For Sale

Exocet Warp Slalom 67

My 2008 slalom board - 105 liters, 67cm wide, and about the most nicely balanced slalom board I've ever sailed. Sweet spot is around 6.5-7.5, but it extends well down to 5.8 and crazy water with a slighly smaller fin (like a 34 or even 32 G-10 fin). It also works well with an 8.2 and a larger fin (like a 42cm carbon Finworks). I won the slalom in the Canadian championships on this board because of its range, speed in the flat stuff, and control on the outside (where the eddy line was pushing up the voodoo chop). The guys I was racing either had the speed, or the glide and angle, but never both - so I had more degrees of freedom.

If you're looking for a slalom board to race competitively, at a killer price, this is it. If you're looking for a fast board to freeride, its ease of use makes this one uniquely accessible (and ensures you don't ever have to worry about your buddy passing you because he has a faster board). This is also one of the nicest-jibing boards I've ever sailed.

The board's in great condition (one repair on the deck, but that never sucked water since it happened at the beach - that's where the Sailworks sticker is visible in the photo) and comes with super-comfy DaKine straps. I can arrange shipping at cost; we can figure out local arrangements anywhere in the Pacific Northwest, and maybe even the Bay Area (have a trip coming up in April) --->  $1,095.

Also: late 80's/early 90's F2 Lightning racing longboard, complete with all parts (yes, the mast track works and has been adapted for M8 bolts, so you don't have to worry about the proprietary F2 steel pins). This is the World Cup edition with the carbon center board. I picked this up from someone who had it in his garage unused for over 15 years, so it's in unbelievably great shape (no soft spots anywhere). I thought I'd come down for City League races in Seattle, but found that the drive was just prohibitive.  ---> $300.

Update: here are some pictures of the Lightning (yep, it's the big one; yep, it's in great shape; yep, the track is fully functional; yep, it's the carbon centerboard, and the gaskets are in great shape; yep, it the newer version with the PowerBox fin; ...)

Send me an email through this contact form to find out more: http://g-42.com/contact

50.57

Damn, those kiters really have hit their stride now. At theLüderitz Speed Challenge , Sebastien Cattelan  of France broke the 50 knot barrier. Rumor has it that this means the canal won't open for the next round of Masters of Speed - I could see how that might be true, as it would be harder to get sponsorship together and get people to commit that much time and money if there's no more chance at being the first to break 50.

Congratulations to the kiters at Luderitz - those are some pretty awesome performances. Given how quickly they were able to push their speeds up to those levels from where they were just a few years ago, there's been a lot of very rapid development in that sport. Good on them!

I wonder if this will spell the end of the speed rush windsurfing has gone through in the last few years, with several well-organized record attempts and a bunch of grass roots GPS-based informal competition. I also wonder what it will take for windsurfing to reclaim the outright record - it took Maynard and Albeau a lot of time, money, and R&D to get to 49.09; kiters just blew right by them, and physics seem to be on their side at this point. Seems like the current gear and technique combo needs to be tweaked a bit to get back in the game. The sailors have been trying to do the same thing vis-a-vis windsurfing (check http://www.sailrocket.com/ or http://www.hydroptere.com/ to see some of those attempts - none of them successful so far) Perhaps we'll end up seeing some crazy foiling windsurfers with funky outriggers to get on top of the physics here - but given the state of the industry, I'm not sure where the funding for such extensive R&D would come from. Incremental improvements to the current design paradigm seem to have run into the law of diminishing returns.