BOARD TALK
I am the most undiscriminating person with boards. I ride thruster and quad, I like them both. We have gone really extreme on the short, wide and thick concept and that does work for the majority of conditions. There are a lot of days though when you can tell riders are pushing too much volume through the water. We have been working on channels, vee bottoms and adding a bit of extra length to our boards. We have also foiled down the rails a little bit more so you can add a bit more control and grip at high speeds. You can see the way I am riding right now that I can step up a gear or two on them. Ultimately everybody has their own direction of boards they like and the way they sail. There is a universal element in all of it with rockers and outlines. But always personal tastes differ from each other. I am what I call a heavier guy. My boards are actually pretty conservative for an average guy to jump on. They feel super quick and forgiving, so a lot of the gear I ride is similar to what goes into production. They are floaty and fast and have all those elements that work well. I have been riding channels recently and now we have our new thruster coming out with the same channels. Some people won’t even order a board without them now. Riders get excited by little features like that. Keith is really tuned into the surfing world and drawing in little aspects that can be brought into the windsurf concept. I have been benefitting a lot from his surfing knowledge. A lot of our rocker lines and outlines he has brought in from surfing.
