Fanatic Bee 294

[RMoore 41]

I had an opportunity to ride the new Fanatic Widebody 294 and I though that I
would pass my opinion on this new board from Mistral/Fanatic. Yesterday at
Washoe Lake started out typically with a building 15-20 kt. breeze and 90
degree air temps. A couple of us rigged our race boards with 8.0 sails and
decided to run some windward/leeward practice. This is basically three tacks up
wind and each tack is five minutes, pointing as high as you can, then deep
broadreach back and do it over again. After the first leg I stopped to add more
downhaul as the breeze was building to 18-24kts and the fun factor of the
broadreach was turning into pay attention or die factor. With the added rig
tension we continued to practice with a little more control and after a few
more legs we took a break. The wind by now was real solid and the wind chop was
1-2 feet. I definately wanted the wind to slack off as my Protech is not happy
when the wind is over 20. That wasn't happening. Jack, who is one of the
regulars at Washoe had just bought a Fanatic 294 and he asked me if I wanted to
try it. Since the board is bigger than my protech and the wind was pretty
strong I was afraid of it and declined. this was the second time he had asked
me and the board had a deviator on it I said "what the hell" and plugged my 8.0
into it and went out. The board felt pretty lite as I carried it out to the
water. I jumped on and zoomed off the beach. The first thing I noticed was that
the board has a lot of bow rocker, not a flip tip like a techno but gradual
rocker. The board also felt loose and almost had a wave board feel to it. It
must have considerable tail rocker too. But most impressive was the ease of
control and forgivness of the ride in 20+ and choppy water. This thing was like
a cabin cruiser and uneffected by the chop. I jibed it a couple of times and it
was forgiving and easy. Didn't really step all the way across like on my
protech, just took back foot out and bent my knees and it turned like it was on
rails. The board is not fast or points as high as my protech but is much easier
to ride. This would be a great board for a truely big sailor 200-300 lbs. to
sail in all conditions. The board has a nice finish, not wavy or lumpy and has
a pretty thick plastic skin. This is a good board with a lot of potential.

[KarabaszJP]

I think you are talking about the Bee 164 as Fanatic no longer refers to the
length but the liter of displacement. Fanatic HAD a BEE 294 but it was NOT a
Wide body board.

It also comes in the brand new LTD construction. This construction is IMHO the
ultimate in Carbon sandwich construction. The LTD is not only lighter, stiffer
and will stay that way due to the aluminum T stringer. As well as the excellent
HS construction you tried.

I would also like to point out a amazing fact about this hull. We (Extreme
Windsurfing ...www.extremewindsurfing.com) have the Bee 164< Vision 170 & the
GO on demo/rental(as well as just about the whole line of Mistrals & Fanatics)
at our particularly windier site. We ALWAY encourage potential buyer to test a
board (as our "show room" is rudimentary... keeping the $$ down) of what ever
size against different manufacturers and buy the one that works best for them.
I want to say a couple of facts here. First I/we stand behind all our line and
beleive they offer some thing unique, we don't play favorites.We have sold
several of all models (Bee 164 both LTD & HS, Visions and GO's) but last
weekend we had 7 customers of varying sizes, ages & abilities come in and demo
all three boards side by side and everyone picked the Bee 164 all for different
reasons (non of which was price) This really is impressive.

Please do not take this as product bashing, or favoritism or for that matter
commercial. Just as an active windsurfing retailer with a unique operation
(demo/rental program) I just wanted to share some facts we are seeing.

JIM

[Endo]

Nice to see another point of view instead of the usual "God rides a
GO!"

I am looking seriously at the Bee WB 144 as well as the Bee 104. I'm
looking for a one board quiver and like the idea of maneouvrability of
the smaller freeride boards but still want to occasionally put on a
7.5m sail.

On the other hand, I saw a guy at Cap St.Jaques in Montreal last week
with a Bee 144 WB and he had also heard lots of good things from his
friends who demoed it. He says it was nice but he was expecting a
little more early planing than he got. I guess this is too be expected
because EVERYBODY is hyping that feature of all their boards.

Still, it sound just right for me at 150lbs. But one thing for sure!!!
I'll demo before I buy.

BTW, does anyone make a rock proof construction :-)

Endo

[RMoore 41]

>>I think you are talking about the Bee 164 as Fanatic no longer refers to the
>>length but the liter of displacement. Fanatic HAD a BEE 294 but it was NOT a
>>Wide body board.

Your right, it was a Fanatic 164. Big, red and well made.

>Nice to see another point of view instead of the usual "God rides a
>GO!"

You can't really compare the two boards. The Go board is a lite air rocket that
you can teach beginners on, the 164 sails like a huge wave board and I'll bet
that a big skipper could drive it easially in a stiff breeze. Both are good
products. my .02

[KarabaszJP]

I gotta say on a 1 board quiver the Bee 104 in CDS has to be the way to go as
long as you don't use a sail over 7.5M. I love (6'2" 248#) the Bee144 but at
your size anything less than a 6.5 the 144 will beat you up. this is not the
case for me I have sailed it down to 5M but almost 2X of you. several ofd my
instructors travel extensively in the off season (I must pay them to well) and
when the situation warrents it (a 1 board 5 sail quiver) they ALWAYS pick the
Bee 104 CDS.

I'm sorry you are not close by but it is not to far to come from montreal we
have the Bee 104 & the Flow 276 in demo as well as the Bee 144.

See Ya if you can
JIM