Just recieved my Fanatic Falcon 80(2007 model) sweet looking board and will be a great along side the Falcon 91.
Have not been out on the water yet but will post my thoughts and speeds in the future,the guys on GPS Speed Surfing site are smoking on the 80(checkout the recent entries),best 2sec peak i have found in the rankings is 45.4knots.Not bad for a slalom board
www.gps-speedsurfing.com/default.aspx?mnu=user&val=13470&uid=287
You'll love it Choco. Had last years and used it from around 15 knots through to 35. Always been a little bit bummed since I got rid of it.
Makes a great real world speed board that you can run in less than perfect conditions.
Sam.
Looking forward to using it but the way the weather patterns have been lately might be a while before i get out on it.
What fins did you use Sam?
The fins that i have are a 30cm Vector Ex,Select SL7 29 and for full on speed C3 X1 25.
As a good allrounder I used a Tectonics Goldwing 30 which also had a great top end to it. Also used a C3 Z26 but it didn't give a higher top end just made the board harder to get the top end out of.
I'm not an expert on the Vector's but from the older 34cm Vector I had for a little bit it had more power than my Goldwing 34. Give your 30 a try but the 29 may be the one.
Sam.
Had my first sail on the Falcon 80, wind was around 10-18knots and the water was very choppy with some nice smooth sections.I rigged my Rs6-5.8m should have used my RS6-6.7m but because this is a new sail i wanted to use a sail that i have spent alot of time on so used the 5.8m,the fin was my vector ex 30cm.
First impression was how easy this board was to get planning and i weigh 100 kg,the board handled the chop extremely well and once i got used to it jibed like a dream.
Without no tuning i had a 2sec peak of 34 knots and 31.70 knot average with a PB in nautical mile of 27.8 knots(sailed 25 km in total).The fin felt great but i also have a new Maui Fin Co 28cm slalom fin so will play around with different setups until i have squeezed every last knot out of it.
Light weight guys could use this board as their all round slalom board without any problem.Cannot wait to get a NW wind and sail it in some flat water.
I want to finish by saying that i'm not sponsored by Fanatic or anyone and buy last years model in new/second hand equipment which can save you up to 30-40%,shop around.
