On a mission
Pouring rain and a light breeze from the north west, small chop - some good ingredients for testing the new Sailloft Mission in 7.5 and the Patrik Slalom 110.
This combination is really fast - if I may judge it as a freestyle windsurfer. When jumping on the board I immediately felt comfortable. However, as soon as the first gust hit my sail and the whole gear started to accelerate like crazy, I really had to watch out for not missing the straps and get catapulted. I am used to my freestyle board, so the strap position on the slalom board felt weird. You actually have to position your feet on the rails and put a lot of pressure on the fin. Placing your feet into the straps is like fastening a seat belt when you get ready to go super fast with some crazy speed machine.
Jibing is as easy as tacking with that board and sail. I was positively surprised with how easy to handle a sail in that size is. There must have been a massive step forward in sail design within the last couple of years. I used a 42cm MB-Fin SLG which is perfectly fitting, too and it is providing a lot of lift and stability. It's funny though how it compares with my freestyle fin:
Here's all the gear on the beach - freestyle and slalom:
This combination is really fast - if I may judge it as a freestyle windsurfer. When jumping on the board I immediately felt comfortable. However, as soon as the first gust hit my sail and the whole gear started to accelerate like crazy, I really had to watch out for not missing the straps and get catapulted. I am used to my freestyle board, so the strap position on the slalom board felt weird. You actually have to position your feet on the rails and put a lot of pressure on the fin. Placing your feet into the straps is like fastening a seat belt when you get ready to go super fast with some crazy speed machine.
Jibing is as easy as tacking with that board and sail. I was positively surprised with how easy to handle a sail in that size is. There must have been a massive step forward in sail design within the last couple of years. I used a 42cm MB-Fin SLG which is perfectly fitting, too and it is providing a lot of lift and stability. It's funny though how it compares with my freestyle fin:
Here's all the gear on the beach - freestyle and slalom:
Some more action pictures... Unfortunately it was a very wet and grey day and there were loads of water drops on the lens. Anybody knows how to deal with water drops on a camera lense?
Hang loose and smiling on the water - a great time was had by all despite the miserable weather.
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