Hypersonic 111 first impressions

[sukhdev]

We had a mini test & demo day for the 111. Several sailors got to try it, mostly with 7.x sails. Ben (lives on a hyper 125), Seet (owns 105 hyper), Kato, Asaf. Most common comment : gybes way better than the old board, holds the turn well. Kato felt it rode easier with less hint of pearling. Early planing : no one could tell for sure any difference between the new 111 and the old 105. Asaf's impressions were interesting as he hasn't sailed the hyper before. He felt it was pretty easy to settle into after a few runs.

so there we have it after the first open day : gybes better for sure.  speed and early planing: no one had any very strong impressions yet, Ben feels its faster than his 125.

If the wind holds tomorrow, anyone who wants to demo it come down to PFSSC.

[<JB Orh>]

This is the most awesome site and this thread is a godsend. Have been searching for feedback on the HS 111 as I’m thinking of getting one (I weigh 71 kg).

Pardon my ignorance – I’m not familiar with the names of your testers. Are these your local pros ? I’ve had misfortune before to take in casual feedback and those from beginners and now always clarify upfront. Would help my assessment if I understand the terms of reference.

[sukhdev]

JB, no pros, just your normal weekend local sailors (with one exception). Ben spends the most time on the hyper, he sails the 125 almost daily, he's our local board/sail repair guru. Seet owns a 147 and a hs105. Kato currently sails a drops fl12. Asaf is in between boards since his board has delaminated. All of them have well over 10 yrs or more of sailing experience. None of our racing Team bluefinz guys have really spent time on the board yet but this time around we are trying to collate as wide a range of impressions as possible. Board is being demo'ed again today and we will keep collating feedback.

next stage for us (next week) will be to do our usual fin/rig sizes testing and we will keep posting our findings..so that we can make definitive recommendations on weight/rig size/fin size etc

[<JB Orh>]

Thanks, glad you clarified. Will wait for more concrete views then - after all, I hear that you are the  Starboard rep.

In these litigous days, one cant even trust friends - ala the now globally infamous De Cruz case.

[sukhdev]

JB, since you are local, why go with impressions? we have the board for demo. sail it.

[<JB Orh>]

Ya, you’re telling me. Nothing like the real thing. Alas, sigh … snapped my meniscus while vulcaning. By the time I can sail again, it’s time for me to be sent home. Thought I could bring a present home.

Isn’t frustrating to want to sail but cannot do so physically. Have to get myself stoked by browsing your website.

[<DC3>]

Do your testers have any comment on the new fins compared to the previous hypersonic fins?

[sukhdev]

Ben's comment is its better for sure. we didnt think too highly of the old fin; most of the hypers we sold ended up with upgraded fins.

[<SCH>]

Just thought I'll add a few comments since I am quite familiar with my 105 by now.

While slogging out to the wind line, the 111 felt strange as it kept pointing upwind. I think it is due to the fact that it is even shorter than the 105, which by any standard is already very short.

However, once past the windline, the 111 felt very comfortable, almost exactly like the 105 and just as fast if not faster. I could not really judge the speed unless I had someone I know pacing me.

However, the real improvement is the jibing. It is definitely much easier to jibe than the 105. With the 105, I realise that I cannot lean too far forward when jibing as the rails can catch and stall, especially in choppy water. I tried that with the 111 and it does not seem to be a problem.

Secondly, with the 105, I had to flip my sail a little earlier than most boards, otherwise, the nose will go into the wind. However, I did not feel this problem with the 111. It could be that I've already adapted to the 105 style of jibing, but one thing is for sure, I could crank the 111 alot harder and it still keeps planing.... much like the Exocet I tried.

I'll definitely get one of this once I sell my 105.

[<Hubert>]

For the Team bluefinz guys,

I would really appreciate if you guys could try out some back to back racing on the 111 and the 105 to try and compare the difference in speed between the two.

I personally don't care too much if the 111 jibes better than the 105. The only reason I would change to the 111 is if it is faster upwind / downwind and on a reach.

I tried to get some comments on this topic on the star-board forum but without success.

Hopefully you guys will be able to tell us the truth about the true difference in speed between the two!

regards,
Hubert

[<JB Orh>]

hobbled down to PA on Sun and it was definitely a good day to test the HS111. heard that it was even better at PF. depressed, depressed.....

spent some time socialising and received some interesting impressions:
- general consensus is that the 'testers' would not be considered local hot rods except for Ben and the jury is still out on Seet
- wont mentioned names but despite having 10 years experience, one of them could not jibe on one tack

must have been confused by the thread becos of the mention of 'test'. it would not be unreasonable to assume that when a test is held, minimum standards would apply or else test credibility would be questioned. Glad you clarified quickly and that these are really general impressions and not expert opinions - some people would take short cuts to make a
quick sale.

would have made my way to PF to chat with Ben and Seet if my knee wasnt killing me by then. well, next weekend then...

[sukhdev]

experts can always make up their own minds and need little or no help. our intention is to be able to advise real world sailors what will or will not work for them; thus the "broad" testing. sometimes suprising things emerge and the boards have either broader or narrower appeal than we suspect and we adjust accordingly. in some instances where we feel the boards would be inappropriate we simply don't bring them in.

i'm unashamedly in favor of testing/tuning for the average sailor. one of the things that went wrong for many years in singapore was everyone was on race gear, whatever their skill level. you thus saw the proliferation of cambered sails and slalom boards and also a stagnation of skills created by gear that was difficult to use and tune.

i'm not sure what jury you would find appropriate, these guys are a typical spread of typical sailors. i'm not even sure most sailors can use gear as set up by experts; case in point, Meng's harness lines on the 11m nitro are a fist apart. one other person on our team uses a boom height that even other sailors his height would never be comfortable with and then you have 50+ kg Thye hanging on to a 9.8 when guys 15kg heavier are using 7.5s. none of these settings would have any meaning for the average sailor. hope this sort of explains our "testing.

the initial test on the hyper 105 was interesting, one of the first testers was george gesner who i rate as an expert. he could slog comfortably on it at his 95kg yet "real world" sailors who were 20kg lighter were telling us that the 105 was difficult to slog and uphaul..based on the expert it should have been easy but obviously it wasn't for the not so expert.

hope your foot heals soon, and you get to test the hyper. in the end i'm a firm believer in letting sailors try out as much gear as possible, thus our large demo inventory.

[<JB Orh>]

touche, i would be surprised if experts would come here seeking advice on equipment. but then again, you should be flattered

any kinda feeback, good or bad (so long as intended for good) should always be welcomed. i'm an ardent proponent of transparency and so long as the receipient is made clearly aware of the basis of the info/data/feedabck he is receiving, he can then make an infomred decision. if the decision turns out to be a lousy one, then he can only look to himself because he made it with his eyes opened.

to be accurate, it's my knee (stating leg is passable) but foot is misleading and i need to have it corrected. cheers

[sukhdev]

jb, guess i put my foot in it where your knee is concerned! i seem to remember a lot of stuff on rec.windsurfing re knee injuries, you might want to go check on google...in any case hope you get back on the water soon.

[<JB Orh>]

ha ha, I noticed you tend to do a lot of that.

Thanks for the pointers. I’m actually trying out accupuncture – is pretty foreign to me but I’ll try almost anything to get back into circulation.