Light Wind Weapons....and cheap....

[adamrod]

I believe bellingham kiteboarding might have a couple left...but both should have renewed stocks by next week.

[WindMuch]

All,

I just ordered the 5'3" Fish (not that there are other sizes), from Michael Giebelhaus of Kite-Line. $349, no CA sales tax and free shipping to Oakland, CA.

They don't have these boards on their site yet (nor does Liquid Force!), apparently they're a bit under the radar for some reason.

Here's their contact info:
Michael Giebelhaus
Kite-Line Kiteboarding
ph: 541-815-3209
web: http://www.kite-line.com
email: michael@kite-line.com

No affiliation, nor intent to promote anything. Just passing on the pricing, availability and free shipping details...

Kirk out

[adamrod]

nice! I had mine out on the ocean yesterday. wind was pretty gusty, and swells were small...but it was awesome! glides thru the lulls, you can edge it pretty hard in the gusts, super fun for catching waves and carving turns. jibes are stupid easy heh heh. haven't tried it with the straps yet...IMO strapless is the way to go.

it'd definitely not a hard core big wave gun, that's for sure, but it's super fun when the waves are small and the wind is weird...I really couldn't ask for more....

because the fins are small, you definitely can't carve a huge powered turn into it (or at least, i can't...yet) you have to put more of your weight over the board (as opposed to loading the fins). on the other hand, the tail slides out nicely when you want to slash the tops of the waves, and it actually catches waves really well down the line. I want to see what a more accomplished wave guy could do on it. if I ever see Paul (bulldog) I'm gonna try to convince him to give it a go...i'd love to hear a wave purist's perspective :)

[WindMuch]

The board looks like a really versatile device. Being regular-foot, I particularly like the idea of being able to ride it backwards in a chicken-jibe situation for an on-coming gnarly wave section on the way out, rather than having to go toe-side on my goofy-foot side (which I pretty much suck at).

I'm kind of interested in playing around with different/larger fins for more full-on carve... after I try it with the stock fins, of course...

Adam, have you tried it with different fins?

Kirk out

[adamrod]

I haven't tried it with different fins yet, I think the hardest part would be finding them because they are normal twintip screw in fins....maybe lf has some tho? I'll ask...definitely would be cool to try tho...i do have some plastic surf fins I guess I could drill and tap them....

[eag]

I just got my hand on a LF Venture fish. I bought the wake version for super cheap because I knew I'd never put straps on it. It's the same thing otherwise.

Got it out yesterday for the first time and it's a fun toy. It felt like a giant boat at first, coming from a regular surfboard, but it shot through light wind holes. I wanted something to use as a flatwater/chop/swell toy and for strapless jumping. The LF is super heavy and seems very durable, which is good because I broke an Aviso carbon surfboard doing strapless jumps this week.

The best thing about this is that it's LOOSE. You can do surface spins and slide the tail out on turns. Just super playful. I sure wouldn't want to ride it in surf, but it's perfect for what I wanted it for. Once I got used to it I had a blast. It fits somewhere between my skimboard and regular surfboard.

Rainbow fin company makes fins for boards like this. Upgrading the 2" fins to 3" fins would add a bit of grip if you wanted.

[WindMuch]

I think the hardest part would be finding them because they are normal twintip screw in fins

I assume you mean they AREN'T regular screw in twin tip fins?

Kirk out

[adamrod]

no, i mean that the fins on the fish are regular twintip fins. you know, like the ones with 2 screws that go all the way thru. they aren't fcs or future...

looking around, you can definitely buy some pretty big twintip style fins though, i'm probably just going to drill and tap the plastic surf fins I have...

i have a feeling bigger fins will probably hurt the lighwind performance of the board, but would be interesting to try on the waves..

[robert-g]

If you do a web search for kiteboarding and wake boarding fins, you'll find people that make fins that will fit the 2 screw set up.
I ordered some a few months ago, but I don't remember the name. The web site was something about engineering and they also made custom car parts.
I ordered 3" surf style fins for my twin tip. They did not work that well. I still have them, and can't wait to try them on my new kite fish that I ordered from Bellingham kiteboarding.

[robert-g]

I found the name of the web site. Fins4 sale.com .
They have a 21/2" surf style fin with 2 mounting screw holes for $9.95.
It may be better than drilling into a new board.