I’m intrigued by the “midlength” boards. Something in the 5’-6’ length 16"-20" and 40-60L volume. I currently have a 80L “bar of soap” style board and a 7’-7" x 20" 121L downwind board. I am interested in hearing what people are riding and the pros and cons of the board. How is starting with such low volume? I currently do a stinkbug start. I have been pounded in the surf zone on the Downwind board to a point I had to go back to shore. It was a heavy onshore breeze with a longshore current and I was never able to get the nose of the board into the wave and wing up before getting wiped out by a wave straight on the beam.
5’9 x 19.5 60 L. It’s narrow enough, so you can straddle it like a surf board, hold the wing in one hand, support the nose of the board with another hand and ease your toes to the board, and so on. Example of it in the very beginning of this clip. Haven’t found any negatives. A big positive of this particular board is the rail clearance in the turns, but not all “midlengths” are like that - some are built more boxy, with fuller rails and with a flatter bottom, likely to help novice riders with some extra stability.
Im riding 5’5 x 19 x 65l amos sultan and 5’10 x 20 x 90l f one midlength. Im 83kg and wouldnt go back to wide boards. They take off super easy and feel short and small as so much board is behind the mast. Really responsive too.
Mike
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Flat water or in the waves?
Early in my second season winging here…once I got comfortable foiling last season, my main challenge was getting up in crappy light wind with poor pumping ability…a DW board help on that front a great deal…
…this season my main current challenge is dealing with bigger chop when the wind picks up on the large reservoir I go to, and the narrow, round bottom appleskipper DW hasn’t been doing me many favors on that front, at pretty much any stage until I’m on foil.
So, I’m looking again at these boards that might provide both decent board speed and a bit more stability (I can relate to a recent post saying climbing on some DW boards is a bit like climbing on a log).
Current front runner is the 72L Omen Flux for my 65kg’s working on getting up efficiently, jibing, and pumping this season
I’m on a 5’6" x 18" x 50L custom from Swift Foiling in the UK. Love it for winging (also use for foil drive and prone). For winging it works fine for me at 73kg in 15 knots and upwards with a 4m wing- would probably work in less with a larger wing. Easy to get on foil and swing weight is not noticeable when on foil.
It’s narrow enough, so you can straddle it like a surf board, hold the wing in one hand, support the nose of the board with another hand and ease your toes to the board, and so on. Example of it in the very beginning of this clip.
This is my go to way to start all boards and I’m surprised I don’t see people talking about it more as it’s so much better than all other methods I’ve tried and wish I’d figured it out earlier.
I have x20, x24, and x26 boards and it works great for all of them. The x26 is a bit wide to straddle comfortably for long periods but is fine for quick starts.
I made a video showcasing this start technique, which I call “one handed rodeo” as I couldn’t find anything out there on it:
As for midlength boards I’ve not tried them but I’m not sold on the idea. If I’m going to be riding a board that’s 5’9 then I’d rather just get a Cruzader Diamond at 5’8 80L 5.7 kg instead.
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Nice! I appreciate that and it looks good (I will try it out)…funny how many times I’ve heard similar claims from people with their own particular flavor/variation
and you can take it a step further (more work and flexibility, but super quick and smooth)…
I am terrible at winging, but I ordered the Sultan as a mid length prone and hopefully a wing board.
Once getting balance on my knees down, the sultan takes off much easier that the 115 liter slingshot board I was using previously. I won’t go back.
I was out yesterday for a quick session. Started out on my DW board 7’-11” x 21” 121L. I’m 75kg. Wind kicked up to from 15kts to 20kts and created some 1ft chop. I struggled a bit to get started on the DW board from a stability standpoint. If I go midlength with much lower volume will this make the board more stable? Will it still get on foil quickly in light wind. I was thinking something in the 50-60l volume. I switched back to my 80l 26”wide square board and was able to get up easily in the chop.
There are some unique factors with those boards to consider when it comes to stability. At 121 liters for a 75kg rider, the board is going be less stable than if it was 85 kg for you. These boards become a rolling log at sea when the volume is too high. They are most stable when anchored down in the water. Deck flush with sea surface. Going to a board that is 50-60 liters does loose efficiency because board must surface first. It’s not simple to figure out what’s best for you, but hope this helps you understand the compromises. Adding board and foil weight to your body weight means about 85 liters would be deck flush with the surface.
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Again…this is what I’m going through, and had a good conversation with Greg from Omen about it…at my level and weight (advanced beginner/intermediate at 65kg dealing with big lake chop) he recommended the Flux at 72L.
I also asked him about how stability changes with volume (following in part what @FSM is talking about, and what Wieger from Appletree discusses in his video on the subject, and also James Casey has been discussing on sizing downwind boards). While design can have a big effect, Greg suggested that on the sinker end, there is a range peaking around .8x (or perhaps it was .9x) your weight in kg that can be pretty unstable, and recommended hitting what is a sweet spot, for his boards at least (if going sinker) at .6x
On the bigger DW boards, James Casey recommends around 1.4x and too far over or under and they tend to run into more problems, esp. with waves.
Also talked to Sam Shannon with Appletree about the new Slice v3, and he said that for me the 70L would most likely be the easiest to use at this point.
I’ve got a 72L Flux on the way, so we shall see…I was tempted by the Slice v3, but the extra length on the Flux and rave reviews swayed me…
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At 78KG the 60L Flux has been great for me in chop. It doesn’t sink if I lay on it or with a stinkbug start unless underpowered. There is just enough volume to pop up to my feet before it starts sinking.
I’m using it in all wind from 2.3 to 7.0 meter wings.
Not necessarily a mid-length at 4’ 9.5", 19.5", 3.7" but I found the 48L Omen Flux to work well for me (70kg) in winds anywhere north of 12kts as long as I had some power from the wing. The narrowness takes a minute to get used to as do the starts (sink, kneel, stinkbug) but the bottom shape and relative length help a ton for getting the board moving and up to foiling speed. I found the Flux shape to work really well for my type of riding. The Appletree construction is really light and bombproof at the same time.