Just got a longboard - Fanatic Cat (pictures) - please help in getting more info
mzaw...@cs.stevens.edu
Just got a used Fanatic Cat board (length: 368cm) and I'd love to get
some info/opinions about it.
(no idea about the year, probably something around '98)
Here are some pictures:
http://www.cs.stevens.edu/~mzawadzk/fanatic/
My other board is Starboard F-type 148 and I want to use Cat when the
wind is too low for me & FT to plane (below 12 knots). My sails are
7.5 Gaastra Matrix (freeride nocam) and NS Daytona 10.0 (freerace 3-
cam). My weight is 200lbs/90kg.
Can't really find much info on the web, probably b/c it's just an old
board (will also try Fanatic forum).
So anything would be interesting to me: owners' opinions, scanned
catalogs, etc.
Thanks a bunch,
-marek
a_m...@yahoo.com
>
> So anything would be interesting to me: owners' opinions, scanned
> catalogs, etc.
I can tell you that it's super stiff and super light - it says so
right on the board, and surely that's gotta be true ;)
Seriously, though - I just acquired an old longboard as well (an F2
Lightning). You'll find that in really light air, it will have
dramatically better glide than your FType (or any short/wide board,
for that matter). I got mine with an eye towards sailing with the
local Laser Fleet when it's too light to go Formula sailing, as well
as using it as a tow-truck/instructor platform to teach my daughter
and her friends (kids on the Start, me on the Lightning, using a
tether at the beginning and being available for towing if needed later
on). Back to the future, I guess.
I was around the sport when those boards were new, but I was never
really into raceboards at the time. I know that there was a Fanatic
Ultra Cat (I believe that's what it was called) that was a truly
competitive race machine along with the F2 Lightning and Mistral
Equipe II (AFAIK, the Equipe I was more of a higher-wind course board
and later turned into the IMCO). What you have might be a detuned
version of that, or it might be one size smaller (I don't see beating
strap inserts on the rail next to the centerboard, and the cb is
plastic rather than carbon, which leads me to believe this wasn't the
full-on race version). I'm sure there are a number of folks on this
group who can set me straight on this.
Enjoy your light-wind ride - you're now officially unskunkable ;)
-Andreas
wind.sh@dow
than Equippes and Lightnings. Yours is just before my time, but I
would think it is mid to late 80's model.
quadz...@charter.net
OK, that Fanatic is a late 80's maybe a year or two newer and is
around 220 liters. As far as longboards go it is not very light air
orientated as it is narrow for a longboard especially in the tail and
has a extreme V on the bottom so it doesn't get up and plane rightaway
like a F2 or Mistral Equipe 11 does. Fanatic upgrade the Ultra Cat to
a Mega Cat in the early 90's and the Mega Cat was a great light to
medium air board and a
quadz...@charter.net
Hopefully this isn't a double post as I seem to have lost the first
one but anyway that Fanatic is a late 80's or maybe a year or two
newer board. It is around 220 liters and as far as longboards go is
not very strong in light air due to it being narrow and especially
narrow in the tail. It has a lot of V on the bottom which also hurts
light air planing. That board will sail in a strong breeze as compared
to other longboards and with the V has a nice cushy ride on choppy
water. Fanatic upgrade the board to a Mega Cat in the early 90's and
it was a much better all around longboard and a good racer too as it
would go almost as well as a Superlight in light air and could stay up
with a Equipe 2 when it was windy. Your board is OK and durable but
you will get tired of it as your Formula will plane sooner and be
easier to sail as well.
wtrplnet
news:1184605136.9...@m37g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
> On Jul 16, 6:35 am, mzawa...@cs.stevens.edu wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Just got a used Fanatic Cat board (length: 368cm) and I'd love to get
>> some info/opinions about it.
>> (no idea about the year, probably something around '98)
>>
>> Here are some pictures:
>>
>> http://www.cs.stevens.edu/~mzawadzk/fanatic/
>>
>> My other board is Starboard F-type 148 and I want to use Cat when the
>> wind is too low for me & FT to plane (below 12 knots). My sails are
>> 7.5 Gaastra Matrix (freeride nocam) and NS Daytona 10.0 (freerace 3-
>> cam). My weight is 200lbs/90kg.
>>
>> Can't really find much info on the web, probably b/c it's just an old
>> board (will also try Fanatic forum).
>>
>> So anything would be interesting to me: owners' opinions, scanned
>> catalogs, etc.
>>
>> Thanks a bunch,
>>
>> -marek
>
Probably around 87. This one is Fanatics second level construction.
'Ultra' was the lightest construction. I think the volume is 210. This
board is not meant to be a race board of that period. Fanatic Mega Cat (a
few years later) had 250L, much flatter bottom, and was meant for course
racing. Also during that period F2 made the Lightning, and at the same time
the Lightning Race. I've sailed all these boards a lot, owned Lightning,
Ultra Cat and Mega Cat. Out of all of them the Mega Cat was most fun in
very light winds, though the Lightning Race was the fastest board for a very
experienced racer. The Cat (Ultra or just 'Cat') was the least stable of
the boards due to the strong vee in the bottom and slightly more narrow
hull. The Lightning and Lightning Race are difficult to tack because of
very square rails and high volume in the tail. The Cat and Ultra Cat are
relatively thin in the tail. The Ultra and Mega Cats came with a much
larger carbon centerboard and fins. You can use the smaller white plastic
centerboard in any of the Fanatics of the period. The carbon centerboard
was so wide it stuck up through the deck when retracted and had a yellow
foam/fabric pad across the cassette area for foot protection.
The Cat is ok in light winds, but really comes alive when planning. Yes,
you can pull the mast all the way back and get in the back straps. It's
great in moderate chop because of the vee bottom. It just blasts right
through the chop. And you can make a planning jibe with it. It works best
with sails in the 7.0-8.5 range. Best of all, when you get a board that big
ripping everyone else gets out of your way!
Of course I know board design has come a long way since then, I've sailed
and sold (at my shop) many more modern boards. I love short board sailing,
and prefer that for the speed and maneuverability but I still have an Ultra
Cat. I'll never sell it.
Alan
mzaw...@cs.stevens.edu
[...]
> The Cat (Ultra or just 'Cat') was the least stable of the boards due to the
> strong vee in the bottom and slightly more narrow hull.
> The Cat is ok in light winds, but really comes alive when planning. Yes,
> you can pull the mast all the way back and get in the back straps. It's
> great in moderate chop because of the vee bottom. It just blasts right
> through the chop. And you can make a planning jibe with it. It works best
> with sails in the 7.0-8.5 range. Best of all, when you get a board that big
> ripping everyone else gets out of your way!
Thanks for the info. I'm not too happy about what you say about the
stability, though.
I tried Bic Calypso 320 with my 10.0 sail the other day and even
though it was my first time on a longboard it felt pretty good and
stable (when cruising ahead, at least), I wonder if this is going to
be a very different board. There is less and less of these old
longboards around for sale, so I did not have too much choice. I hope
it's going to be a blast in light winds (Calypso was).
Another thing - the seller will provide me with a mast foot but I'm
not sure what type is that. I guess it's not a single Euro-pin type.
He was using it with his older rig which I didn't want to buy. My
current extension is integrated with the mast base. Any tips on the
system this board uses and how can I attach my rigs to the board? ;-)
And what is this long slot on the deck's centerline? (http://
www.cs.stevens.edu/~mzawadzk/fanatic/thumbs/8.html)
Can I move the center-board with my foot or it needs more fiddling?
-marek
P.S. Not that I care, but how could they make it *pink*, with pink
straps? :-O
quadz...@charter.net
The slot on the deck is to bury the shockcord leash that secures the
mast base incase it separates from the hull. It would probably double
as a towing leash as well as that might have been a european rule for
the board to have a towing eye and maybe a towing leash as well. You
should be able to operate the daggerboard easially with your foot.
There are a couple of screws that adds or subtracts friction so it
stays in place as well. As far as using your base, you will need to
mount your system on top of the old Fanatic U joint wither it be a cup
or pin type. Hopefully you will be able to separate the old Fanatic
parts that need to come off to install the new parts as they are more
than likely frozen on with all the time.
a_m...@yahoo.com
> Another thing - the seller will provide me with a mast foot but I'm
> not sure what type is that. I guess it's not a single Euro-pin type.
> He was using it with his older rig which I didn't want to buy. My
> current extension is integrated with the mast base. Any tips on the
> system this board uses and how can I attach my rigs to the board? ;-)
>
Mast bases are always an issue with boards this old. Your best bet for
something that works and won't break on you will be to take the bottom
piece of the base assembly you get from the seller (the piece that
actually engages with the retaining mechanism on the track) and figure
out how to no destroy it while disassembling it from the old (and
probably worn out) universal joint that comes with it. Then you attach
it to the bottom of a fresh uni-assembly (my preference would be a
Streamlined or Chinook assembly with a urethane tendon joint).
Luckily, for a long time now (early 80's, really), the interface
between the joints and the pieces above/below have consisted of M8
stainless bolts of some sort or another. If this were a Mistral/F2
track, you'd be looking at something like this (http://www.the-
house.com/ms120zzmistral.html) that you could then connect up to a
bottom end of a uni-assembly. Your case may be the same, or it may be
a part with a female M8 thread in it.
> And what is this long slot on the deck's centerline? (http://www.cs.stevens.edu/~mzawadzk/fanatic/thumbs/8.html)
>
Back in those days, they were very concerned about separation of board
rig - no wonder, given the crappy mast base systems used then (this
was also a left-over of the period when mast bases were held in plugs
in the board simply by friction, the rationale being that they should
release in case a limb got stuck between mast and board in a crash).
So the board originally came with a rubber bungee cord attached to the
front fitting of that groove and running through the groove to the
mast track, where it would have attached to the base and presumably
kept things connected if the retaining clip had given out. Of course,
any bungee strong enough to trust in that kind of scenario would also
have exerted quite a bit of forward pull on the mastbase, making
adjustment to the back of the track a bit tricky.
> Can I move the center-board with my foot or it needs more fiddling?
>
Those were designed to be adjusted simply by foot, but they varied in
how reasonable that was. Might take some lube (dry lube like McLube
would probably work best), and might work best if wearing booties. And
forget about ease of adjustment if you get sand into the cassette
somehow.
>
> P.S. Not that I care, but how could they make it *pink*, with pink
> straps? :-O
Hate to tell you, but compared to some of the designs of that period,
this is way subdued. Back then, neon pink/yellow/etc. were considered
hot color choices. Think of it as a real test of your self-
confidence...
-Andreas
M. Gunn
mzaw...@cs.stevens.edu at mzaw...@cs.stevens.edu wrote on 7/16/07 11:12
AM:
> P.S. Not that I care, but how could they make it *pink*, with pink
> straps? :-O
That was one of the things I liked most about my original F2 Comet! Pink
everywhere...even the sail!
But then, maybe I'm more comfortable in pink than you are. ;)
Have fun with your new old board!
:)
mo
--
Team Coyote
http://www.teamcoyote.net
wind.sh@dow
wrote:
>That was one of the things I liked most about my original F2 Comet! Pink
>everywhere...even the sail!
>But then, maybe I'm more comfortable in pink than you are. ;)
>
>
>Have fun with your new old board!
>
>
>:)
>mo
I had a feeling you chose your gear by color. :)
wtrplnet
news:sohn93h7rkqd1q59e...@4ax.com...
The Cat should give you more fun than the Calypso. And 'stability' is
relative. It's a stable board but less so than some of the boards with
harder rails. The only critical part of the mast attachment is the white
thingy at the bottom of the base that goes into the mast track. And beware,
they do wear out. The sides of the groove should not be rounded out. And,
needless to say, don't lose the stainless steel clip that holds the
attachment in. If you have the white part you can attach it to any
universal out there. Fanatic used a mechanical joint that makes attachment
easier, but they can wear out too. If you attempt to remove the bottom
piece of the uni you'll need a thin wall socket to get in there. Fanatic
made a special wrench for that, good luck finding one.
Overall it's a great board, one of the best from that period.
Alan
mzaw...@cs.stevens.edu
[...]
> The only critical part of the mast attachment is the white
> thingy at the bottom of the base that goes into the mast track. And beware,
> they do wear out. The sides of the groove should not be rounded out. And,
> needless to say, don't lose the stainless steel clip that holds the
> attachment in. If you have the white part you can attach it to any
> universal out there. Fanatic used a mechanical joint that makes attachment
> easier, but they can wear out too. If you attempt to remove the bottom
> piece of the uni you'll need a thin wall socket to get in there. Fanatic
> made a special wrench for that, good luck finding one.
>
> Overall it's a great board, one of the best from that period.
> Alan
Hey, thanks, great to hear that. Can't wait for the board to
arrive :-).
I didn't understand the part with the "thin wall socket" though - can
you explain?
-marek
wind.sh@dow
>I didn't understand the part with the "thin wall socket" though - can
>you explain?
>
>-marek
Ask at any Auto Zone or place that sells sockets and they will show
you a thin wall socket. It's just a socket with thinner walls to fit
in tight spaces.
wtrplnet
Right. The white plastic piece on the bottom of the universal is held in
place by a recessed nut. I think it's 14mm. A regular socket wrench is too
thick to get in there. If the whole thing is a corroded mess you can use a
hack saw to cut away the universal and the stud that the nut attaches to.
As I said before the only piece that is unique is the plastic part that
attaches to the mast track car. It's *possible* that I have some around
somewhere, left over from when I had the shop. I may have other parts too.
All that stuff is in storage, so let me know if you need any parts to make
your board work.
Alan
wind.sh@dow
several of those.
Rube
Sweet Board! I learned to sail on one. I lugged this thing everywhere
sailing it all over the Bay Area Berkeley, Rio Vista, 3rd avenue,
Coyote Point, .Bodega. With sails from 6.5 m down to 4.5 (interesting
experience). I eventually passed it on to the next up and coming
sailor after teaching my girlfriend (now wife) to sail on it
(amazingly we're still together, and yes she still windsurfs).
After a while, as Alan mentioned, I indeed busted the UJ and car which
connects to the mast track during a particularly violent catapult. I
couldn't get a replacement car for love nor money, so for a fix, I
removed the whole mast track system, which leaves about a 0.5" x 4" x
24" deep recess in the deck where it used to be. I then took some
aluminum plate, cut it to fit the recess, drilled and tapped holes the
right distance apart for a chinook 2 bolt mast base and used the same
(watertight) screw holes in the mast track recess to mount the plate
back to the board. Voila! Now I could use standard chinook mast bases
and extensions and have adjustable mast base position (not on the fly
admittedly), plus it was now bomber (but about 2 lbs heavier!).
Hope this helps, enjoy your board, and remember, it was the 80s. These
were the hot dog years, and all the extreme toys were hot pink. It is
coming back, just wait.
Cheers
R
wtrplnet
news:1184738959.4...@d30g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
Alan
cosmicharlie
I'm curious, how well can you gybe?