ALPHA--- What is it?

[William Iglesias]

About a year ago when I started windsurfing, a friend and I borrowed a board
from one of our acquaintances who no longer windsurfs. We never took it
out, being that we felt it was too short for our own good. So for a year
I've been surfing a Mistral 325cm with this other board laying in my garage.
I took it out yesterday and had a blast. It was much easier to sail than my
big mistral. It turned easier, was much faster, easier to waterstart, just
an all around blast. I had so much fun on it I just wanted to find out more
about it and approximately how old it is. I don't want to ask my friend
that it was borrowed from, because he may want it back. It's called an
"Alpha" and is 295 cm and 120liters (according to a label on the board).
What fins, sail ranges etc. are best for this board? Also, I noticed the
rails were VERY sharp, much sharper than my board, why is that? The deck
has also been somewhat worn down and is pretty slick, is there any thing I
can do for that, do windsurfers use wax? I just don't like wearing booties
when I don't have to .

Thanks,
Billy

[Jeff Jones]

It is a 1988 Alpha 120. Tri-concave hull. As far a slipping try using
Re-deck. It comes in a kit for about $20 and you roll it on. Don't use
wax it makes a mess and is hard to remove the residue when you want to
put the Re-dek on.

Jeff
Long Beach Windsurf Center
3850 E. Ocean Blvd.
Long Beach, Ca. 90803
(562)433-1014

[KarabaszJP]

What you have is the Heavier version of the Fanatic Shark (one of Fanatics best
shapes ever ...
in MY humble oppinion)

Go to your local windsurfing store and buy some redek to improve traction.

Well you know how great that board is so go have fun Winds from 9M to 5m with
the right fin this board shreds

JIM
Extreme Windsurfing

[WINDSUMIKE]

Hi
I would guess that the Alpha is an AF120
in Comptec a stiff version of Polyethelene, with a green or purple nose tip.
If so it would be about 10-12 yrs old and feel very heavy compared to a
composite board.
You can use up to 35cm/14in fins and 6.5 sq
m rigs, maybe a bit larger but not much, down to 4.5 ish. A friend had one and
I sailed that a bit.

The rail shape is to give a good water release, it tends to hang on to soft
rails, which is why you find soft rails on wave boards to help them turn
tightly. Yes you can wax it.

Mike

[Brdhd268]

<< It's called an
"Alpha" and is 295 cm and 120liters >>

Wow! I had the 105 version of this board. It was my first "short board" and man
did it fly! 'bout broke my neck as few times beach starting :-) I "redeck'ed"
it once and it was fine. The thing was already like sand paper though. Fragile
but fast. I couldn't turn thing though, the hard rails wanted to go striaght.
And well built! I took it out a few years after I started riding my Tiga, and
really saw the difference. After that I sold it...quick.

BB