Select to expand quotezim3 said..
Hello all
Is the lt a good beginner board...there is no racing in mackay, but plenty of ocean.
If this is not a good beginner board for the price would one just get an inflatable 10.7 Redpaddle with a sail?
Loved racing hobie 16 in my youth.
I hope the lt class takes of as regattas are good fun.
Cheers
Yes it is. It is cheap and simple. Good thing you can keep it in your quiver and use it in light winds/heavy winds and race it too, freestyle it, surf it or SUP it. It is a good workout and many top sailors use it too eg Kiran Badloe pictured below. It has brilliant resale value too. For learning would recommend a smaller sail in addition to the 5.7m2 racing sail. The smaller sails are available from dealers.
Select to expand quoteRichardG said..zim3 said..
Hello all
Is the lt a good beginner board...there is no racing in mackay, but plenty of ocean.
If this is not a good beginner board for the price would one just get an inflatable 10.7 Redpaddle with a sail?
Loved racing hobie 16 in my youth.
I hope the lt class takes of as regattas are good fun.
Cheers
Yes it is. It is cheap and simple. Good thing you can keep it in your quiver and use it in light winds/heavy winds and race it too, freestyle it, surf it or SUP it. It is a good workout and many top sailors use it too eg Kiran Badloe pictured below. It has brilliant resale value too. For learning would recommend a smaller sail in addition to the 5.7m2 racing sail. The smaller sails are available from dealers.
How well does it go in say 20 knots or so?
Select to expand quoteBarryDazz said..RichardG said..zim3 said..
Hello all
Is the lt a good beginner board...there is no racing in mackay, but plenty of ocean.
If this is not a good beginner board for the price would one just get an inflatable 10.7 Redpaddle with a sail?
Loved racing hobie 16 in my youth.
I hope the lt class takes of as regattas are good fun.
Cheers
Yes it is. It is cheap and simple. Good thing you can keep it in your quiver and use it in light winds/heavy winds and race it too, freestyle it, surf it or SUP it. It is a good workout and many top sailors use it too eg Kiran Badloe pictured below. It has brilliant resale value too. For learning would recommend a smaller sail in addition to the 5.7m2 racing sail. The smaller sails are available from dealers.
How well does it go in say 20 knots or so?
In 20kts it's a handful, but that's not the wind speed you learn in. In 12kts and under it's great to learn on, as many of us learned in the late 70s and early 80s.
Select to expand quoteBarryDazz said..How well does it go in say 20 knots or so?
It goes well but above 25 knots it is very challenging to sail and can be brutal - a real test of sailor, fitness and skills. 20-25 knots is a test and not so bad but 25-30 knots is more difficult. The great thing is you only need one board and one rig in one design fleets. Not a lot of fiddling and tuning needed compared to foiling Moths or foiling windsurfers. Rigging can be done quickly. It is really thrilling particularly racing in big fleets and regularly races are held in winds gusting up to 30 knots plus. We do note in 5 - 30 knots plus an LT will always be racing but many other craft will not. The maximum speed on one is around 25 knots plus and it really feels fast particularly surfing down wind waves on reaches or off the wind passing or being passed by competitors, with some exciting tussles. Railing to windward is a joy and these boards glide, they are gliding boards. Windsurfing lost so much when one design racing died out but it now lives again !
The LT is a bit like the Hobie 16 you used to sail, in some ways. Both are very, very simple. Neither is leading-edge in speed, but neither is designed to be. Both are really popular one designs, tough, and cheap.
In other ways, the two are opposite; the 16 flies on a strong wind but tacks and gybes slowly, and is slow upwind in light airs while the LT is the reverse; not as fast as a modern board on a strong-wind reach by a loooong way (but also hugely better than the original), tacks and gybes on a dime, and is fast in light winds.
How the LT sails in 20 knots or so depends enormously on how you handle it. The top of the fleet love 20 knots, generally. Others find it hard work but then again, that's for course racing rather than just playing. On a reach in 20 knots the LT is an incredible improvement over the old style boards; it's far easier to sail and miles faster.
Thanks for the input folks....you may have a new convert.
Are the boards tough?
100kg falling all over them?
Well.try not.to.
Some humour with exercise and a bunch of sailing, seems like an easy win.
Thanks
Select to expand quotezim3 said..
Thanks for the input folks....you may have a new convert.
Are the boards tough?
100kg falling all over them?
Well.try not.to.
Some humour with exercise and a bunch of sailing, seems like an easy win.
Thanks
They are not as tough as the old PE/PU one design but they are tough enough (AST single shot) and much lighter than previous Windsurfer class boards.
"The creation of the Windsurfer LT has been supervised by former Olympic windsurfer Bruce Wylie, and by the Windsurfer Class Association.The new windsurf board has been specifically designed to meet the needs of beginner and advanced sailors. It can be used for racing, freestyle, and even as a SUP board."We built the first prototypes in our factory in and tested them throughout 2017. We tried several designs until we found the perfect blend of shape, rocker, underwater profile and weight," noted Wylie."We got the inspiration from the classic boards of the past, but made sure we introduced new ideas, lightweight EPS core, glass combi fabrics, and a bio-based foaming epoxy."
"The New Windsurfer LT had to withstand rough handling by beginners and have a long competitive life too, so COBRA selected their single shot AST construction technology. A lightweight EPS core is carefully encapsulated with varying weights of chopped strand fibre glass, open structure combimats and a foaming epoxy resin system then cured in a vacuum closed mould. Despite being built for longevity; the new board's light weight gives excellent performance and keeps it easy to handle. A white paint topcoat is applied after final finishing, with graphics, EVA soft foam deck and other fittings also being produced in house at COBRA. In manufacturing a one design board intended to be in production for many years, COBRA also looked to their latest sustainability research when selecting materials. By using an epoxy foam with a large bio-based carbon content, COBRA have also produced a board with a significantly lower environmental impact. In the future there are also plans to evaluate a fully recycled EPS core option too."
