Opinions on Vivace or Veloce?

[jpayn...@aol.com]

I'm looking to buy a Bic Vivace 290 or Veloce.

I had a Vivace 290 that got stolen. I'm looking to replace it with
another or similar board for a beginner shortboarder. I could uphaul or
water start the Vivace without too much problem. I need a similar board
that I can learn to jibe with. $1000 or less.

Thanks! Jon Payne

[wil...@aol.com]

Veloce--yes!
Vivace--NO!
New to be released in Feb. '97 will be the Veloce 288, which is the long
awaited modern replacement for the Astro Rock. You will find that it will
turn circles around your old 290, and has the footstraps located a little
more inboard for comfort. This board is smoother in chop, and much easier
to jibe than the V-290 was. Best of all, it will sell at most retailers
for less than $1000 (in the standard weight version, a little more for the
16lb. one).
You are really going to like this board, just wait and see!

[joe...@aol.com]

Can you tell me why NO on the Vivace, but YES on the Veloce? Is there
really that much difference, and if so....what? I see where the Sailworld
store in Hatteras has the 96 Vivace on sale for $499.....how come?

I may be asking alot of questions, but I'm seriously considering by a
Veloce or Vivace, but I want the better of the two!

Thanks for you help

Joe B.
Kansas

[Craig Goudie]

In article <19961206001...@ladder01.news.aol.com>, joe...@aol.com says:
>
>Can you tell me why NO on the Vivace, but YES on the Veloce? Is there
>really that much difference, and if so....what? I see where the Sailworld
>store in Hatteras has the 96 Vivace on sale for $499.....how come?

Because they were unpopular. They were unpopular because they were
more difficult to ride than their predecessors (A Rock and E Rock).

Maybe I can help a little. It depends on what you want. The Veloce
is more of a free ride board. It will ride easier and jibe easier
than a Vivace, at the expense of top end speed. I'd guess they'ed plane
up about the same in similar constructions. I'm not that fond of
Vivaces because they're kinda sticky in bump and jump conditions, typical
of a slalom board. I've got a bud with a Vivace 270, he's quit taking
it to the Gorge because it just isn't fun in those conditions.

Oh yeh, I remember another reason why I didn't like the Vivaces, the
foot straps are wayyyy out over the rail, makes it awfully difficult
to get any kind of slash out of the board.

As I recall, Bic tried to remarket their Vivace 270's this year by renaming
them Veloces, so if you were in the market for a 270 I'd look real
close at the rail shape and rocker line before I bought a 96 Veloce 270,
but I think your original post was about 290s wasn't it? The 298 Veloce
and the 290 Vivace are very different and it should be easy to tell which
is which.

There's a couple of guys, here, who swear by their Veloce 298s. There's
also one guy who likes his 290.

>
>I may be asking alot of questions, but I'm seriously considering by a
>Veloce or Vivace, but I want the better of the two!

Better is relative to your conditions and what you want.

I like custom boards, but $499 is pretty tempting isn't it.

>
>Thanks for you help
>
>Joe B.
>Kansas

Craig (Go Short or Go Home) Goudie 6'3" 175 LBS. Usually sail
the high desert lakes of Utah on: 9'4" Starboards Course Slalom,
Gem 8'10" Course Slalom, Cross M Gorge Bump, and Hot Awols.

[eyes...@aol.com]

joe...@aol.com says:

>Can you tell me why NO on the Vivace, but YES on the Veloce? Is there
>really that much difference, and if so....what? I see where the
Sailworld
>store in Hatteras has the 96 Vivace on sale for $499.....how come?

cgo...@sim.es.com (Craig Goudie) replied:

>>Maybe I can help a little. It depends on what you want. The Veloce
>>is more of a free ride board. It will ride easier and jibe easier
>>than a Vivace, at the expense of top end speed. I'd guess they'ed plane
>>up about the same in similar constructions. I'm not that fond of
>>Vivaces because they're kinda sticky in bump and jump conditions,
typical
>>of a slalom board. I've got a bud with a Vivace 270, he's quit taking
>>it to the Gorge because it just isn't fun in those conditions.

I sailed a Vivace 270 until the middle of last season when I broke my
universal and speared my rig through the deck of the board. I replaced the
270 with a Veloce 278 which cost me under $1000. The Veloce is much more
fun to sail when it gets bumpy. I was surprised at how controlable it is
in chop even though it is a few liters larger than the Vivace. It seems to
plane up as fast or faster. Lastly, it is not all that slow for a slow
board, at least in the right conditions. The day I demoed the board
everyone was out on 6.0 and I was passing most sailors with my 6.0 slalom
sail rigged... I wish I could say it was my technique but I think the
board was really doing the work (clearly a non-scientific test though...).

[F. Scott Shine]

eyes...@aol.com wrote:
>
> joe...@aol.com says:
>
> >Can you tell me why NO on the Vivace, but YES on the Veloce? Is there
> >really that much difference, and if so....what?

I think these guys’ comments are right-on on the smaller versions of these boards.
However, in the giant slalom versions (~295) The Veloce is a real slug! It is quick to
plane but sails through a jibe like a jon boat and tops out on a reach real fast! Its
just too damn fat in the tail. If you are considering a 295, I would go with the
Vivace.

Shine

[timh...@aol.com]

F. Scott Shine" wrote:

I sailed a Veloce 298 most of this year, and it does not seem like a slug
to me! I am not too experienced a sailor, this being only my second
season of owning my own equipment, so I am not 100% sure of how to rate
this boards speed. I will say though, that this year, in local conditions
from 15mph to 30mph winds, I almost never got passed on this board. When
I did get passed, it was usually by someone taking well over 100 yards to
gain a board length or two. Now, to some people, a board that is 10%
slower than the quickest board out there may be a slug, I don't know.
Personally, I like to go fast, and I hate it when there are lots of people
flying past me at twice my speed. That is why I rig big, and replaced my
40lb., 170L "log" with the Veloce 298. I haven't been disappointed. I am
willing to be passed by a couple of people for ease of sailing, however,
and for easy planing in very light winds with a big sail. Also, while
keeping pace with most everybody, the board was very easy to sail at a
fast speed. In order to judge a boards speed, I think you really need to
be judging it against some standard, such as another sailor, or a
speedmate, or something. The easy "feel" of this board at speed could be
misleading. Having said that, it is hard to know if the person you are
"racing" is rigged big enough, is trying to sail fast, etc. etc. Does
anyone out there have any comments on this board "head to head" with other
boards? Also, what does it mean to "jibe like a jon boat"? I am not
trying to be argumentative, just trying to get more information. I was
considering getting a a Veloce 278 at some point in the future. It looks
extremely similar to the 298, with less volume and slightly smaller size,
and slightly thinner rails. Is it really worth buying a 278 to complement
my 298? (I am 160lbs, and the winds here seldom exceed 30mph)

Regarding the Vivace, I have heard people say they don't like their
Vivaces because they were no fun or hard to sail, but I have no experience
myself.

I would be very interested in other opinions. I am not a Bic dealer, I am
just trying to help other sailors, as they have helped me. This equipment
is expensive, and mistakes in purchasing decisions really hurt. Any
replies appreciated.

P.S. Slug or not, in my second serious season in windsurfing, I had a lot
of fun, and learned a lot on this board (planing, straps, waterstarts,
non-planing jibes).

Tim

[Vic the Veloce]

.

>Maybe I can help a little. It depends on what you want. The Veloce
>is more of a free ride board. It will ride easier and jibe easier
>than a Vivace, at the expense of top end speed. I'd guess they'ed plane
>up about the same in similar constructions. I'm not that fond of
>Vivaces because they're kinda sticky in bump and jump conditions, typical
>of a slalom board. I've got a bud with a Vivace 270, he's quit taking
>it to the Gorge because it just isn't fun in those conditions.
>

>Oh yeh, I remember another reason why I didn't like the Vivaces, the
>foot straps are wayyyy out over the rail, makes it awfully difficult
>to get any kind of slash out of the board.
>
>As I recall, Bic tried to remarket their Vivace 270's this year by renaming
>them Veloces, so if you were in the market for a 270 I'd look real
>close at the rail shape and rocker line before I bought a 96 Veloce 270,

helo everywun, i am vic the veloce. i am a 96 veloce 270, and just for the
rekord, i wood like to say that i am a reely grate bord. my rider (who is a
little litewate pipskweek) bot me to replase her e-rok, and yoozes me for her
lite wind slalum bord. so far i think she haz been vary hapy with me. she sez
i am kwiker to plane, faster, and eezier to jibe than her e-rok. i dont think
my footstraps are that far owt on the rales. my rider haz no problems with
them, and i have herd her komplane abowt the footstraps-on-the-rales on sum of
her frends bords.

i have never been nekst to a vivace, so i kant reely say how i kompare, but i
think i am a pretty fun and eezy-rideen bord. if i had any thumbs, i wood give
myself too thumbs up!

thanks for lissening, and hav a grate day!

- vic the veloce

p.s. stop by and vizit my web page at:
http://www.in.net/~jillw/windsurf/boards/vic.htm

[Peter Lovejoy]

Two other guys and I sailed a Veloce 298, a Vivace 290, and an Astro Rock
in marginal conditions in the Gorge one day. We all had 6.0-6.3M2 sails
(one RAF, one single camber, and one 2 camber). Two of us weigh 160, the
third, well lets just say he usually sails about 1 meter larger. We
swapped boards and sails to experiment.

The basic result was this: whoever had the Veloce had more fun. The two
160 lb. guys were plaining about 75% of the time or more (often in both
straps) when they had the Veloce. The Astro Rock planned about 25% of the
time, and the Vivace planed about 10% of the time, and only for the
lighter guys. Even when not planing on the Veloce, the heavier guy had fun
(as opposed to complaining about shlogging on the Vivace). He actually
preferred the RAF sail in this situation, because it was easier to handle
while jibing.

Obviously this is not an all encompassing test or review, and these boards
have different design goals, but it marginal conditions, the Veloce was
planing when the Vivace and Astro weren't, which made it way more fun.

Peter
--
The opinions expressed in this message are my own personal views
and do not reflect the official views of Microsoft Corporation.

[Daniel Morgan]

joe...@aol.com wrote in article
<19961206001...@ladder01.news.aol.com>...

> Can you tell me why NO on the Vivace, but YES on the Veloce? Is there

> really that much difference, and if so....what? I see where the
Sailworld
> store in Hatteras has the 96 Vivace on sale for $499.....how come?
>

> I may be asking alot of questions, but I'm seriously considering by a
> Veloce or Vivace, but I want the better of the two!
>

> Thanks for you help
>
> Joe B.
> Kansas
>

I cannot give my views regards the difference between the Vivace and the
Veloce because I have only sailed the Vivace. I have a 282 which I can
tell you it is a seriously quick board, the only problems I have is trying
to get the bloody thing to carve jibe. It is definitly to do with the
sharp rails and possible to do with the speed the board travels.
If you are keen on speed this is an excellent board, but if your into fast
hard jibes, 360's, chop hopping etc I steer clear.
I've also got an 1986 Tiga 260 slalom which although it's not the quickest
it is definitly more fun.

John

[Bob Williams]

In Article<01bbead3$177408a0$LocalHost@my>, <A.Mo...@btinternet.com> writes:
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> From: "Daniel Morgan" <A.Mo...@btinternet.com>
> Newsgroups: rec.windsurfing
> Subject: Re: Opinions on Vivace or Veloce?
> Date: 15 Dec 1996 22:00:58 GMT
> Organization: BT Internet
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My new Veloce is my new big board (9'0). A great no-nose for the surf, given
5.5 type winds, and I'm 6'2", 200lbs. I love this board for a production
design. If you're unsure, look at the new Mistral Screamers - they also are
very good sticks. They're all (4) fast, easy to keep planing. If you buy won
of the other, I'll pay you to advertise on your sails the fact that Texas beat
the living crap out of a Nebraska team that can't even start 22 players from
their own state! Go Horns!!

Bob,

Galveston Isle, Tx