Saturday, July 30, 2011

New Angle on the Mistral Equipe Longboard

It was grey and gloomy yesterday, but there was some breeze after work so I went for a windsurfing session on my newly acquired Mistral Equipe XR longboard. I tried a new mount for my GoPro camera- stuck to the nose of the board and looking back at me. I think it came out ok. You can see me sailing both daggerboard-down style with the mast-track forward and the board canted to leeward, and planing style with the daggerboard up and the mast-track back. Don't ask me why I was wearing a helmet. The song in the video is "Hanging Tree" by Queens of the Stone Age.

4 comments:

GK said...

What size fin are you using with that board? just picked up an 11'3 mistral escape and want to get a good fin for it

Johnny Douglass said...

You were wearing your helmet to protect your investment in that PhD. Always do that. How does that board work for SUP?

Frank said...

what size sail are you using? I always have a hard time deciding on a sail for long boarding since I also have formula equipment. A 11.5 is ok on a formula board in 10 mph but a handful on a 12.3 F2 race board. Also I have a Techno 293 one design but 9.5 feels big on it.
At 5'11 and 180 but 58 years old I may be just weak.

James Douglass said...

GK- I was using the 35 cm stock fin that came with the board. It's upright like a slalom fin, but it has a wider chord for better low end. If I was buying a new fin for an older Mistral Longboard I think I would get a slalom or freeride fin around 40 cm.

Dad- The board is fast for SUP in flat water, but it's quite narrow and tippy compared to a real SUP board and it's not any good for catching waves.

Frank- I'm using an 8.0 sail. It's definitely more awkward using a big sail on a narrow longboard than on a wide formula type board. 9.5 seems to be the usual max size on longboards, and the cut of the sail seems to make a difference, too. Aerotech makes a sail called the "Dagger" that is supposed to be especially good as a longboard sail.