gregc said...

Easy then Barn rattle them off, happy for you to goggle or whatever but I reckon it may take some time. Oh wait there is one the superfreak from Maui Hot sails. Other than that nada

You gave me homework!! oh man!! can I hand it in tomorrow??

This is my gear in 2008, I see some colour?


Backyard board Innovations? In 2004 I got so frustrated staring at the 262 long nose on my JP FSW, I decided to cut 30cm off the nose.. Imagine that, a 232cm freestyle board, and it worked!.. I literally just glassed over the flat nose haha..

(And yes, if there is anyone annoyed at my 'North/white guys' remark, it was all said with tongue pressed firmly in my cheek, most regulars here would know this)..

*also, I know black is hard to justify, but how about these Tabous.. woooo


Looks like fanatic have some spies..

Oh, Barn tutt, tutt

If this was poker, I don't think a pair of Gaastra and Tabou would beat North and Fanatic.

Somewhat equal in the euro stakes?



Dude, their "Mad Cow" model name and graphics are that lame they'd be so close to doing a Helo Kitty model it is not funny

Mark _australia said...

Oh, Barn tutt, tutt

If this was poker, I don't think a pair of Gaastra and Tabou would beat North and Fanatic.

Somewhat equal in the euro stakes?



Dude, their "Mad Cow" model name and graphics are that lame they'd be so close to doing a Helo Kitty model it is not funny

Blown my cover! haha... But personally I give them a little credit for making dedicated freestyle boards, not the de-tunned stuff the other big brands (still) try and pass off.. Also, every year their wave boards were the shortest available, and they were giving boards ridiculous paint jobs before it was cool..

And yeah I'm not claiming that I am responsible for boards loosing over 30cm, just sayin, even a punk kid in his backyard with a hacksaw could see boards needed shortening. It's all about swing weight..

fjdoug said...

this is what happens when you leave a black board in the sun-

You sooo want to get one of them don't you!

When you do, can I have a go?

It will give *board a real advantage this year in racing.The chicken dip. A very smart innovation that I am sure will increase control off the wind and therefore more speed.
Starboard really are the main innovator in windsurfing of the last decade.

Nerds. All of you: nerds.

Wet Willy said...

Is this for real?

Makes sense, those depressions would make using the chicken straps far more comfortable.

barn was an innovator ^_^ I remember when he first cut down that JP...later on I did the same thing to my F2 maui project....looking at it now I couldn't even imagine what it was like to sail when it was 30cm longer. As it stands now it's still longer than my newest wave board....crazy times

In case you missed it my point has always been that shapes are pretty constant but technique in manufacture has improved by leaps and bounds. This is true innovation giving u access to light robust (kinda) boards and sails at reasonable prices. I still love the fanatic, was looking at one the other day and he bottom is more a grey than a black.

I remember a time when I was the master and Barney a grom.
Modern freestyle was still new,and at LBG I was the king of the lake because I could loop and vulcan. Many local riders had their noses smashed off their boards as all wanted to master the loop.

Not Barney, he cut a foot off a JP FSW before it got smashed
Freestyle has always been his style.

After years of travel and fun training and becoming an awesome windsurfer he has continued to ponder this concept.He then built his own prototypes and tested them .
He demonstated and proved it works.(but I knew the plywood fins was going to be a fizzer)

When we were learning the spock together there was no way I was going to do a cut and shut on a new JP pro.I guess till recently I prefered a traditional FS board(with a freeride fin),that works well for more oldschool freestyle,like me.

This year Alex is ready for newschool freestyle. We will learn together.How long until he too leaves me for dead?.
To acheive this Carbon Art are building Alex a newschool board. It will be 178x56cm and 65 l. Thats 45cm shorter than JP's kids freestyle and will make the prokids Flare look like a freeride board.
Wide , short,light,thick and twin fin! Yep twin,another of Barney,s ideas from long before this latest multifin fashion we have now.This board will be based totally on Barney's concept and what I have learnt from him(oops, sorry Barney, I forgot to ask if I could borrow your concept).

gregc said...

Although I think claiming the reduction in length of freestyle boards world wide is a stretch

2012-JP freestyles-kids70,90,100 and 110 are all the same length, 225(they must have tall kids in Austria) and 1 fin.
2015-I predict freestyle boards will be closer to 2m and have 2 fins plus a yet unseen feature in the nose area which should make moves easier and open the window to possible new moves .

Greg you will see in the future how Canberra(freestyle windsurfing CAPITAL OF AUSTRALIA ) and the underground sweatshops of Dapto will be credited for starting the new freestyle windsurfing revolution and thousands joining the Barney Army and riding Aussie Stubbies.An Aussie Stubbie rider wins a world title. Your son will want this type of board and you will get that back foot in the strap. Sounds unlikely,but you will see.

With Barney( Australia's best freestyler) and Alex(Australia's most successful freestyler)leading the way, the sheeple will follow.

Actually, Barney had JP's, and both NP and North
and his car ,wasn't it a little French 2 door Cafe racer?Citreon maybe?
and topped off with the Euro Mop haircut

He was a Euro,but he is back now.
I was also a Euro,I had North Disco's
I am a Euro by nature and would love a shiny fanatic with more than I fin(only because it is fashionable),but lately I have been using boards that are like me-a few years old,rough and not ready for the scrapheap yet.

Luckily I do have the ultimate rig though.
SEVERNE ENIGMA and S1
thats more world leading Aussie innovation
Thanks Barney and Alex for showing me what is possible when using Severne or I'd still be loyally driving those Volvo's for another 10 years.


How about the new F2's,I like the green one and really,really like yellow one.
Is anyone making any good orange boards to go with my sails?

An unseen feature in the nose lol. As to 2015 and boards being 2 metres long, they will need to pull another old surfing theory out of the scrapheap and that was the old hollowed out blank with a gas injected into the hollow to create float. Btw this never actually eventuated. I have an alternate theory and hat is that length actually returns, now I'm not suggesting that longboards will be back (because they never left) but if the cycle of development continues to match the surfing cycle, boards will actually stop reducing in length and getting wider they will get slightly longer and narrower again.

A reduction in length or a multifin board is still not a breakthrough in Australia or anywhere else it's an evolution and like most forms of evolution it will result in an extinction. Not arguing that once in a while something will survive. The whole multifin thing was here in the 80s and has been around in surfing since the 70s. Board length has gone up and down the whole time as well.

Surfing learnt it's lesson and that is there are limited numbers of people that can actually ride the high performance twitchy boards the pros use, therefore don't build stuff for people that puts them off. Reduce rocker so it's usable, keep width to a level where it's friendly, make boards that are long enough so the average punter can use it

gregc said...


I bow to you Barn.

gregc said...

A reduction in length or a multifin board is still not a breakthrough in Australia or anywhere else it's an evolution

Hang-on, you stated the last innovation in surfing was the thruster, a multi fin surfboard. Yet on a windsurfer it's only evolution. Hmmm? Can you not say that well working multi fin waveboards have done for wavesailing what the thruster did for surfing?

Now I will not say that Simon's design was not an innovation, however it could also be considered an incremental improvement on a three fin design he had seen in use by another surfer. In windsurfing I also believe the incremental improvements made to develop short wide boards and multi fins are pretty innovative. The definition of innovation is something new, but I guess that depends on your interpretation of new.

gregc said...

boards will actually stop reducing in length and getting wider they will get slightly longer and narrower again

Don't agree at all, the old long narrow boards were difficult for the average rider. In surfing the cycle, as you have stated, the trend is to move to equipment that is easier for the average rider to get out, have fun.

The easier the sport becomes, the more accessible it is, the more it will flourish. Bright colours will not necessarily do it for everyone, and certainly not likely to do it for the younger crew in this country... when was the last time you saw a moto guy wearing fluro? Even surfing is pretty subdued with colour... I don't see Mick Fannings custom colourful wetties being mass produced by Rip Curl yet.

Accessibility and affordability is the key.

aus301 said...

The definition of innovation is something new, but I guess that depends on your interpretation of new.

Thats a far too sensible point to be making in a thread like this..

Maybe True Innovations , are things like;

Battens
Footstraps
Harness lines
Universal joints (the first Innovation)
Bungs
Uphaul
Non-skid

Then there is lesser innovations like;

New school boom shape
Skinny masts
multifins that work (as opposed to the 80's ones)
boom clamps (not rope)
Loose leech sails
CAMs
Two piece masts (or Norths 3 piece, lol)
Wide boards


Then there is innovation in materials and construction;

Sandwich boards
epoxy/EPS
Carbon Fibre and wood (biologic carbon fiber)
Monofilm
X-ply and its derivatives
The stuff at the top of the S-1 (e5 technora)
Non-skid that actually works (NUDE, WA)


And then there is more Evolution, that would be;

Shorter boards
Shorter luff
Longer luff (EZZY)
Clew cutouts for a shorter boom.. (that was a no-brainer)
Longer booms (EZZY)
Reduced diameter boom grip
smaller fins

Then there are the lolworthy North Sails innovations;;

3-piece masts
Shox-xtr suspension extension
Ratchet extensions that don't ratchet


------------------


What next? I've got some big plans for a Moth inspired Hydrofoil, this is gona kick ass.. Watch this space.

KA360 said...



SEVERNE ENIGMA and S1

Got my SWATs/S1 but these Enigma booms seem to be somewhat of an....enigma...despite having one on order for 3-4? months....can't seem to get one. Mad sails/gear, straight up whack distro...

Don't forget those NP RS sails with zippers in the front, just like a pair of pants!


Now THAT'S innovation!

the shortboard; both surfing and sailboarding.