Tag Archives: remi vila
Testing Starboards and the Reflex in Thailand
Back from Vietnam we immediately went for testing new iSonics. We drove from Bangkok down to Prak Nam Pran. Remi had a lot of gear on his pickup. The windconditions were excellent. 12 to 18 knots from southern direction. The spot is definitely one of Thailand´s best. Kerstin and myself were here back in 2007 already, when exploring Thailand for windsurfing spots. Besides testing iSONICs 111 I could test a Reflex 7,8 m Proto. Just can say the sail has power plus super smooth cam rotation!!
Can´t await to ride on the production sails!
We will stay for one more day. Let´s see, if we are lucky with the wind again.
Rigging at Prak Nam Pran Beach (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).
Remi Vila and myself on the beach discussing the results (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).
Jibing with iSonic 111 and the new Reflex 7,8 (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).
The Prak Nam Pran Beach (Pic: Kerstin Reiger).
Nice conditions at the 11th Vietnam Funcup
Before we travelled to Asia I was not sure, how it will work out sailing in a competition. The winter in Austria was extremely hard, no chance to enter the water since the 28th of December, when I had my last session on the lake. I did other training at home or at the gym, went skiing…
And looks like this was a good decision. Sailing here at Vietnam felt easy, at a beach with palm trees and 26° warm water.
I brought 3 Code Reds for racing to Mui Ne, a 6,2, 7,0 and 8,1 plus got three iSonics from Remi, a 86,111 and 121.
The gear worked perfect. I used all sizes of sails and boards, but felt fast on 7,0 plus 111 and 6,2 plus 86.
We had 2 days of racing. 4 races each day. On day one the wind picked extremely up till the end of the day – we had 30 knots of wind – and I could use the 6,2 plus the 86 in race 4. That was fun! Felt a bit like in Gran Canaria. Cyril Moussilmani had great speed in all conditions and Jimmy Diaz, who could win the first 2 races, were a super strong opponent. In one race I could stay in front of Jimmy and in a few races I could keep up the speed with Cyril to the first mark. Overall I lost at the jibemarks and on the way in. I made one second and 7 third positions. Anyway, it was great fun racing here at Jibe´s in Mui Ne again and thanks to Pascal Lefebvre for the great organisation. Let´see if there will happen an official PWA Slalom and Freestyle competition in 2011.
On the day after the competition I tested 2011 iSonics with Remi Vila. The wind was light, 7 to 15 knots. We tested the bigger sizes and I was impressed by the improvements.
Now it´s time to train and practice on jibing.
Keep you updated,
Chris
Jibing at the inside mark followed by Remi Vila (Pic: Pascal Lefebvre).
Powered up on 7,0 and 111 chased by Remi Vila on 7,5 (Pic: Pascal Lefebvre).
With locked clew over the line (Pic: Pascal Lefebvre).
At the start (Pic: Pascal Lefebvre).
Starboard iSONICS 2010 overview
For all, who were interested in the iSONICs from 2010 and for which conditions, sailsizes and weights they are suited well: check the link with a nice overview from Remi Vila, Jimmy Diaz, Kevin Pritchard and Cyril Moussilmani.
They all are super experienced. The weights of the top Starboard guys are in between 85 kg and 93 kg. The most heavy one, with more than 100 kg, is Björn Dunkerbeck. Let´s see which sizes he will choose. In 2009 he registered 133/ 111 & 86.
Most of the PWA sailors try to cover an extremely big windrange with the 3 boards they are allowed to register at their first event.
I am around 85 naked and tend to go with 86, 111 and 131, but will test the 131 against the 121 a little bit more. I really love the style of the 121, but guess that I can go in extremely light wind with the 131.
Definitely the 86 has a wide range. I use the strongwind board and lightwind speedboard from 5,0 up to 6,7. It´s the board for the Canaries or for events, where it can get rough. Perhaps at Costa Brava with Tramuntana wind, at Lake Neusiedler, in Croatia with Bora winds or in Sylt. In South Korea or Alacati it´s more the 111 or one size bigger.
On the 111 I can put 6,7 up to 8,1.
On the 131 I can use 8,5 and bigger up to 9,8.
The iSONICs 2010, which can be used on the PWA tour and at other international events (Pic: star-board.com)
The iSONIC 131 wood carbon plus the Code Red 8,8. Felt nice! (pic: myself)
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