Best Lite Wind Weapon

[windhorny]

Thinner core and more glass equals the same as thicker core less glass? My latest board has no carbon or kevlar and is 1/2" dcell core. But with 4 layers top and bottom I am way too stiff for what I had hoped. I am going to program a taper into the board and see how long it takes for the machine to do it. thats the only reason I dont taper the boards-time, not really neccessary. Instead I taper the layers of glass.

My real question is if the snowboard style "concave" rail is appropriate for water. they do it on snow to make the board steer when you edge, that is not how a kiteboard works to my knowledge. whatever, it is fun messing around with different designs either way and there is no all in one board anyways.

[elli]

Thinner core and more glass equals the same as thicker core less glass?

In some ways yes. When the core is thinner, you get more flex travel per fabric elongation/compression, in other words the board will flex more before the break point. It will take less force to break it, so you cannot go too thin on the glass. Look at a board like FLX for example, very flexible tips, very thin core at the tip. My guess is that they also have less fabric there, but I have no plan to cut it and find out :) So less glass will make the board more flexible to a certain extent, but you are pushing into the fracture point if you just take out fabric and keep the core thick. The trick here is that those things are not exactly linear, this is where the software can help.

Pretty complicated stuff to explain in one paragraph, but honestly the best way to test is either on software or to make a simple experiment on a core sample.

Anyway, I have to pack and take off, maybe one of the engineers can step in and make my convoluted text human understandable and take out the bugs as well.

[windhorny]

I dont mean this as an insult, but you know so much about all this stuff, why do you make your boards out of plywood?

[zgur]

Here it is.......

[web]http://www.stpauligirl.com/pastgirls/pastgirls.php[/web] :drinkers:

Get some, Z.

[elli]

Good point!

I believe that it is better for the environment to cut the rain forest instead of using toxic chemicals, or maybe it was the other way? Just kidding :)

1. With ply wood you can experiment a lot, I made three shapes by recutting and reshaping the same board. Its quicker and easier than molding a new glass board for every experiment.
2. I worked with carbon and glass a lot in the past in a different life, and this stuff is toxic and messy. It also takes a lot more work and infrastructure than cutting a piece of wood and sanding it. The carbon dust floats in the air for a long time and it's inevitable that it would get into your body is some form.

Glass/carbon will definitely give you a better board. Its lighter, much stronger and way more durable. Wood can be a good prototype for a glass board.
My wood board has ridiculous swing mass, which takes the fun out of riding. The glid, for example, weights a lot less than any wood board I have seen, which gives it a huge advantage in fun factor. Now that I have a better idea about what board I like I *may* do a glass board, its more a question of time to do it.

[wjb]

Ahhh... Miss 1984. I knew her well :mrgreen:

[windhorny]

Im gonna have to go with 1997 and 2003

[K3rM1t]

I live in San Diego so I'm very familiar with the low end boards and kites as that's pretty much all we ever ride. Here are some thoughts on boards I own, owned, or borrow often. I'm about 180lbs, and ride SS machine 20.5, TD 12, Fuels, and anything people will hand me (lots of Cab Contra 17's down there).

One thing that I have noticed is that you do need to match the board with the kite you ride, especially at the low end. Bow-type kites like different boards as they tend to have less grunt and need to get up and planing quickly. As always, try everything you can!

SS Glide: light, fast and expensive. Planes quickly. Very flat, so in chop tends to wear out my bad knees.

Spleene Session: also light and fast and for my taste, much more fun when the wind picks up, but the glide seems to have a tad more low end. I like this board better in the surf than the glide as it feels more flexible.

Underground FLX 148 light wind special order: That's not a typo, UG made some 148 wide light wind FLX boards that have the same graphics as the 152. These don't have the double concave and are a lot of fun in light wind. Not as much low end as the glide again, but very smooth as they have a little rocker.

UG FLX 152: another nice board, but again, not as much low end as some others. Really nice in the surf with the new double concave.

Lightwave 179: Much nicer than you'd think. Good in the surf with a big C kite.

Surfboards/SS Misfish: Strapless surfboards are definitely fun and work pretty well in light winds, plus we almost all have some old board laying around in the garage. The Misfish is fun, but as soon as it gets choppy the large flat bottom beats the heck out of your knees (again, my knees are already in bad shape).

Plywood: This is my lightwind machine! Plywood cut out similar to a Session, but bigger (about 145X46) with no fins. The side cuts act like your fin when you set the rail and when you let off the rail the board just planes and planes like a skim. I've done a lot of riding back to back with this board and the glide and session and in my opinion the plywood has the same low end as the glide and costs about $550 less. Sure, it's heavy and no fun once there is any chop, but the money you save on this board can be spent on a more fun production board for those days when there is more than a bug's fart worth of wind.

Hope this helps! SF light wind probably doesn't mean the same thing as SD light wind and YMMV.

[windhorny]

Bow-type kites like different boards as they tend to have less grunt and need to get up and planing quickly???


I would say the opposite....bowkites have a larger projected area and more lift per size, therefore much better low end grunt. I use my 12TD for everything. I ride a glide stykle board or a 140 and i am easily comvered from 8-25mph.

[K3rM1t]

so, I too have a TD12 that I love and ride in lightwind, but I wouldn't call it "grunty" Perhaps I'm not using the term the same as others.

I'll gladly strike the "less grunt" comment as long as I can say that different boards seem to match with the different style of kites.

What seems to work for me is wider shorter boards on the bow-style and longer more flexible boards for C's. That's simple because I can depower the bows before my knees give out and I need to use the board more for controlling the C's more constant power.