Whatever you practise, wherever you'll go, I'll follow you by this channel. Your advices are valuable and often realist. As far as the practice of slalom is concerned, I completely agree with you. As an amateur, the time spent on the water is essential. I have free ride equipment and the implementation time with the settings is much reduced. Have fun, many thanks for all Mario.
Changed this year from a pure slalom to a free race board!. Been sailing yesterday with 25knots wind and I´m so impressed of how comfortable the ride is compared to the slalom board! It´s a dream, and also fast as hell, so I would say it´s a good thing for you to try out! Cheers
Very happy to see you moving towards free race! It will be fascinating to see your findings, and I’m sure the majority of your audience will feel the same. Such a great choice!
Lieber Mario Ich folge dir erst seit kurzem, da ich nach 20 Jahren (Kinder/Familie) wieder windsurfen will. Ich selber bin keine gute Surferin, aber mein Herz schlägt immer noch für diesen wundervollen Sport. Und deine Art, wie du auf deinem überragenden Level so viele herzliche Tutorials für unsere Gattung gemacht hast, hat mich tief berührt! Du hast so eine schöne Art. Und ich rate dir: höre immer auf dein Herz und dir wird alles gelingen❣️🤗
cool! warum hören so viele frauen auf, oder haben keine lust mehr, weil die männer es immer übertreiben? (ernste frage) - ich, 36j habe vor nem jahr angefangen, weil es immer ein traum von mir war. ich fahre nur ein dünnes inflatable, an dem ich eine abrisskannte angeklebt habe, ist nicht für jeden, aber man kann gut damit gleiten, egal was andere sagen. es hat sicher mehr nachteile als ein hartes board, aber auch gewisse vorteile, vorallem was drauffallen angeht... und robustheit
I don’t use any slalom kit but still follow your channel as enthusiasm for our sport is addictive. I’ve been sailing a long time but never stopped learning so I look forward to the new content. Good luck with your journey.
It makes a lot of sense to go this way, I think. Most of us don't have the skills to get the last 5% out of a slalom sail compared to a free-race sail anyway. I also started out with some heavy back breaking slalom sail. Then I went to 3 cam sails (still heavy), then 2 cam sails (really nice) and in 2024, I went for no-cam sails from North Sails (the Freespeed). These sail are moulded and have a amazing profile even without any cams. It's so extremely nice to sail these light easy sails. I jibe better, waterstart faster and even go faster than with any cam sail, I have had. I think it is easier to go fast on a sail you can take full advances of rather than a complicated one, which you don't. This summer, I went for a 105 km session without getting out of the water at all with one of these sails. I could have continued, if the sun wasn't going down. I have done similar sessions with cam sails. But then I had to take a rest for each 50 km. I really looking forward to see your coming videos on this topic. Also, I think it's great that a serious channel, like yours, show what is going on on the free-race area instead of always showing what is out there for the pro riders as most of us are not pros.
Another great advantage for recreatinal surfers: Free race sails are more versatile. They can be combined not only with free race boards, but also with slalomboards and even with sporty free ride boards and be adapted to the given conditions🤙
I tried a few years ago to go back to freerace sails. And finally, despite my by bad level, I went back to full slalom sails ! So yes, less fun, heavy, more tiring, hard to settle proprely but I am addict to the speed, accelerations, stability in high wind, upwind and downwind abilities they can offer
Hi Mario, Many thanks for this video and for all your videos. Personally, I vote for the slalom equipment, but I will follow you no matter what you do.
My man finally realising wave windsurfing hits the right spots on another level vastly above what any other discipline besides freestyle may achieve. Obviously all discpilines are amazing and have their great aspects.
For the everyday, recreational windsurfer, time on the water, ease of use, and fun are far more rewarding than a knot or two of extra speed. Great decision🤙
2 years ago I changed my AV Boards for simular sized Starboard Futura's. This allowed me to use my high end fins on the Futura's. I also changed my set of P7 AC1 ltd for P7 AC1 Pro. This allowed me more time on the water since it was less exhausting. The funny thing was that I never crashed anymore during speedruns and also my speed and number of planing gybes improved quite a lot. Control and confidence in the gear is key i guess.
Dobry pomysł,w ten sposób powiększysz swoje doświadczenie i odkryjesz wiele nowego.Gonitwa za topowym sprzętem to ślepa uliczka.Poziom skomplikowania sprzętu zabija przyjemność z pływania-zawsze masz niedosyt ustawień.Pływam od 35 lat ,używam żagli freerace- są dla mnie fantastyczne,ale powrót do desek starego typu przeniósł mnie w inny wymiar windsurfingu.
Actually thats the reason i'am back using a longboard like an LT. More fun on the water with less wind, not complex, making trips, don't matter if the wind is less, tactical competitions with a lot of windsurf friends and you can still go fast, not as fast as a slalom board of course, but it's a different mindset. I now even can windsurf with my family again 😉 . Of course above 16-20 knots i will grap my other stuff, but even than i see till 25 knots i will take often my longboard. Above i take small of course.
Great to hear you are going to explore Freerace gear. I have extended my pure slalomquiver last year with a 70 wide freeracer and 2 non- cam sails . The fun on - and off the water (easy rigging) put a huge smile on my face every time ! Would appreciate some vids on sail tuning , mastbase position ( totally different due to less downforce from non-cam sails ?) fin comparisons g10 vs carbon . Rdm vs sdm masts in freerace sails are interesting topics I am curious about. Fyi , I went avg faster on a freerace board than on a pure slalomboard across the time I used it.😊
Looking forward to it. I switched this year from a freeride to a freerace board. Slalom is not a topic for me, or I go to Nicos channel. Would be nice if you do not focus only on speed. But for instance also on light wind setups or other stuff all the intermediate windsurfing are struggling.
I've sailed freerace futura board for 10 years and needed to replace the worn out board.. Thought about it and got a freeride board (carve). Its the best decision ever..As you mentioned got to be seen with full on slalom gear (bs) and you see the guys sailing in a straight line and fall in when turning.. get a freerace/freeride and improvements will increase... Iam 100% behind you .Mario do what's best for you even if your followers aren't happy... your life your enjoyable time on the water.. can't get that time back.
On flatwater: Slalomboard. Slalomsails no cambers. Waist harness. On big chop: FSW board with freerace fin. Wavesail. The slalom sails with cambers are collecting dust. These are the 2 setups for me and the experience is similar in both conditions. I do short sessions. The lakes are 10… 20 minutes drive.
In the 90s, when we had modern Hinkelstein boards, someone drove up with a tractor and trailer, grabbed a heavy 320 board and a crappy sail rigged up, and the first thing he did after surfing out 20 meters was a front loop. It's all about having fun, talent helps too.
Hi Mario, thanks again for sharing your love for windsurfing. Yes windsufing is fun and should give you extra energy. Slalom can be the ultimate goal, free-race and free-ride is the ultimate fun. Looking forward to your tips and advice. Gr. Fred
Great idea - I am a retired racer but still like to go fast ...just don't want to work as hard & tune as much! Also I switched totally to windsurf foiling. Don't forget to test Free Race foil sails!!!!!
Hoping to dial in windfoiling when it might otherwise be 4.5 or 5.0 wave sail bump and jump. The F4 gorge 900 and 800 needed two 1.5 depower shims stacked on top of each other when used with a 4 cam foil race sail and would still foil out at top speed. Probably needed a freeride type foil sail for those. The new 600 wahoo gave me much more control at top speed but I only had a couple sessions before winter set. I hope windfoil will occupy the space we're my 4.5 bump and jump exist as ofter the water is a mess and so bump and jump board speed is only 17 to 22 mph. Disappointing when switching down from 6.7 4 cam on fin.
Hi Mario, This is spot on, who wants to struggle in the water with a heavy race sail if you dont need to. I've been using the Sailworks Huckers for a decade now. What I love about them is that they are no cam freeride sails but they are also stable at the top end. They achieve this with really a lot of tension in the sail and carbon tube battons. As a recreational sailor that top end stability is important to me not so much for performance, but security. It gives me confidence to push through the gusts. Recreational sails shouldn't automatically be low tension or unstable at the top end in my opinion. Looking forward to following your journey
I feel the same as you Mario. I was working in a windsurfschool for half a year in the caribean and I had my slalom gear with me. I was windsurfing almost every day and pushing with my friends. I even competed in the PWA youth. Then I went to univesity and I can’t windsurf as much. I find it more exhausting and trimming became more difficult since i spend way less time on the water. Also I don’t have anyone to push with anymore. It is pretty sad because as you said, once you are dedicated to slalom and with others, its the best!
Dear Mario, your video is spot on, to spot on !! I have been doing exactly what you suggested in the video for the past 7 years. My experience + that my kit has been riden regularly by all my wave buddies who now (at last) have gotten their own kits, would like to add this to your thoughts. Freerace is a lot more attractive to windsurfers than slalom. The ability to ride faster than to ride something already fast is "welcoming" more new entries due to the "plug and play" nature vs. slalom's difficulties and expenses. Very nice video, will be following.
I think it's a great idea. I've never been focused enough to really tune things . I tried slalom gear on our lake. There's nothing worse than an unforgiving maxed out slalom board richoceting off each chop. Then when you stack it in 1.5m windswells the sail luff fills with water and the mast points to the bottom of the lake. I've improved out of sight since I got free race gear. It's fast, but very forgiving and user friendly. I'm pushing it much more doing bearaways over the chop. I'm in my mid 60s, weaker and lighweight so I don't have the energy to sail full on race gear in deep choppy water. Our wind is very patchy and gusty so I like twin cams until it hit's 20kts then I go non cammed sails.
Mario, wise decision. It is for sure worth a try. It was interesting to hear that you started on Slalom Equipment. So you will surely enjoy the easy fun of this sport. I think the companies often forget that, beside the professional Windsurfer mainly enjoy the time and fun on the water (with friends ;-) )
Hallo, Mario! This is the way, I’m supporting this project inside and out! ❤ most of us weekend slalom sailors are freeracers in reality. It’s extremely self-dumbing to watch the pro slalom guys and convince ourselves that we do the same discipline. We don’t. It’s refreshing to see your self-reflection in this that could potentially lead to a more healthier public debate about this very real issue, that the marketing mechanism of the industry is inflicting on us… So go for it! I’d be curious to see how to max out AC0/AC2/ACK sails with slalom/freerace boards with proper fin selection that supports not just speed but the upwind ability as well.
You are onto something here. Windsurfers are getting older, on average, at least here in Australia, and race sails in open water and ocean are plain hard work. I've been sailing Severne Turbo and now the newer Moto twin-cam range for a few years now and they have plenty of depth and tunability but would look forward to your input on this class of sail.
Great Choice Mario. I am almost 50 years now and most of my time on PWA Slalom gear… thinking often to change to freerace stuff, to spend at least more time on the water just having fun with maybe 2kts less.. 😎🤙
I'm looking forward to the research because for over 10 years I've been riding slalom boards paired with wawe sails and lately with freerace sails... I think the main problem is that sails over 7 square meters lose their profile in strong wind and gusts, I solved it by putting carbon booms that I would pull out minimally to reduce boom stretching. I drive a Neil Pryde speedsters, I'm interested in how everything will develop together. I even had great results at local regattas, I would come in the top 3, etc. go ahead and look forward to your progress!
I was really hoping you were going to say that you were taking a year off to try freestyle and/or wave sailing. It would be super interesting to see what challenges you would run into and what your background in slalom would help you with.
Hey Mario , danke für den Stuff den ich vor Weihnachten noch geliefert bekommen habe und ich muss sagen es passt genau zu mir ,die neuen Segel 2 cam freerace point7 fahre ich auf dem slalombrett und dem foilbrett echt super combo 6.8 ,5.8,4.8 kann man mit wenig Equipment viel abdecken und auch lange auf dem Wasser Spass haben und darum gehts doch. Was ich aber sagen muss das neue Liberty Trapetz ist echt der Hammer danke und Grüsse aus Korsika 🥳💪
Übrigens, die Freerace-Segel von Gunsails sind seit zwanzig Jahren super! Ich fahre eins von vor ein paar Jahren. Waren immer Testsieger in der Surf, teilweise mit anderen. BTW: Ich würde mir in erster Linie wünschen, dass dieser Kanal nicht noch mehr zum kommerziellen Verkaufskanal mutiert, sondern wieder ein Kanal wird, der einfach nur den Spaß am Windsurfen (und teilweise das Leid) rüberbringt.
@73smoo Fakenews ... um Himmelswillen. Da wird ja wieder mit Schlagworten um sich geworfen. Eine Präferenz bei den Tests der Surf zu Gun Sails hin ist deutlich. Zumal andere Marken oft nicht in den Tests erscheinen, welche btw. keine bezahlte Werbung sind (sein sollten;). Und dass Gunsails offizieller Sponsor der Surf ist, ist doch bekannt, auch, dass so manche Tests eben dementsprechend ausfallen.
@@73smoo Ich denke, dass Tests nichts mit Werbung und Bezahlung zu tun haben sollten. Von Fake News sprach ich sicher nicht. Es wäre ohnehin der falsche Begriff. Ich fuhr ein paar mal Gun Sails Freeride Segel. Furchtbar. Der Druckpunkt hatte Wanderstiefel an. ... Was aber wohl den meisten Freeridesegeln anzuheften ist. Womit wir wieder beim eigentlichen Thema sind: Camber fetzen, aber es braucht keine Monster-Masttasche, um mit schön Power zu surfen.
Good decision! Maybe you can add a few steps into wave sailing. I like fail content and it's good if I am not the only one struggling in those conditions.
Yes! Great choice. Changed from Slalom to freerace since 2022. Never go back ;-) Would be interesting to see what your experiences are. My daughter also wants to go in windsurf competition on fin. She will use the freerace equipment from me. Would be nice to hear where you are going to compete, maybe we can join. Would be nice to have a freerace competion instead of slalom 🤙🏻. Keep going Mario, you are on a good path I think.
I, as a freerider would like to see how it is to windsurf in waves, specially from somebody that has never done it before, with all the challenges and crashes. Also to try to do it with freeride equipment, and then switch to wave equipment and see the difference. Another ideas: comparing old freeride boards and sails to new ones. Going from a standard 135 freeride to smaller volume boards. Basic freestyle maneuvers, coming from you as a non-freestyler with all the crashes, etc.
Good idea! I would imagine most are freeriding/freeracing casually with no windsurfing career expectations besides having fun and blasting on the water. PWA riders are doing amazing performances but hard to relate to. Having someone experienced who can advise on freeride/freerace equipment and its tuning would be highly relevant and likely bring you more customers to your shop/business!
Probably Ive the same age of your dad, windsurf is still my passion Ive started in 1978 so long time ago, currently I fee quite comfortable happy and enough fast with freeride equipment, Volar 130 Pro and my 7.5m Point7 AC-F , believe me, there’s life beyond cambers
I would love ❤ if you do freerace + performance freeride + freestyle wave. More often I see top windsurfers on Lake Garda in Torbole just using freestyle wave - and not only in Malcesine.
Don’t worry to much about what other people think , do what you enjoy and makes you feel happy then make your videos about that , you’ll always have an audience and if it’s something your enjoying more it’ll show in the way your speaking about it.
Appreciate your comment! I’m always very keen on telling a story on TH-cam that makes sense to my followers, that’s why sometimes I feel the need to explain my plans.. 😊🤙🏽
Chose to move from full slalom sails to ACX, mainly so I have more time on the water per session. In my late 60's now, the lighter and easier freerace sails have given me exactly that.
I’ve been racing for a long time and now to be honest my favourite gear is a non cammed wave sail on a free race board coz it’s light and I don’t have all the issues with my front foot wanting to come out of the strap.
Die Ambitionen zu F1 Windsurfzeug macht wirklich für die allerwenigsten Sinn deshalb gut so … das hast du dann wohl auch erkannt 👍… Gut für den Shop etc … Keep on rocking
I'm surfing since almost 5 years and went on slalom very early (after 1 year). It was a hard way and i think 1 more year on freerace could have helped. Now i think i can handle the slalom gear very well but sometimes i also think it could be more easy to go for freerace, especially with the Sails. I think the Board is not so much making the difference. I am looking forward to see the results on the water 👍
We don't always give "performance freeride" all the credit that it deserves which is why I love your idea. Hope this leads to more exciting ideas and achievements. :)
I am curious Mario and will follow your results😎 After I hit 45 years of age I replaced my whole gear to freeride freewave and crossover material. Less effort with a result of much more fun. Yes of course the end speed is less but the fun and pleasure gives me much more hours on the water without endless catapults 😇😅
Hi Mario, go for non-slalom equipment. This is what most windsurfers use and we will appreciate even more your vidéos Vielen Dank mein freund for doing this
Can't wait for new type of videos. I personally use sometimes slalom sometimes free-race gear. I like them both, but free-race maybe a little bit more. Both cambered sails which are soooooo much more stable than non cambered. Or is that, i saw point-7 even non cambered have crazy profiles. Unfortunately I cant stand that black colour, so I will most likely never buy them :D But interested to see what you going to say about them and all the findings of yours. So don't worry and do it! I will be watching you! :D (creepy ending is always nice :D)
Mario, first of all thank you for all your activity on the channel that I find interesting, fun and valuable. Keep on! I think you do the right move, since, following your story as you described, you simply skipped a freeride/freerace stage in your WS journey. Typical story is actually opposite. Next thing I guess you use one of the most powerfull slalom sails on the market, that indeed require a lot of attention while tunnig. Perhaps there are other brands a bit easier in all this technicalities on shore. All in all I wish you positive excitements with your new choice and looking forward next edits in 2025. Cheers!
I use pure slalom sails on my sessions, but on a free race approach. This means that I try to use the best of planning and control ability of the sails to extend my ride, which most of the time represents between 100 and 200km per session (up to 8h on the water) and I'm totally not that well fitted 55 years old guy. This kind of distances can only be achieved with a good speed base and a smooth ride through lulls. The fact is, this way, I ride way longer that anyone else in this country (Portugal), slalom or free race rider. Also a fact, I never tried to do it on a less cambered sails and your challenge made me also curios. For my kind of ride, no cam sails never going to be an option because they can´t provide this balance. And for amateurs like me, that's what we are talking about - Balance!
One other thing ; would be great to see you testing non-cam sails like The Oxygen from Loftsails , Speedster from NP , Vmax from Simmer. We all know you work close with P7 but trust your fair comments.
Think it will be interesting to see , I used Freerace boards and sails after a long break from surfing thinking it will be the best setup for me, and change to full slalom sails and Future fly race boards in 2023, what I found out was that Freerace sails are easy to rig and tune but really difficult to handle when overpowered and freerace boards are as fin sensitive as slalom boards and not as easy to fly on the rail, this said and also that I hear from other surfers is that its all down to what brand what year and what size ect. what I can say for sure is that my Future Fly 117 is hands down the best board ever made.
If you are most experienced windsurfer (like I am) the slalom gives me the more satisfaction of windsurfing is speed , stable and safe on strong wind ... so I like the slalom stuf :)
Really interesting! I had exactly the same analyse of my ten last years of windsurfing.I'm sailing since almost 30 years now, had freeride, freerace, race and wave equipment, from many brands. I did some national competitions, one speed world cup almost 20 years ago. Now since around 6-7 years, I haven't enough time to spend on the water but want to keep my slalom gear. As a result, as you said, most of the sessions were annoying. I hadn't enough time to tune the gear and to make it work at 100%, so it was exhausting and not very fun. I can read on my GPS tracking that I was even faster some years ago with freerace equipment and more fun on the water. So I'm really interested in your project and will follow that with a lot of attention 🙂 Actually, I planed to do exactly the same last year for this year and finally I did nothing because of the lack of time to spend on the water. We'll see...
man sollte den gedanken weiterspinnen und fragen: warum erst jetzt? warum müssen wir immer versuchen besser und schneller zu sein als andere? wenn wir ehrlich sind ist es doch meistens so. warum nicht einfach spass haben. - ist nicht so einfach wie es klingt. wobei ich es bei mario schon verstehen kann, wenn er so durch seinen dad in die sache reingewachsen ist. ich meine, jemand der von sich aus mit dem sport anfängt, will ja meistens eher ein wavesegel , oder freemove, wenn man so ohne vorkenntnisse anfängt wie ich selbst. -> achja, echt geiles video, super szenen auch! und dann noch diese selbsthinterfragung und weißheit. das ist sehr gut. und zeugt von größe. respekt
I'd be interested in free ride and free race foil discussions as well. Maybe include twin cam sails too as well as no cams in your sail investigations? Looking forward to whatever you decide. Thanks.
Hi Mario, i think that is a great idea since most casual windsurfers are using either freeride (like myself) or freerace gear. Therefore it will be much more relateable. Speakin Freerace Sails, you mentioned no-cam freerace for 2025. What is against the 2-cam freerace or maybe I have to start earlier... What is the difference between no-cam and 2-cam freerace sails and why would you cosider a no-cam to be the better choice for you, if at all. I would love to hear more about that topic. Keep up the great work. After watching your videos i always cant wait for the next windsurf vacation. :)
Hi Mario. I like your project a lot. I've read many comments pro freerace gear and I agree with all of them. I think your decision will give 90% of your followers the chance to learn more about their freeride gear and how to trim and ride it in a better way. So, let's go.
Mario I’ve been watching you (and Niels) for some time. You are spot-on with your assessment of ‘Race Gear’ which we all aspire to but I would say 90% of recreational sailors never learn how to properly tune to maximum advantage. I’ve tried it all over the years (40) and it’s a real pain to get it all in tune with board and fun. It’s too much like hard work. It’s heavy, required endless tuning and is usually more expensive than free ride equipment. I’m all for quick rigging, lighter equipment that is MUCH easier to set up and therefore results in more time on the water having fun.
Please talk about lake super light wind wind foiling! There is a ton of info about high wind and steady light wind where people are foiling with 6-7m sails as their “big” sails. I want to have more videos about super light wind and what gear is best (narrower board but cannot carry bigger sail, big sail but the board has more drag, high aspect ratio foil or medium aspect ratio foil, etc)
I have been using slalom kit since always. Things changed a lot since the '90's ... now slalom kit is designed for PWA guys, 95 - 105 kgs perfectly fit and trained, and it became an handful for recreational sailors. One tends to be on slalom kit anyhow because of "status", appearance, and the illusion to be able to exploit it to some extent (forget 100% !!!). But it makes less and less sense to me, now, at 64 ... I am pretty much sure I'd be faster on an easier board, not much sure about the sails but this is because I am using a brand/model that is extremely easy althought powerful and a touch on the AOH helps a lot. Fins too, a lot is due to those modern carbon skegs that are super powerful. About moving from full-on slalom kit to freerace kit. My take is as follows. FR board will have a slightly narrower beam, narrower tail and a 5 - 10 cms stretched rockerline. This will lead to easier "passive" planing (longer flat section), less accelleration (narrower tail leading to somewhat less powerful fin), but I don't see a reason to impair top speed. FR sails will have less surface, a tighter (or better say, less twisted) leech, not as much deep belly. Reduced cam count will always lead to less stability, the only tradeoff there is in weight in my view. Tighter leech will do for same low end with less surface, so it's weight again. And finally, less twist will make for less high end power and speed, this could be the real limiting factor. So in the end, from a FR kit compared to slalom kit, I'd expect less accelleration (but not everybody is able to exploit the quick accelleration of a slalom board out of a well executed, planing, fast jibe!!!), and slightly less top end speed (if a smaller freerace sail is used) to same or even better top speed (if a full cambered race sail is used) due to better control, expecially in chop and as much better as the user is NOT a 100 kg, fit and trained PWA racer.
Hi Mario, I already started a bit on the journey that you wish to take. I realized I am having more fun on the water using my old Gaastra Matrix 2008 sail 6.5 m than my Duotone Warp 7.0 m 2023, both on my JP Slalom Pro 71 and 36 cm carbon fin. I have a suggestion in your journey to compare the performance of no-cam sail, e.g. Severne NCX (no cam) versus Severne Moto (I believe has 2 cams). My personal conclusion as a recreational windsurfer is that to have more time and fun on the water is to use no-cam sails for fin windsurfing and to use cams sails only for foiling (because of the need to have stable profile at all times). BTW, HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON TO YOU and to all the “sick in the head” windsurfing people that we all are … chasing the wind, calling “sick” at work on a windy day, not going on a picnic with the family or for a lunch on a terrace with your wife (girlfriend), etc. … I believe you know what I mean … CHEARS :):):)
OMG a future fly freerace board. I was asking myself why dont they have one. Interesting choice to switch. As a Freeracer I´m really excited to see what you will say and experience. You wont be slower I can tell that much.
I will keep up the cliche slalom rider TH-cam channel alive then😂😂😂😂. Good that we can still race on the foil. 🤙. Can I borrow your carpenter fins for the next year, 🙏 please 😅
Hi, changing to freerace is a good idea which I did already some years ago😂 and should have done some years before. With respect to test ideas. Use freerace sails on foilboards and foilsails on windsurfboards. Compare average speed with windsurfing on a foilboard vs windsurfboard and windfoiling on a foilboard vs windsurfboard Etc etc.
Would be awesome to see you try something different. Free race sails or free ride sails are closer to what we all actually use. Slalom is great but for a relaxing fun day on the water as you say they are a lot of effort.
Smart move. I guess to most windsurfers slalom gear tuning (or foiling) is nerd talk. But how to go fast on your normal freeride gear could be the big thing for 99 % of your subscribers. Looking forward to your next journey
As expressed in other ways by others here. Going freeride/freerace is interesting. In TH-cam you have mainly pros riding pro equipment. It’s interesting but I don’t think the main market is using this equipment and as you said : can rig it correctly. Would be cool to have some alternative while not forgetting the fun of going fast in any kind of conditions (in our sessions we’re not always well powered with flat water).
Whatever you practise, wherever you'll go, I'll follow you by this channel. Your advices are valuable and often realist. As far as the practice of slalom is concerned, I completely agree with you. As an amateur, the time spent on the water is essential. I have free ride equipment and the implementation time with the settings is much reduced. Have fun, many thanks for all Mario.
Changed this year from a pure slalom to a free race board!. Been sailing yesterday with 25knots wind and I´m so impressed of how comfortable the ride is compared to the slalom board! It´s a dream, and also fast as hell, so I would say it´s a good thing for you to try out! Cheers
me to 👊
It will appeal much more to the average weekend warrior. Go for it Mario!🔥
To be honest, this would be even more interesting to me personally because I am just on regular freeride gear, nothing special.
Agreed!!
Very happy to see you moving towards free race! It will be fascinating to see your findings, and I’m sure the majority of your audience will feel the same. Such a great choice!
I think it is a great idea, many of us are not having the time nor talent to be on slalom gear, your experience will be super helpful and welcome.
Yes!
Lieber Mario
Ich folge dir erst seit kurzem, da ich nach 20 Jahren (Kinder/Familie) wieder windsurfen will. Ich selber bin keine gute Surferin, aber mein Herz schlägt immer noch für diesen wundervollen Sport. Und deine Art, wie du auf deinem überragenden Level so viele herzliche Tutorials für unsere Gattung gemacht hast, hat mich tief berührt! Du hast so eine schöne Art.
Und ich rate dir: höre immer auf dein Herz und dir wird alles gelingen❣️🤗
Hi, danke dir, hab mich sehr über deinen Kommentar gefreut!! Viel Erfolg beim Wiedereinstieg..😊🤙🏽
cool! warum hören so viele frauen auf, oder haben keine lust mehr, weil die männer es immer übertreiben? (ernste frage) - ich, 36j habe vor nem jahr angefangen, weil es immer ein traum von mir war.
ich fahre nur ein dünnes inflatable, an dem ich eine abrisskannte angeklebt habe, ist nicht für jeden, aber man kann gut damit gleiten, egal was andere sagen. es hat sicher mehr nachteile als ein hartes board, aber auch gewisse vorteile, vorallem was drauffallen angeht... und robustheit
I don’t use any slalom kit but still follow your channel as enthusiasm for our sport is addictive. I’ve been sailing a long time but never stopped learning so I look forward to the new content. Good luck with your journey.
It makes a lot of sense to go this way, I think. Most of us don't have the skills to get the last 5% out of a slalom sail compared to a free-race sail anyway.
I also started out with some heavy back breaking slalom sail. Then I went to 3 cam sails (still heavy), then 2 cam sails (really nice) and in 2024, I went for no-cam sails from North Sails (the Freespeed).
These sail are moulded and have a amazing profile even without any cams. It's so extremely nice to sail these light easy sails. I jibe better, waterstart faster and even go faster than with any cam sail, I have had.
I think it is easier to go fast on a sail you can take full advances of rather than a complicated one, which you don't. This summer, I went for a 105 km session without getting out of the water at all with one of these sails. I could have continued, if the sun wasn't going down. I have done similar sessions with cam sails. But then I had to take a rest for each 50 km.
I really looking forward to see your coming videos on this topic. Also, I think it's great that a serious channel, like yours, show what is going on on the free-race area instead of always showing what is out there for the pro riders as most of us are not pros.
Another great advantage for recreatinal surfers: Free race sails are more versatile. They can be combined not only with free race boards, but also with slalomboards and even with sporty free ride boards and be adapted to the given conditions🤙
I tried a few years ago to go back to freerace sails. And finally, despite my by bad level, I went back to full slalom sails ! So yes, less fun, heavy, more tiring, hard to settle proprely but I am addict to the speed, accelerations, stability in high wind, upwind and downwind abilities they can offer
did you mean upwind or upwing? thx for making me understand mario better, i wonder why do this extreme speed stuff at all
Hi Mario, Many thanks for this video and for all your videos. Personally, I vote for the slalom equipment, but I will follow you no matter what you do.
I did this several years ago and I find the combonation I like the best is a slalom board with a very good slalom fin and a no cam freerace sails.
My man finally realising wave windsurfing hits the right spots on another level vastly above what any other discipline besides freestyle may achieve.
Obviously all discpilines are amazing and have their great aspects.
For the everyday, recreational windsurfer, time on the water, ease of use, and fun are far more rewarding than a knot or two of extra speed. Great decision🤙
2 years ago I changed my AV Boards for simular sized Starboard Futura's. This allowed me to use my high end fins on the Futura's. I also changed my set of P7 AC1 ltd for P7 AC1 Pro. This allowed me more time on the water since it was less exhausting. The funny thing was that I never crashed anymore during speedruns and also my speed and number of planing gybes improved quite a lot. Control and confidence in the gear is key i guess.
Dobry pomysł,w ten sposób powiększysz swoje doświadczenie i odkryjesz wiele nowego.Gonitwa za topowym sprzętem to ślepa uliczka.Poziom skomplikowania sprzętu zabija przyjemność z pływania-zawsze masz niedosyt ustawień.Pływam od 35 lat ,używam żagli freerace- są dla mnie fantastyczne,ale powrót do desek starego typu przeniósł mnie w inny wymiar windsurfingu.
i am 53 and switched from slalom sails to freerace last year, much better, the fun has returned and I am not ever slower. It's a natural thing to do.
Hey Mario, super exciting news. I will follow your trimming of the P7 AC-2 very closely ;)
Actually thats the reason i'am back using a longboard like an LT. More fun on the water with less wind, not complex, making trips, don't matter if the wind is less, tactical competitions with a lot of windsurf friends and you can still go fast, not as fast as a slalom board of course, but it's a different mindset. I now even can windsurf with my family again 😉 .
Of course above 16-20 knots i will grap my other stuff, but even than i see till 25 knots i will take often my longboard. Above i take small of course.
Great to hear you are going to explore Freerace gear. I have extended my pure slalomquiver last year with a 70 wide freeracer and 2 non- cam sails . The fun on - and off the water (easy rigging) put a huge smile on my face every time ! Would appreciate some vids on sail tuning , mastbase position ( totally different due to less downforce from non-cam sails ?) fin comparisons g10 vs carbon . Rdm vs sdm masts in freerace sails are interesting topics I am curious about. Fyi , I went avg faster on a freerace board than on a pure slalomboard across the time I used it.😊
Looking forward to it. I switched this year from a freeride to a freerace board. Slalom is not a topic for me, or I go to Nicos channel. Would be nice if you do not focus only on speed. But for instance also on light wind setups or other stuff all the intermediate windsurfing are struggling.
Unbelievable.....you stole my idea ;) Changed from NP EVO to V8 and I can ensure it feels so much more relaxed. Good video! Keep up the good work!
I've sailed freerace futura board for 10 years and needed to replace the worn out board.. Thought about it and got a freeride board (carve). Its the best decision ever..As you mentioned got to be seen with full on slalom gear (bs) and you see the guys sailing in a straight line and fall in when turning.. get a freerace/freeride and improvements will increase... Iam 100% behind you .Mario do what's best for you even if your followers aren't happy... your life your enjoyable time on the water.. can't get that time back.
Za dobrze pływasz żeby używać podstawowego freeride,nie będziesz miał satysfakcji,ale freerace to czysta przyjemność.
On flatwater: Slalomboard. Slalomsails no cambers. Waist harness. On big chop: FSW board with freerace fin. Wavesail. The slalom sails with cambers are collecting dust. These are the 2 setups for me and the experience is similar in both conditions. I do short sessions. The lakes are 10… 20 minutes drive.
whats the benefit of no-cams for you
Great Idea! I‘d also love to see a comparison between no-cam race sails vs cambered freerace sails (f.e. AC-X vs AC-Z/K)
In the 90s, when we had modern Hinkelstein boards, someone drove up with a tractor and trailer, grabbed a heavy 320 board and a crappy sail rigged up, and the first thing he did after surfing out 20 meters was a front loop. It's all about having fun, talent helps too.
Go with your new idea, we can relate better, you will be talking our language! Excited for the coming year!
Hi Mario, thanks again for sharing your love for windsurfing. Yes windsufing is fun and should give you extra energy. Slalom can be the ultimate goal, free-race and free-ride is the ultimate fun. Looking forward to your tips and advice. Gr. Fred
I am always interested in your new experiences and adventures and you guys having fun and a good laugh.😊 Speed is just a number…
Great idea - I am a retired racer but still like to go fast ...just don't want to work as hard & tune as much! Also I switched totally to windsurf foiling. Don't forget to test Free Race foil sails!!!!!
Hoping to dial in windfoiling when it might otherwise be 4.5 or 5.0 wave sail bump and jump. The F4 gorge 900 and 800 needed two 1.5 depower shims stacked on top of each other when used with a 4 cam foil race sail and would still foil out at top speed. Probably needed a freeride type foil sail for those. The new 600 wahoo gave me much more control at top speed but I only had a couple sessions before winter set. I hope windfoil will occupy the space we're my 4.5 bump and jump exist as ofter the water is a mess and so bump and jump board speed is only 17 to 22 mph. Disappointing when switching down from 6.7 4 cam on fin.
Hi Mario, This is spot on, who wants to struggle in the water with a heavy race sail if you dont need to. I've been using the Sailworks Huckers for a decade now. What I love about them is that they are no cam freeride sails but they are also stable at the top end. They achieve this with really a lot of tension in the sail and carbon tube battons. As a recreational sailor that top end stability is important to me not so much for performance, but security. It gives me confidence to push through the gusts. Recreational sails shouldn't automatically be low tension or unstable at the top end in my opinion. Looking forward to following your journey
I feel the same as you Mario. I was working in a windsurfschool for half a year in the caribean and I had my slalom gear with me. I was windsurfing almost every day and pushing with my friends. I even competed in the PWA youth. Then I went to univesity and I can’t windsurf as much. I find it more exhausting and trimming became more difficult since i spend way less time on the water. Also I don’t have anyone to push with anymore. It is pretty sad because as you said, once you are dedicated to slalom and with others, its the best!
Is there a prime Caribbean location for mid March?
Yess let´s goooooo 🔥 It is going to be epic!!
Dear Mario, your video is spot on, to spot on !! I have been doing exactly what you suggested in the video for the past 7 years. My experience + that my kit has been riden regularly by all my wave buddies who now (at last) have gotten their own kits, would like to add this to your thoughts. Freerace is a lot more attractive to windsurfers than slalom. The ability to ride faster than to ride something already fast is "welcoming" more new entries due to the "plug and play" nature vs. slalom's difficulties and expenses. Very nice video, will be following.
Subscribed because you just said what we are all thinking! All the best!
I think it's a great idea. I've never been focused enough to really tune things .
I tried slalom gear on our lake. There's nothing worse than an unforgiving maxed out slalom board richoceting off each chop. Then when you stack it in 1.5m windswells the sail luff fills with water and the mast points to the bottom of the lake.
I've improved out of sight since I got free race gear. It's fast, but very forgiving and user friendly.
I'm pushing it much more doing bearaways over the chop.
I'm in my mid 60s, weaker and lighweight so I don't have the energy to sail full on race gear in deep choppy water.
Our wind is very patchy and gusty so I like twin cams until it hit's 20kts then I go non cammed sails.
Sehr gute Idee! Das hört sich spannend an.
Mario, wise decision. It is for sure worth a try. It was interesting to hear that you started on Slalom Equipment. So you will surely enjoy the easy fun of this sport. I think the companies often forget that, beside the professional Windsurfer mainly enjoy the time and fun on the water (with friends ;-) )
It would be very interesting to learn more about the potential and limitations with FSW equipment on lakes - compared to freeride/freerace.
Hallo, Mario! This is the way, I’m supporting this project inside and out! ❤ most of us weekend slalom sailors are freeracers in reality. It’s extremely self-dumbing to watch the pro slalom guys and convince ourselves that we do the same discipline. We don’t. It’s refreshing to see your self-reflection in this that could potentially lead to a more healthier public debate about this very real issue, that the marketing mechanism of the industry is inflicting on us… So go for it! I’d be curious to see how to max out AC0/AC2/ACK sails with slalom/freerace boards with proper fin selection that supports not just speed but the upwind ability as well.
You are onto something here. Windsurfers are getting older, on average, at least here in Australia, and race sails in open water and ocean are plain hard work. I've been sailing Severne Turbo and now the newer Moto twin-cam range for a few years now and they have plenty of depth and tunability but would look forward to your input on this class of sail.
Good idea! It will be interesting to see your videos in the new season. I’m so happy with my AC-Z sails - they are amazing. Best of luck to you!
Foiling for the average weekend warrior is also something very interesting to hear about. Keep on pushing 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Great Choice Mario. I am almost 50 years now and most of my time on PWA Slalom gear… thinking often to change to freerace stuff, to spend at least more time on the water just having fun with maybe 2kts less.. 😎🤙
I'm looking forward to the research because for over 10 years I've been riding slalom boards paired with wawe sails and lately with freerace sails... I think the main problem is that sails over 7 square meters lose their profile in strong wind and gusts, I solved it by putting carbon booms that I would pull out minimally to reduce boom stretching. I drive a Neil Pryde speedsters, I'm interested in how everything will develop together. I even had great results at local regattas, I would come in the top 3, etc. go ahead and look forward to your progress!
I was really hoping you were going to say that you were taking a year off to try freestyle and/or wave sailing. It would be super interesting to see what challenges you would run into and what your background in slalom would help you with.
Hey Mario , danke für den Stuff den ich vor Weihnachten noch geliefert bekommen habe und ich muss sagen es passt genau zu mir ,die neuen Segel 2 cam freerace point7 fahre ich auf dem slalombrett und dem foilbrett echt super combo 6.8 ,5.8,4.8 kann man mit wenig Equipment viel abdecken und auch lange auf dem Wasser Spass haben und darum gehts doch. Was ich aber sagen muss das neue Liberty Trapetz ist echt der Hammer danke und Grüsse aus Korsika 🥳💪
Übrigens, die Freerace-Segel von Gunsails sind seit zwanzig Jahren super! Ich fahre eins von vor ein paar Jahren. Waren immer Testsieger in der Surf, teilweise mit anderen.
BTW: Ich würde mir in erster Linie wünschen, dass dieser Kanal nicht noch mehr zum kommerziellen Verkaufskanal mutiert, sondern wieder ein Kanal wird, der einfach nur den Spaß am Windsurfen (und teilweise das Leid) rüberbringt.
@73smoo Fakenews ... um Himmelswillen. Da wird ja wieder mit Schlagworten um sich geworfen. Eine Präferenz bei den Tests der Surf zu Gun Sails hin ist deutlich. Zumal andere Marken oft nicht in den Tests erscheinen, welche btw. keine bezahlte Werbung sind (sein sollten;). Und dass Gunsails offizieller Sponsor der Surf ist, ist doch bekannt, auch, dass so manche Tests eben dementsprechend ausfallen.
@@73smoo Ich denke, dass Tests nichts mit Werbung und Bezahlung zu tun haben sollten. Von Fake News sprach ich sicher nicht. Es wäre ohnehin der falsche Begriff. Ich fuhr ein paar mal Gun Sails Freeride Segel. Furchtbar. Der Druckpunkt hatte Wanderstiefel an. ... Was aber wohl den meisten Freeridesegeln anzuheften ist. Womit wir wieder beim eigentlichen Thema sind: Camber fetzen, aber es braucht keine Monster-Masttasche, um mit schön Power zu surfen.
Slalom with a freeride sail is still slalom.
Good decision! Maybe you can add a few steps into wave sailing. I like fail content and it's good if I am not the only one struggling in those conditions.
very happy for this, as my level is beginner intermediate and free ride makes more sense in my case.
Yes! Great choice. Changed from Slalom to freerace since 2022. Never go back ;-) Would be interesting to see what your experiences are. My daughter also wants to go in windsurf competition on fin. She will use the freerace equipment from me. Would be nice to hear where you are going to compete, maybe we can join. Would be nice to have a freerace competion instead of slalom 🤙🏻. Keep going Mario, you are on a good path I think.
I, as a freerider would like to see how it is to windsurf in waves, specially from somebody that has never done it before, with all the challenges and crashes. Also to try to do it with freeride equipment, and then switch to wave equipment and see the difference.
Another ideas: comparing old freeride boards and sails to new ones. Going from a standard 135 freeride to smaller volume boards. Basic freestyle maneuvers, coming from you as a non-freestyler with all the crashes, etc.
Good idea! I would imagine most are freeriding/freeracing casually with no windsurfing career expectations besides having fun and blasting on the water. PWA riders are doing amazing performances but hard to relate to. Having someone experienced who can advise on freeride/freerace equipment and its tuning would be highly relevant and likely bring you more customers to your shop/business!
Probably Ive the same age of your dad, windsurf is still my passion Ive started in 1978 so long time ago, currently I fee quite comfortable happy and enough fast with freeride equipment, Volar 130 Pro and my 7.5m Point7 AC-F , believe me, there’s life beyond cambers
I would love ❤ if you do freerace + performance freeride + freestyle wave. More often I see top windsurfers on Lake Garda in Torbole just using freestyle wave - and not only in Malcesine.
Don’t worry to much about what other people think , do what you enjoy and makes you feel happy then make your videos about that , you’ll always have an audience and if it’s something your enjoying more it’ll show in the way your speaking about it.
Appreciate your comment! I’m always very keen on telling a story on TH-cam that makes sense to my followers, that’s why sometimes I feel the need to explain my plans.. 😊🤙🏽
Great idea, looking forword for your videos.
Chose to move from full slalom sails to ACX, mainly so I have more time on the water per session. In my late 60's now, the lighter and easier freerace sails have given me exactly that.
Nice!!
I’ve been racing for a long time and now to be honest my favourite gear is a non cammed wave sail on a free race board coz it’s light and I don’t have all the issues with my front foot wanting to come out of the strap.
Die Ambitionen zu F1 Windsurfzeug macht wirklich für die allerwenigsten Sinn deshalb gut so … das hast du dann wohl auch erkannt 👍… Gut für den Shop etc … Keep on rocking
I'm surfing since almost 5 years and went on slalom very early (after 1 year). It was a hard way and i think 1 more year on freerace could have helped. Now i think i can handle the slalom gear very well but sometimes i also think it could be more easy to go for freerace, especially with the Sails. I think the Board is not so much making the difference.
I am looking forward to see the results on the water 👍
We don't always give "performance freeride" all the credit that it deserves which is why I love your idea. Hope this leads to more exciting ideas and achievements. :)
I am curious Mario and will follow your results😎
After I hit 45 years of age I replaced my whole gear to freeride freewave and crossover material. Less effort with a result of much more fun. Yes of course the end speed is less but the fun and pleasure gives me much more hours on the water without endless catapults 😇😅
Hi Mario, go for non-slalom equipment.
This is what most windsurfers use and we will appreciate even more your vidéos
Vielen Dank mein freund for doing this
Can't wait for new type of videos. I personally use sometimes slalom sometimes free-race gear. I like them both, but free-race maybe a little bit more. Both cambered sails which are soooooo much more stable than non cambered. Or is that, i saw point-7 even non cambered have crazy profiles. Unfortunately I cant stand that black colour, so I will most likely never buy them :D But interested to see what you going to say about them and all the findings of yours. So don't worry and do it! I will be watching you! :D (creepy ending is always nice :D)
Mario, first of all thank you for all your activity on the channel that I find interesting, fun and valuable. Keep on! I think you do the right move, since, following your story as you described, you simply skipped a freeride/freerace stage in your WS journey. Typical story is actually opposite. Next thing I guess you use one of the most powerfull slalom sails on the market, that indeed require a lot of attention while tunnig. Perhaps there are other brands a bit easier in all this technicalities on shore. All in all I wish you positive excitements with your new choice and looking forward next edits in 2025. Cheers!
I use pure slalom sails on my sessions, but on a free race approach. This means that I try to use the best of planning and control ability of the sails to extend my ride, which most of the time represents between 100 and 200km per session (up to 8h on the water) and I'm totally not that well fitted 55 years old guy.
This kind of distances can only be achieved with a good speed base and a smooth ride through lulls. The fact is, this way, I ride way longer that anyone else in this country (Portugal), slalom or free race rider.
Also a fact, I never tried to do it on a less cambered sails and your challenge made me also curios.
For my kind of ride, no cam sails never going to be an option because they can´t provide this balance.
And for amateurs like me, that's what we are talking about - Balance!
One other thing ; would be great to see you testing non-cam sails like The Oxygen from Loftsails , Speedster from NP , Vmax from Simmer. We all know you work close with P7 but trust your fair comments.
Think it will be interesting to see , I used Freerace boards and sails after a long break from surfing thinking it will be the best setup for me, and change to full slalom sails and Future fly race boards in 2023, what I found out was that Freerace sails are easy to rig and tune but really difficult to handle when overpowered and freerace boards are as fin sensitive as slalom boards and not as easy to fly on the rail, this said and also that I hear from other surfers is that its all down to what brand what year and what size ect. what I can say for sure is that my Future Fly 117 is hands down the best board ever made.
Sounds like a great idea - most of us are sailing freeride or freerace kit rather than slalom.🤙
Super cool idea!!🔥
Great idea, Mario! I don’t think most people surfing for fun use slalom gear, but freeride/freerace gear.
If you are most experienced windsurfer (like I am) the slalom gives me the more satisfaction of windsurfing is speed , stable and safe on strong wind ... so I like the slalom stuf :)
na endlich, FREERIDE wartet auf dich, willkommen in da Klub 🤩🤩🤩
Really interesting! I had exactly the same analyse of my ten last years of windsurfing.I'm sailing since almost 30 years now, had freeride, freerace, race and wave equipment, from many brands. I did some national competitions, one speed world cup almost 20 years ago. Now since around 6-7 years, I haven't enough time to spend on the water but want to keep my slalom gear. As a result, as you said, most of the sessions were annoying. I hadn't enough time to tune the gear and to make it work at 100%, so it was exhausting and not very fun. I can read on my GPS tracking that I was even faster some years ago with freerace equipment and more fun on the water. So I'm really interested in your project and will follow that with a lot of attention 🙂 Actually, I planed to do exactly the same last year for this year and finally I did nothing because of the lack of time to spend on the water. We'll see...
man sollte den gedanken weiterspinnen und fragen: warum erst jetzt? warum müssen wir immer versuchen besser und schneller zu sein als andere? wenn wir ehrlich sind ist es doch meistens so. warum nicht einfach spass haben. - ist nicht so einfach wie es klingt.
wobei ich es bei mario schon verstehen kann, wenn er so durch seinen dad in die sache reingewachsen ist. ich meine, jemand der von sich aus mit dem sport anfängt, will ja meistens eher ein wavesegel , oder freemove, wenn man so ohne vorkenntnisse anfängt wie ich selbst.
-> achja, echt geiles video, super szenen auch! und dann noch diese selbsthinterfragung und weißheit. das ist sehr gut. und zeugt von größe. respekt
Nice! I am a free race windsurfer. Would be great to learn more about freerace equipement.
I'd be interested in free ride and free race foil discussions as well. Maybe include twin cam sails too as well as no cams in your sail investigations? Looking forward to whatever you decide. Thanks.
Hi Mario, i think that is a great idea since most casual windsurfers are using either freeride (like myself) or freerace gear. Therefore it will be much more relateable.
Speakin Freerace Sails, you mentioned no-cam freerace for 2025. What is against the 2-cam freerace or maybe I have to start earlier... What is the difference between no-cam and 2-cam freerace sails and why would you cosider a no-cam to be the better choice for you, if at all. I would love to hear more about that topic.
Keep up the great work. After watching your videos i always cant wait for the next windsurf vacation. :)
Hi Mario. I like your project a lot. I've read many comments pro freerace gear and I agree with all of them. I think your decision will give 90% of your followers the chance to learn more about their freeride gear and how to trim and ride it in a better way. So, let's go.
Happy to hear!! Can’t wait for next year.. :-))
Mario I’ve been watching you (and Niels) for some time. You are spot-on with your assessment of ‘Race Gear’ which we all aspire to but I would say 90% of recreational sailors never learn how to properly tune to maximum advantage. I’ve tried it all over the years (40) and it’s a real pain to get it all in tune with board and fun. It’s too much like hard work. It’s heavy, required endless tuning and is usually more expensive than free ride equipment. I’m all for quick rigging, lighter equipment that is MUCH easier to set up and therefore results in more time on the water having fun.
same opinion for me
Please talk about lake super light wind wind foiling! There is a ton of info about high wind and steady light wind where people are foiling with 6-7m sails as their “big” sails. I want to have more videos about super light wind and what gear is best (narrower board but cannot carry bigger sail, big sail but the board has more drag, high aspect ratio foil or medium aspect ratio foil, etc)
I have been using slalom kit since always. Things changed a lot since the '90's ... now slalom kit is designed for PWA guys, 95 - 105 kgs perfectly fit and trained, and it became an handful for recreational sailors. One tends to be on slalom kit anyhow because of "status", appearance, and the illusion to be able to exploit it to some extent (forget 100% !!!). But it makes less and less sense to me, now, at 64 ... I am pretty much sure I'd be faster on an easier board, not much sure about the sails but this is because I am using a brand/model that is extremely easy althought powerful and a touch on the AOH helps a lot. Fins too, a lot is due to those modern carbon skegs that are super powerful.
About moving from full-on slalom kit to freerace kit. My take is as follows.
FR board will have a slightly narrower beam, narrower tail and a 5 - 10 cms stretched rockerline. This will lead to easier "passive" planing (longer flat section), less accelleration (narrower tail leading to somewhat less powerful fin), but I don't see a reason to impair top speed.
FR sails will have less surface, a tighter (or better say, less twisted) leech, not as much deep belly. Reduced cam count will always lead to less stability, the only tradeoff there is in weight in my view. Tighter leech will do for same low end with less surface, so it's weight again. And finally, less twist will make for less high end power and speed, this could be the real limiting factor.
So in the end, from a FR kit compared to slalom kit, I'd expect less accelleration (but not everybody is able to exploit the quick accelleration of a slalom board out of a well executed, planing, fast jibe!!!), and slightly less top end speed (if a smaller freerace sail is used) to same or even better top speed (if a full cambered race sail is used) due to better control, expecially in chop and as much better as the user is NOT a 100 kg, fit and trained PWA racer.
I think that free race is more fun, especially with a no cam sail. So it would be good to see how fast you can go on this type of sail.
Let’s see!! Can’t wait to get going 🤙🏽
Great plan.. please focus on all the details about trimming (i.e. mast extension lenght, fin shape, rdm vs. sdm etc.) 👍💪🤙🙏
Hi Mario, I already started a bit on the journey that you wish to take.
I realized I am having more fun on the water using my old Gaastra Matrix 2008 sail 6.5 m than my Duotone Warp 7.0 m 2023, both on my JP Slalom Pro 71 and 36 cm carbon fin.
I have a suggestion in your journey to compare the performance of no-cam sail, e.g. Severne NCX (no cam) versus Severne Moto (I believe has 2 cams). My personal conclusion as a recreational windsurfer is that to have more time and fun on the water is to use no-cam sails for fin windsurfing and to use cams sails only for foiling (because of the need to have stable profile at all times).
BTW, HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON TO YOU and to all the “sick in the head” windsurfing people that we all are … chasing the wind, calling “sick” at work on a windy day, not going on a picnic with the family or for a lunch on a terrace with your wife (girlfriend), etc. … I believe you know what I mean …
CHEARS :):):)
Slalom sails are exhausting, but freerace sails are still fast. Good decision Mario! Have you thought of doing the Defi Wind with a no-cam?
OMG a future fly freerace board. I was asking myself why dont they have one.
Interesting choice to switch. As a Freeracer I´m really excited to see what you will say and experience.
You wont be slower I can tell that much.
I will keep up the cliche slalom rider TH-cam channel alive then😂😂😂😂. Good that we can still race on the foil. 🤙. Can I borrow your carpenter fins for the next year, 🙏 please 😅
Hi, changing to freerace is a good idea which I did already some years ago😂 and should have done some years before.
With respect to test ideas. Use freerace sails on foilboards and foilsails on windsurfboards.
Compare average speed with windsurfing on a foilboard vs windsurfboard and windfoiling on a foilboard vs windsurfboard
Etc etc.
Will do, thanks for the feedback!!
I think it is a good idea. Good luck!
And how do you rate the foil disciplines like freestyle, freeride, slalom, and race? Are there the same equipment problems in those areas?
This will be very interesting to follow!
Happy to hear!
Would be awesome to see you try something different. Free race sails or free ride sails are closer to what we all actually use. Slalom is great but for a relaxing fun day on the water as you say they are a lot of effort.
Smart move. I guess to most windsurfers slalom gear tuning (or foiling) is nerd talk. But how to go fast on your normal freeride gear could be the big thing for 99 % of your subscribers. Looking forward to your next journey
As expressed in other ways by others here. Going freeride/freerace is interesting.
In TH-cam you have mainly pros riding pro equipment. It’s interesting but I don’t think the main market is using this equipment and as you said : can rig it correctly.
Would be cool to have some alternative while not forgetting the fun of going fast in any kind of conditions (in our sessions we’re not always well powered with flat water).
Need to see how much max performance you can get out of the free ride or free race sails.