For those who remember, the Tinkler tail was one of those cutting edge shortboard designs back in the day. It involved a flexible tail section, with screws to adjust the tail flex and hence looseness of the board. Mistral even put the concept in to production with the Challenge Flex in the early about 1989. Mistral went one step further and had interchangeable tails for the one board- a slalom and wave board in one. I don't believe they were imported to Australia. The owner of this one couldn't even rustle up 10 quid for this beauty- if only he shipped to Australia!http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Windsurfing-Board-Windsurf-board-Mistral-Board-Sailboard-Tiga-/300921466473?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&nma=true&si=yxJkcQ2j3dZ%252FOzgdEHiIRHRW2rQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
This one came over with a guy from the UK. I dont think he ever used it . Now it sits in my museum in Geelong Victoria . This summer i will get it out and let those who want take it for a spin . Has the two tails one for slalom and one for speed . Made in "WEST" Germany too .
I'll take a pic of a board Dan Engdahl made that I have , probably the weirdest board i have seen , a hydroplane style thing that has done 40plus knots !
watch this space .
i had a challenge flex and they werent too bad from memory however i recall springs disappearing into orbit out of the deck when
coming down from a decent jump tail first. looks like its in great condition....
that is amazing!!, what is gained by more looseness in the board?, eg faster, my friend has started to work on a board called the flapper, big square back end, with this rubber flap hanging off the back off the board, im not sure what year its from, or what the flapper does,,,
Select to expand quoteDartboy said..
This one came over with a guy from the UK. I dont think he ever used it . Now it sits in my museum in Geelong Victoria . This summer i will get it out and let those who want take it for a spin . Has the two tails one for slalom and one for speed . Made in "WEST" Germany too.
All the JP "simple and proven daggerboard systems" are still made in West Germany. There must be a warehouse full of them since then.
Interesting stuff, thought about this myself...it is another thing doing it in production..
Bit like this one Milsy ?
Not sure about why it works but this one does . Have done my 29 knts on this one .
I remember those Roberts designs. the idea was also used by some on the back of Torquay boards.
the flap helps with cavitation and allows fin to be closer to back and thus less board in water.
If I remember correctly the "flapper" was a big thing on the PBA/PWA back in the 90's. Boards had gone super wide (before Formula) and fins were getting big. Placed very far back the flap or Anti Cavitation Skirt supposedly helped in stopping air getting sucked down the fin and causing spinout. Most manufacturers had a model including RRD and a few others I cant remember.
yeah, thats right, the fin is heaps far back, and that flapper is supposed to help with spinout, the guy who rides it back home is good, his about 100kg, and uses it as a light to medium winder, im pretty sure he has broken thirty on it, he has sent it off to get a custom made carbon flap, im not sure if that will work or not, im thinking a carbon flap will be a lot stiffer than a rubber flap, which might not work well........or might work better?
the flap flexes to stay on water surface but not have tail dig in behind fin and drag.
I have a Seatrend All Star (haven`t sailed it yet) . carbon board with flapper on the back. very soft rubber. came with a Caveman 50cm fin.
Told you it was an interesting board . Built by Dan Engdahl . He rode it in 1997 I think at Sandy point .
The modifications were made by Dan after he gave it some initial test runs at over 40 knots. You can see where he has decided to reduce the trailing edge width of the hydroplane section of the hull, these just have to be finished off . Off set fin made for Starboard tack bias.
Dont ask me what the mast track at the rear is for . Dan mentioned it was some crazy counter balance thing that turned out to be pretty dangerous in practice so he turfed it .
I have a recollection of a conversation with Dan where he said he was going to add another layer of foam to the front half as the step wasn't big enough. To me it looks like that extra layer has the bevels.
He was thinking of counter balance weights to windward and a few other ideas that seemed more "extreme"...
