HS 125 test impressions & pictures

[sukhdev]

We have spent a fair bit of time on it now, enough for some clear impressions, though there is still alot of room for testing and tuning especially with fins. I've summarised my thoughts with some pictures at :

http://www.bluefinz.com/html/Reviews/hs125/index.htm

please feel free to direct any questions and comments to us! Next on the list of things to do is a write up of the Nitro IV, so far the 12, 11, 9.3 and 7.6 have been fairly thoroughly tested with the 10.5 to come soon.

[updated the page with starboard's latest detail photos of the board]

[<Ric>]

Thanks for the write up. Do the 2 models come with different type of footstrap because in the pictures it looks like they are differnt. Also what size fin is included for the Hyper 125?

[sukhdev]

Ric, wow, sharp eyes! The straps on the HS105 in the picture are not standard, I replaced them with the Gaastra quick adjust straps to test them.

Standard fins on the HS125 are same as HS105, two fins included, 44cm and 34cm.

[<Ric>]

Sukhdev thanks. From your review does it mean I should go bigger than 44cm if I go for the hyper 125 with a 9 metre sail? What sort of fin would work best?

[<AJ>]

Nice work sukhdev.  Did you take the hi res pics at the bottom of the page, if so what camera do you have, very nice detail.  Is there a 2480 x 3500 res photo of the board showing the fin right at the bottom.  I have a high res desktop and that would look cool on it  

Cheers,
AJ

[<Allan>]

Hi Sukhdev,

Thanks for the info, keep up the hard work.

regards Allan

[sukhdev]

AJ, photos at the bottom are from starboard for their press release and print stuff, forgot to credit them & will do so. Sorry, the first pic of board with fin is only 1024x768 even in the original. Rest of my stuff is shot using a Nikon D100 SLR Digital camera, pretty cool toy, I use it with Nikkor 28-105 & Nikkor 105-400mm lenses.

Ric, re fins, you dont need more than 44 for the board even for the 125. I would suggest sticking with the stock fin for a while before you upgrade so that you have a reference. Ian Fox made some interesting comments to me in an email, he's probably done the most testing on the hyper and his take is that a fin with more power from the tip works better rather than a Gold Wing type design (gold wing has broad base tapering & sweeping back to a narrow tip). There is quite a lot of work going on to make fins that would suit the hyper..should be some interesting results soon.

[<Dan>]

Sukhdev thats a great job, very factual and useful comparison. My question is if I can buy only one high quality fin for the hyper what size should I buy for either the 105 or 125?

[sukhdev]

Dan, thanks. Re your question regarding picking just one high quality fin for the hyper..if you are sailing with say 8.0 to 9.x mostly on the hyper than something like a 42,44 would be good. If your sail range tends towards 6.x to 8.0 then either a 36 or 38 would be fin. If you want one fin to cover 6.x to 9.0 say then something like a 40 or 42 should do it. Caveat - these would have to be top quality fins otherwise the 2 stock fins should do fine.

[<jas>]

cool camera.............

[sukhdev]

spent an entire afternoon on the HS125 with a 7.6 Nitro IV. Some updates:

- tested 38 & 42cm Spitfire extensively. Fairly strong current running, board feels better with the 42, though 105 is fine with 38 or 36.

- mast track midway, its ok to move it back a bit even in really flat water.

- silly stuff: hs125 is easier to "pop" out of the water in chop hops.