PlancheMag board test report

[<Juri Munkki>]

There's a difference between easy planing and early planing.

I don't mind having to work to get the board planing. Planing through holes is more important, because there's less there that you can actively do to keep the board planing when the wind drops.

I'm not surprised if the HS doesn't score all that well in a freeride test. After all, how well would a Techno score in a formula board test or a true freeride in a wave test?

Every board is a compromise. You sacrifice something to gain something else. I for one value upwind angles and planing through holes a lot. Upwind ability can make or break the difference between getting to a place that has enough wind. I frequently sail several kilometers away from where I launch and the wind is often very bad where we launch. If it's side-onshore, upwind ability can reduce the time it takes you to get there by 20-30 minutes. I've seen formula boards disappear into the horizon when freerides and freestyles are struggling near the shore.

To each their own though. Based on my very limited experience the HS seems to fit my particular needs quite well. I need more time to tell how the pros and cons (whatever they may be) balance switching from a moderate wide style freeride to the HS.

[<LK>]

Hi again, still discussing ?

I wrote a few things earlier on this issue here, and on the starboard forum.
If you havn't seen yet i started

HS-Testwinner in PlancheMag

http://www.star-board.com/forum/read.asp?ID=2046
 
It was a follow up of the discussion here.

I totaly agree with you juri

Greetings
LK

[<Jean-Marc>]

Hi guys,

To give a correction of what has been said about  "Physique" = 10, PM gives a definition on page 18 as it means how much muscular strengh is required to drive the board (force physique nécéssaire pour exploiter le flotteur). In that sense, 10 means the board is physically demanding (i.e., cause you to get more tired at the end) while a 1 is an easy relaxing board. They also stated it clearly in the text: "The board is more technically and physically demanding" [ than another board].

As for planning, it's no secret that HS is more difficult to get planning for a novice than to keep it. However, I'm puzzling why PM did split the mark in 2 for the HS (a particular case as they said, but why to make an exception?) and not with all of the other board (1 mark). On one hand, we have no ideas of what was the "planing threshold" and "keeping the planning" of the Bic or other boards. It would have been much more informative to get these 2 marks for each board in order to drive the correct conclusion about these facts.  On the other hand, if we take the mean of 6+10 for HS, it gives 8 which is identical to Bic and Fanatic. In other words, you need an active technique to get planning but you can relax in big lulls since it's easy to keep planning with HS. If you're lazy about planning, better get an AHD's GT75 (too bad they didn't use it as a freerace benchmark).

I think the biggest problem with this test is to have compared the HS with freeride board of the same width, but not of the same volume. For a lightweight, it does not make a big difference, but we all know that for a heavyweight, it does have a dramatic impact, especially if underpowered. What about with Carve 111 then ? No infos on that comparison, however. I have both a carve 111 and HS105. Trust me when I said HS has nothing in common with a freeride board such as C111.

As for the other marks, I'm not suprised that the high wind control is less that a freeride with their 40-44 cm fin. The stock 44 cm is way too big with a 6.6 sail. No data if they had the 44 or 34 cm fin with 6.6 sail in strong wind. Same with average speed : which fin was used with the 6.6 or 7.5 sail ? 44 cm to make a fair comparison with the other boards? FYI, I use a 32 cm fin with a 8.2 sail and a 26 fin with a 6.5 sail for max speed...Finally, as for jibe, you don't need a PhD in rocket science to learn that "jibe easiness" and "jibe radicality" is better with a freeride than with a racing/slalom machine. Carve 111 is much better in that criteria than HS, trust me !!!

Cheers !

JM