Sunday, May 8, 2011

First ride on a twin-fin waveboard

Warning: This is purely a windsurfing geek post. It contains almost no interesting commentary on people, places, relationships, philosophy, culture, or emotions. Also, the music in the windsurfing video is obnoxiously heavy.

Friday evening I went windsurfing on Josh Angulo's "Victory" quad / twin waveboard. The board was shaped by Josh's brother Mark, and has sort-of a "classic" outline; relatively long and narrow with a turned-up nose. The volume is around 100 liters- a little more than the biggest production board in the Victory line. I was able to tack and uphaul it fairly easily, which was nice in the initially-light wind conditions. The fin set-up was "twin", with two 17.5 cm x-twin fins from Maui Ultra Fins. I used a 6.3 Gun Sails "Toro", also a loaner from Josh.

Compared to the single-fin freestyle wave board that I usually use in waves; the Exocet Cross 106, the Angulo Victory needed a little more wind (or a push from a wave) to pop onto a plane, but it was very smooth and much, much turnier than any board I had ever ridden previously. I mean, the board could turn faster than I knew what to do with, which was cool. It was also really good at re-directing from the top to the bottom of the wave, and wouldn't snag even if you hit the crumbling part of the wave lip in an awkward way. Check out the video below. The music is "Jesus Built My Hotrod" by Ministry.

9 comments:

DaNewsBlog said...

already under the influence of pastor josh...new sail, new ride, new...???

James Douglass said...

Hey Clyde- Eh, I haven't bought anything, I'm just playing with Josh's toys. Still hanging on to all my personal Aerotech / Exocet gear for the time being.

Brian said...

Great vid James. Thanks for the stoke! When sailing waves, what the difference in board feel with a twin fin compared to a single fin?

Morley said...

I'm sessionless for over a week with a miserable flue/cough and just found these latest - Thanks James, it really is nearly like being there. Those little, but super clean swell waves look like huge fun, and must be great for learning to coordinate things to catch and ride them. Last summer in S. Oregon I was surprised to learn for myself just how hard it was to identify a set and get into the right place at the right speed - so many times I ended up way too far in front of the wave, or at the backside of the peak when I wanted to go DTL. (For learning I'd much prefer the conditions in your vids to the big waves of Oregon, with a good jolt of fear of GW and wondering if the 4.0 would cope with 40 knot gusts. I guess that why the Angelos were led there, looks like a perfect lesson/demo venue!)

James Douglass said...

Brian- I am definitely not the most qualified person to answer this, but very preliminarily, this is what I thought: The twin fin seems to be able to make any kind of turn, anywhere, any time, whereas with the single fin you have to anticipate and commit to your carves a little more.

Morley- Yeah, Nahant is a ridiculously perfect learn-to-surf, sup, or wavesail spot. Can't wait to see what Angulo does with the waves there.

Johnny Douglass said...

Sure looks like you get long rollers there. How's that for boogie boarding? I just went boogie boarding here at Edisto in my 2 mm shortie wet suit. Water still 71 degrees. Pretty choppy from good wind all day but but no long rides.

James Douglass said...

Hey Dad- Nahant ought to be fantastic for boogie boarding but I've never tried it. The rollers really are incredibly long and well-formed compared to any other place I've seen. Glad to hear it's boogieable at Edisto now!

Magal said...

hi james, this is a fantastic video. You make it look so easy..and super fun!

Mike said...

That's one heck of a "gust" :)