Have you tested F2 AIR 260 in white water?
Markus
Have you experience on Air 260 in white water conditions?
Or in (really) choppy conditions?
I'm about to buy this board, but now wondering can it handle decently in
those conditions.
Thank you once more.
Regards,
Markus
sailquik (Roger Jackson)
How many boards are you buying??
> Have you experience on Air 260 in white water conditions?
> Or in (really) choppy conditions?
or something in the 4.0- 4.8 range.
I simply love the 260 Air for these conditions, as it's fairly fast,
easy to control, and jumps really easily.
I will agree, that when I first got the 260 Air, I thought it would be
only for
6.2-5.0 conditions, but I tried it, and now, for 18 knots plus, it's the
board I
use the
> I'm about to buy this board, but now wondering can it handle decently in
> those conditions.
Yes, it can handle those conditions easily. It's a board with an amazing
range of
use. It's fun to sail in 14 knots to 30 knots!
later
Roger
--
sailquik (Roger Jackson) US 7011
Cert. WS Instructor (Lvl 1)
Sailworks/F2/Starboard/MPB/HPL/Chinook/Kokatat/DaKine
Phones: So. MD (301)872-9459; Avon, NC (252) 995-3204
sailquik (Roger Jackson)
How many boards are you buying??
> Have you experience on Air 260 in white water conditions?
> Or in (really) choppy conditions?
Yes, I sail my 260 Air in these conditions most often with a 5.5 Retro
or something in the 4.0- 4.8 range.
I simply love the 260 Air for these conditions, as it's fairly fast,
easy to control, and jumps really easily.
I will agree, that when I first got the 260 Air, I thought it would be
only for
6.2-5.0 conditions, but I tried it, and now, for 18 knots plus, it's the
board I
use the most often!
sloanish
> Or in (really) choppy conditions?
190 pounds I find the 260 to wide once I am powered on a 4.5. I like it best
5.0 to 6.5 in waves and not chop. One board does not do it all but here in
New England we are often more underpowered than overpowered so there are
many sailors who love the 260 and then have a narrower (usually older) bump
and jump board for under 5.0 conditions.
>
> I'm about to buy this board, but now wondering can it handle decently in
> those conditions.
>
> Thank you once more.
> Regards,
> Markus
>
Platt Johnson
pl...@islandsports.com
The country's longest running windsurf shop since 1974 www.islandsports.com
Dennis Holmes
review from Boards magazine May 99 sums it up perfectly.
Medium Condition - It is not so much wind conditions as water state that
defines the upper control limits for these freestyles. If the water a you
are sailing in are relatively sheltered and therefore flatish, the freestyle
boards can remain comfortable and easy for blasting along in winds of 20Kts+
However if the chop is more pronounced and particularly if there is no well
defined swell lines to give some order to it, Freestyles become bouncy and
uncomfortable for blasting. Freestyle boards are not the quickest and the
excessive lift you get begins to become an encumbrance.
Medium to Strong Winds. Very bouncy and uncomfortable. Even on flat water,
Freestyle boards aren't really that suited to high speeds and cranking
corners...
Wolfgang Soergel
If you're looking for light air waveriding, get a large waveboard.
If you want to do blasting in 5.0 choppy conditions, get a high wind
freerider / b&j board. If you want to do tricks and freestyle
in 5.5 + 1.5 - 0.5 conditions, with the ability to also go out
in small, mushy waves if needed and still decent speed,
get something like the Air. 20+ knots is still real wind,
where the early planning abilities of the freestyleboard's
aren't needed that much. But they still work if used as
intended, i.e. short reaches with lots of jumps and transitions
inbetween.
For me (135 lbs.) my 90l / 260x 60 freestyler (more
like a wider waveboard if you look at the rockerline. Thin
rails like the AHD Maxx) isn't range limited at all: Planes
as early as my older freerider (95 l, 273 x 56) if i use
the same fin in both. And while i would't want to sail the
freerider with smaller sails than 6.0 i never felt an urge
to use a waveboard on the lake recently, the freestyle thingy
still works well with 5.3 or 5.0 and is more pleasant in the
lulls. Didn't have a chance to try is in the surf yet but
suspect that it will work there although i'll probabely stay
with "the right tool for the job" in the surf if it's windy.
But for 6.3 conditions with swell still running: why not ?
--
Wolfgang
sailquik (Roger Jackson)
I wonder if you've really had the time to "tune" the 260 Air for more bumpy
conditions?
I found yesteday that I needed the mast foot pretty far back, and that a
movement of 1/4" (.63 cm) made the board go from pounding on the
rocker line to skipping freely over the chop.
I finally settled for a setting 1/8" forward, where the board would take a
good bounce off the bigger chop to get me some air, but was fast and
fairly settled of the small 1 foot chop.
>I am selling my F2 air because of it's limited range. At 170 lbs. this
>review from Boards magazine May 99 sums it up perfectly.
>Medium Condition - It is not so much wind conditions as water state that
>defines the upper control limits for these freestyles. If the water a you
>are sailing in are relatively sheltered and therefore flatish, the freestyle
>boards can remain comfortable and easy for blasting along in winds of 20Kts+
>However if the chop is more pronounced and particularly if there is no well
>defined swell lines to give some order to it, Freestyles become bouncy and
>uncomfortable for blasting. Freestyle boards are not the quickest and the
>excessive lift you get begins to become an encumbrance.
>Medium to Strong Winds. Very bouncy and uncomfortable. Even on flat water,
>Freestyle boards aren't really that suited to high speeds and cranking
>corners.......
Hmmmmm?
This seems like a very broad statement, applied to an entire range or "family"
of boards. Surely there are some boards in this group that don't quite fit this
generalization.
That's one of the least objective and most subjective things that magazine
write ups seem to do. They "brand" a particular kind or type of board, people
read this "stuff" and if they are having a little problem coming to terms with
the board they have that fits in the same category, all of a sudden the
"generalized rubbish" published in the magazine gets turned into "the truth",
and they quit trying to tune the board or rig to get the maximum performance and
fun out of it.
"The expression "One mans pleasure is another man's poison" is very applicable
here.