter... keep the sizes as they are if you feel good with it

Mast:
nothing bad about the X6 - but the mast is the one thing, where investment in a higher percentage of carbon makes a real difference... so a 90 or 100% carbon mast would give you a bit lighter sail, a bit more response and probably range. however, depends on your budget... you can do everything with that X6 - all good

Waveboard:
Man - more confidence!! You are describing each of those boards feeling you had so much, that you should trust on that! I have not ridden those boards, neither do i know where you are going to use them and in which conditions... so ... it seems you liked the WaveTwin most?


Any further questions let me know - but you seem to be well aware of the feeling you like in a board or sail...trust in that - especially if you can test a lot - test test test and you will just feel what you like most!

All the best and good winds!
Rossi

Hi Rossi,

My question is within the same context, my weight is 105 kg (I now that I have to do diet to loose some kg) and I want to know how much volume should I need for freestyle board knowing that the wind speed is averaging from 15 to 30 noeuds.

Thanks a lots,

Hi med_bouaa,

With 105 kg you need to go for the biggest freestyle boards you can find!
Maybe you should even check for custom boards... cause companies usually don't produce boards for such heavy freestylers - cause there are just not enough of them... - but doesn't matter, you can of course freestyle!

Depends also what your level is - if you want to do/learn jumping/sliding freestyle moves, you need a real freestyle board... Rodeo 107 or the big skate, JP, RRD, Starboard,... check which company has the most volume...the boards are all good nowadays!
If you want to do more of jibes, 360s and stuff (no sliding moves), you can also go for a big freestyle wave board, or some of the smaller freeride boards... for you 120 liters should be good, to get planing early enough...

all the best
Rossi

Hi Rossi,

Thanks for your quick answers.
Concerning what I plan to learn are somes slidning move and speedloop in flat water

So should take the biggest freestyle board. But is it good in strong wind and some wave ( 1 m).

Thanks a lots.

Well,
i am 70kg and use a 90 liter freestyle board normally and a 75 waveboard.

you have 35 kg more, but your freeestyle board would probably have only 20liters more than my big one and 40 liters more than my waveboard. so a 110 would give you the compromise of being a bit small for planing in light winds and maybe a bit too big for really strong winds and waves...

The question is, what boards are you used to use in strong wind and waves?

Now I have an AHD rebound board with 103 l of volume and I'm,uset for all winds and spots (Flat or wave).

Then you are going a big compromise in ligth wind planing already... any 105 or 110 freestyle board will get you planing a lot earlier...

those boards are more fragile, so they will not want you to land flat with your 105 kg after jumping off a wave... so either you get a freestyle board for moderate conditions and keep on using the AHD for wave, or you go for a freestyle wave or something (there are 110 or even 120 liter freestyle wave boards) and go for a compromise with sliding moves.

Anyway you'll either need 2 boards, or go for some compromise...

If you want to start with jumping/sliding moves (airjibe, spock, flaka,...) a pure freestyle board helps a LOT... you can do it with any board, but you will learn it the quickest on a pure freestyle board...

good luck

You mean that freestyle board are more fragile?

And it's true in light wind or not stable planning is very difficult even with pomping.

So it's better to get a freestyle board with maximum of volume for medium conditions and another board with 95 l to 100 l for wave.

And thanks for all suggestions it's help a lots and its so clear for me now.

Yes of course a Freestyle board is a bit more fragile...they are single sandwich usually - full carbon or carbon kevlar sandwich but they are meant to plane early and not for high jumps.
Also - you have to consider, that most people are not as heavy as you - they build boards for the average person... so even a 110 freestyle would be for someone not heavier than 90 kilos or so... and even then, the force you can bring onto a board is a LOT, especially if you jump high and land a bit flat...

So yes, better get a freestyle board as big as possible for medium conditions and freestyle moves.. and another 95-100 for strong wind and waves... that'll give you the best board for each condition anyway...and no compromises!!

Hi Rossi,
Again thanks for all and I think it's better for me to drop my weight to 90 kg .