Charge Of The New Brigade

The cream of the crop, slalom boards are the elite racing machines of the windsurfing world, but does that make them challenging to sail? The test team reviewed a selection of the latest and fastest slalom boards on the market today with some very interesting results. Read on to find out their findings.

- Tris Best

The concept of slalom is intrinsic within the DNA of an adrenaline sport such as windsurfing. As soon as the ascendancy of planing conditions and ‘fun-boarding’ was realised, the next obvious step was to push the speed barrier and the limit of what was possible in a straight-line. Next came the desire to race your peers, so mark out a course where each leg is on the fastest point of sail possible … and the birth of slalom windsurfing has arrived! The only slight caveat to this format as opposed to all-out speed is that the racers need to go round corners - something that the board designers of the early to mid-nineties almost exclusively seemed to ignore. In a ‘first past the post’ format, the designers still decided that outright speed was the area in which they could gain most advantage over their rivals. Boards were ballistically fast, but technical to sail well and nigh on impossible to get through the turn with any sort of grace unless you fully committed. Today, we’re pleased to say there has been some level of clarity in this area; a change of approach has occurred. Don’t get us wrong - these boards are still incredibly fast. They continue to accelerate with every gust … and yet a degree of discipline has been installed. The boards seem to thrive on the challenge, rather than trying to kick the rider off like a bucking bronco. And the same can be said in the gybe - the boards enter in control and exit with speed. Just like the old proverb of counting pennies and collecting pounds - if control is maintained whatever the conditions, speed and race results will follow.

FINDINGS