GazMan said...Mrgob said...
An interesting observation Mr GazMan! (Bic Alto would just suddenly bear away downwind without warning.)
It seems to be a Bic characteristic with many of their boards ...good ones all ... which is just fine once you've adjusted to the 'feel'.
Agree about J.P. FSW boards though, being clattery, jittery, and a right flipping pain in gusty winds and voodo chop. Bought an FSW 84 because everybody said how wonderful they were. Bollocks! I hated it!
As I mentioned, was my first 'proper' wave board after sailing only slalom and wave/slalom boards for at least 10 years prior to buying it. Also skittery feel was more of an issue in stronger winds (20-30 knots) than in less wind. Still couldn't compare to Gero built Wave Scalpels for ease of sailing though!
Very interesting what you're saying about JP FSW's considering the huge number of people that have raved about them in this forum particularly re their control in rough water. Haven't sailed one as yet but have considered getting an FSW 78 to replace my V85 Flow as a strong wind freeride board, so good to hear other opinions!
The FSW did vary from yeat to year in terms of smoothness and control.
The 02 was ratlle your teeth out
The 03 was quite smooth and fast
04-06 went down the freestyle path with beveled rails (and thick) made them uncomfortable in chop.
07 - They ditched the beveled rails, thinned them out and pulled in the tail - this is my fave JP FSW - still planes early but smooth in chop - I have a 78 and love it.
08 - They made is looser with more rounded rails, better in the waves but lost it's early planing.
09 - Thinned out the rails and pulled in tail, looser than 08 and quite smooth, but still not an early planer.
10 - I think was largely unchanged
