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Tell me about the new longboard craze
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chas5131



Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 58
Location: Summit County, Colorado

PostPosted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 10:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

konajoe wrote:
OK. Here's the official explanation of the longboard comeback.

The reason is......Windsurf Magazine went out of business!

We had years and years of being brain-washed into thinking 'if you're not planing, youe not windsurfing'. Every picture and article involved extreme windsurfing. The majority of folks don't have that kind of physical fitness and/or wind and wave conditions. If the magazine ever starts again, it will kill the longboard again.

The original superlight with the displacement hull was awesome. I sail Kona One now. I miss railing upwind, for sure. But love the early planing, high wind performance, and extra stability from the flat bottom.


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spennie



Joined: 13 Oct 1995
Posts: 975
Location: Thousand Oaks, CA

PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 10:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Disagree almost completely. The magazine would have started reviewing longboards & having articles once the current craze caught on. I think longboards are getting popular again because they got better! I bought a Kona One, and it's so vastly superior to the old P.O.S. longboards of yesteryear you shouldn't even compare them. People have these fond memories of playing on their longboards 30 years ago, but if they had to ride them today they'd lose their minds. Heavy, slow, non-planing logs!
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swchandler



Joined: 08 Nov 1993
Posts: 10588

PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 1:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

When talking about older longboards, one has to keep in mind that all these boards weren't created equal. Like the original Windsurfer, many old longboards were designed as displacement hulls, and while they could plane to a degree in strong winds, their best focus was on performance in sub-planing winds. On the other hand, many longboards designed in the mid-80s were designed with planing hulls that included footstraps and would plane up just like shortboards. That's why these planing longboard designs, built as late as the early to mid-90s (Equipes, Mega Cats and Lightnings), are arguably just as competitive today as the latest designs.
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w8n4wind



Joined: 12 Nov 2008
Posts: 278
Location: canada

PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 2:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

spennie wrote:
Disagree almost completely. The magazine would have started reviewing longboards & having articles once the current craze caught on. I think longboards are getting popular again because they got better! I bought a Kona One, and it's so vastly superior to the old P.O.S. longboards of yesteryear you shouldn't even compare them. People have these fond memories of playing on their longboards 30 years ago, but if they had to ride them today they'd lose their minds. Heavy, slow, non-planing logs!


disagree almost completely.
haha, id put either my megacat or equipe up against a kona one any day.. and see what is 'vastly superior'...not so sure itd be the kona.
although im sure the kona would be easier to sail.

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spennie



Joined: 13 Oct 1995
Posts: 975
Location: Thousand Oaks, CA

PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 3:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry, my bad, should have noted that I was referring to things like the original Windsurfer, or my O'Brien Sensation, or one of the many many pieces of crap that came out of that era. Haven't sailed a Megacat since 1992, and never sailed an Equipe, but I definitely would like to see how they stack up against the Kona. I'd bet the Kona would beat them both, but maybe not by that much.
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Sailboarder



Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 656

PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 4:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I love my Kona but I tried an UltraCat in light wind and it is faster, so a MegaCat would be better too. Waterline lenght is key in displacement mode, so the result doesn't come as a surprise since these boards are longer and flatter too.

Modern boards are better than older ones. Starboard Phantoms are dominating the raceboard scene. For sure, if you can find a pristine MegaCat for 50$, you have more bang for the buck, but these deals are harder to find these days. Otherwise, in equivalent dollars, the Cats were priced similarly as todays raceboards.

And I have yet to find raceable longboards that are as good overall as the Kona. It is sailable in many conditions, great to teach the kids, and nice on the plane too.
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konajoe



Joined: 28 Feb 2010
Posts: 517

PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 6:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Longboard sailing/racing was much bigger when the Mistral One Design was the Olympic board than it is today. Windsurfing magazine gave that racing little or no coverage. Great big events with 100 sailors on the line, and no coverage. Just more pictures of guys jumping waves. They'd always tell us to send them articles and pictures from longboard events, but would never publish them. Just more pictures and articles with this Pritchard and that Pritchard.

For course racing, I'll take a longboard with big boxy rails, please. IMCO, Equipe, MegaCat, etc. I like the freeriding on the KonaOne though. And the brand owner is doing an outstanding job of organizing events and promoting the sport. If only we could get all of our kids to participate in windsurfing the way the Swedish kids do.
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joe_windsurfxxx



Joined: 29 Jun 2008
Posts: 67

PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 7:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

the Kona ONE and Phantom 295 are actually considered hybrids

today's longboards are the race boards with about 380 cm in length
they still have the features like on the fly adjustable mast track and large centre boards

in my 20 years of windsurfing i have seen more DIV II boards and older race longboards than the modern longboards ie have NOT seen ONE !!!
and so - should we say the hybrid craze is on ??
i would say YES - although not enough in Montreal Sad

if only the Phantom 295L and Kona ONE were a little less expensive Sad
we live in a lighter wind, gustier wind area and as such a one board quiver should be a hybrid.
however, under 12 knots, i still prefer my old longboards - even the BIC Dufour Wing
having tried the Kona, i can see where it can come to life in 13 knots +
and now that i have read these boards are used in conditions up to 30
all i can say is WOW

bring on the Wind SUPs and KONAs - even the kites
as long as we are all smiling at each other on the water - life is GR8
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chas5131



Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 58
Location: Summit County, Colorado

PostPosted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 10:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The manageablity and simplicity of the Kona One v the 380 boards just sold another one. Ordered it myself.
Maybe my next board will be a 380.
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joe_windsurfxxx



Joined: 29 Jun 2008
Posts: 67

PostPosted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 4:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

how about this one ??
never saw a Mega CAT , but WOW , could this be ??

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FANATIC-MEGA-CAT-380-windsurfer-/251349333007?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a8596740f

reserve was met around $300 and sold for $325 with 6 bidders

https://q83oxq.bn1.livefilestore.com/y2pPiQpz9mmoLeEUTXfIazIMjrW-gz1i2TmFfGjZR-MDAp0Qafd4VbzSDUH_KQiwY0Q5ysiZ-mCigRXI6L96xeGbkpvuDT4xW656cJqPbW4bAE/megacat.JPG?psid=1


Last edited by joe_windsurfxxx on Sat Oct 05, 2013 4:34 am; edited 3 times in total
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