JP SLW vs Fanatic Falcon Light Wind

Hey folks, sold my 2016 Jp SLW a couple of months ago, and bought a Fanatic Falcon LW 159, which I have now sailed 8 or 10 times. I thought it might be timely to post some initial observations, for those who might be interested, in either or both of these boards.

As back ground, I am a 47 yo sailor and weight 100 kegs, returned to windsurfing about 2 years ago, after a couple of decades off. Mainly sail flat water on Lake Macquarie, where the light winds always seem to match up with free weekends. Competent in most conditions, make 95% of my gybes, and have been known to resort to tacking at times in the light winds.

First off, to be clear, I only replaced the SLW in order to get a new board which was foil compliant, at my weight I didn't want to take the risk with a regular fin box. Yet to run the foil on the Falcon, just finalising adaptors for my Naish foil now.

As I said 2016 SLW 92 (pre wingers) in FWS construction 168 Lyra. Probably 1.5 kg heavier than the Falcon.

1) Ease of planning;

I found both boards to plane my weight in about 12 knots with a NP Hornet 8.7. Will probably get going in 10-11 with a lighter rider and a bit more work. The SLW is the easy planer 'passive', needing less pumping or bear away to get going. The Falcon responds better to a more active takeoff with a deeper bear away and a few more pumps, timed with a quick step back on the board to light it up. The Falcon has a lot less volume in the nose, and you have to be careful not to bury the nose a little on the bear away - I have catapulted a couple of times doing this, a little late to get back on the board after the sail loads up. In all, i'd Call this a dead heat, passive - SLW, active - Falcon.

2) Speed;

Easy, the Falcon is faster! The fanatic feels more slalom like riding higher on the water and a happy to fly on the fin with a new school stance, keeping you weight over the board at trimming with the feet. The SLW is no slouch for a big board, but seemed happiest with a locked in stance and the weight outboard driving against the fin. If the Falcon is sailed in this way it will dig the rail a bit even to the point of dragging a heal in the water - not very fast. I'll give that one to the Falcon for outright speed.

3) Comfort;

JP SLW is quite a comfortable board to sail, very forgiving in chop (with a little more v and concave) it handles upwind chop well and never threatens to nose dive on a broad reach despite the planted feel. With plenty of volume in the bow, tacking is a piece of cake, you can stop midway and adjust your boom height if you feel inclined. The Falcon requires a bit more concentration to keep the boards attitude right, it is quite sensitive to mast foot placement and strap position, and rewards tuning - get the setup wrong in a breeze and she becomes a hand full though. With a lot less volume in the bow, you need to speed up the tacks a little more, no dilly dallying around the mast. When flat out in a blow (20-22 knots wind) the knees will know all about it on the Falcon, it slaps the chop a lot harder than the SLW. This one goes to the SLW.

4) Versatility.

ive used both boards with 7.0, 8.0, 8.7. The Falcon does not respond well with the 7.0 needing the bigger sails to balance the board. The SLW happy with 7.0 at a pinch. For both the sweet spot has been the 8.7 and about 12-15 knots of breeze. Would love to buy a 9.4 - reckon this could be ideal at my weight. Tried a 9.8 Rs on the SLW, but not a big fan of the really big gear. SLW comes with a 56cm jp fin as stock, I found it useful when fully lit, but spent most of the time using a 63 cm Select S1. The 50 cm Choco that comes with the Falcon is also most useful when fully lit on the 8.0m, on the 8.7 I've been using a combination of 63 and 57cm S1 for low and mid wind.
im going to give this one to the SLW, it would appear to tolerate a broader range of sail sizes, is less sensitive to fin selection and is more directionally stable for sub planing slogging and tacking.

5) Gybing

For big boards, both boards gybe brilliantly! Combined with the overall stability that 90 cm wide boards bring, you really have to be doing something silly to fluff a gybe on either of these. There's time and stability to order a pizza mid gybe on your mobile phone and adjust your foot straps on the way round! Having sail that, they are both different. The jp SLW is happiest with a longer drawn out turn, laying the rig down to give full commitment to the rail. The Falcon can be gybed similarly but is also happy with a bit more rearward weighting to tighten up the turning radius, without killing the speed. I have been surprised a couple of times how tight a turn the Falcon will cut and shoot out the other side at speed in lit up conditions - treat it more like a slalom board.

Despit the autopilot gibing nature of the SLW which is very confidence inspiring, I'm going to give this one to the Falcon for the versatility in gibing performance.

5) Final thoughts;

Whilst I have only owned the Falcon for about 2 months now, and am still playing around quite a bit with tuning, I think I'm starting to get a handle on its performance, and can appreciate what it has in reserve.
if plug and play is your thing, you just want to get out there in light wind without mucking around too much, have a great sail and be comfortable, go the SLW. If on the other hand you are happy to tune, dabble and eek the most out of your equipment, I reckon the Falcon has more speed and performance to offer, it will reward time spent on the water and a committed riding style. It just seams to have that little bit more to give when you get everything just right.....it will also tell you when it's not working.

Happy, with my purchase?........you bet!.......though I would not be disappointed if I was forced back onto the SLW!

........now where is that foil adapter?

Thanks Faff, have been a few questions about these two boards, thought this might be helpful.

+1 = excellent review

agrees with this chart from German windsurf magazine:
(Falcon was 152 back then)