Just got my Amos Shapes Sultan Wing and took it for a spin today. Game changer! Not that difficult to handle slogging in the chop and then it just jumped onto foil in scenarios where I'd be working to get my Armstrong 88L up. Wow! Just wow!
Yes, they are amazing boards, my 95L is a light wind weapon and seems lighter than my FG Wing 80L Armstrong Board
are you guys talking about an actual DW board or a wing board with DW built into the design?
Select to expand quotechoosywinger said..
DW style wing board
ah right cool. Yeh it's amazing how fast design has changed. Must admit getting on my old wing board is done with much reluctance after winging DW boards. Just hard work.
But how is it with ginxu 2 or sunova aviator wing? Similar or just like normal wingboards? I hold an naish bullet 85l and it's short 5'1" but got DW inspired bottom. At least I got the feeling the diamond tail is one of the game changer!? Not just the length and narrowness. Sometimes I just pumped 2 times with the wing and the board was up.
How do DW boards turn compared to "stubby and wide" traditional boards? Do you notice swing weight due to length?
Seems like this discussion is about two different beasts. Dw boards and dw style boards are very very different.
dw boards may get you on foil easier but give me my 4'10" any day. I have one and they are terrible for everything except the takeoff and aren't even great for that if it is really blowing in more open water.
dw style boards might refer to much shorter boards which the market seem to be calling mid length. Maybe 5'5 to 6'5 which maybe be very useful for those that don't want to easier take off without the **** side of winging a dw board.
Select to expand quoteWillyWind said..
How do DW boards turn compared to "stubby and wide" traditional boards? Do you notice swing weight due to length?
Depends on the comparison. A 6'x30" stubby is trash vs an 8' x 21" dw board in every way. A 4'8"x26" is too wide for radical turns vs a 5'10"x20" which can really lay over on its side. If the mid length or full dw board is a heavy build it matters vs a light build.
So, lots of variables but I, personally, will never strive towards the 5' mark ever again. I'll just use a smaller span, lower aspect foil if I want more radical turns and keep my wing tiny.
Took the 6'8" 105L 20" wide Sultan Wing board for a spin on the Columbia River in 22-24 Kts yesterday. The medium/big wind swell significantly increased the challenge of getting up and going compared to prior sessions in lighter conditions on a lake with much smaller swell. Once I was standing on the board with the wind in the wind, it was easy but getting there was challenging.
I probably just need more practice in these conditions. But I also wonder whether a more neutral buoyancy board (I weigh ~85kg) with similar, slight shorter dimensions, may have been easier.
Select to expand quotechoosywinger said..
The medium/big wind swell significantly increased the challenge of getting up and going compared to prior sessions in lighter conditions on a lake with much smaller swell.
That is a rather important point. I've been on larger DW boards twice, once on flat water (Bird Island in Corpus Christi) and once in confused medium chop (Kalmus, Cape Cod, 20+ knots wind). I had zero problems on flat water, but the chop was really challenging. I often fell after standing up, before I was able to get on the foil. That's even though the board was a couple of inches wider than the one I had used on flat water. On my wider traditional boards, it's quite rare that I fall trying to get going. It's not just the reduced width of the DW board, but also the increased thickness and the rail shape. On flat water, any bit of speed (that is picked up quickly) will add stability, but in chop, it does not feel that way.Select to expand quotechoosywinger said..
But I also wonder whether a more neutral buoyancy board (I weigh ~85kg) with similar, slight shorter dimensions, may have been easier.
That would be interesting to know. I've read that neutral buoyancy boards are more challenging than + or - boards in traditional shapes, but don't know if that is generally true. Even if so, things could be different for narrower, longer boards.
Select to expand quoteboardsurfr said..
That would be interesting to know. I've read that neutral buoyancy boards are more challenging than + or - boards in traditional shapes, but don't know if that is generally true. Even if so, things could be different for narrower, longer boards.
I think it's not a blanket statement.Advanced rider might prefer to start un -15...but most people I witnessed always find more liter easier.Super short thick boards, are challenging regardless the volume, and narrow relatively compact but THICK...is still coarky.
DW board with a lot of length and even if it's tick, seems to not be that bad, you only have 1 axe to battle...the north south is stable..its's just the east - West that you need to battle.Half your size are technically hard and challenging to start for a LOT of rider, BUT if you are an advanced rider, this is the board that you can sink under the chop and you find better to ride that than a 10, 20L more liter in challenging condition...but for most of the rider they will find a 1/2 your weight so challenging!! You need a lot of effort to unsink, and you cannot have a quiver with a 3.5 and a 5m for example...you can...but most mortal will rather have a 4 and a 5 with such a small board.
Still waiting for arrival of my pre-ordered 95L x 6'2" x 20" (me 93kg). I would've gone bigger but that's the biggest size. Hopefully I won't find the neutral bouyancy issue too challenging, but I'm expecting that the first few sessions will be humbling! 
