How does board weight affect performance?

rhorton1 · Joined: 19 Aug 2010 Posts: 88

I have a Mistral Superlight 2 that I'm thinking of modifying slightly for a more comfort. The board is already heavy at 38 pounds (thats with straps, centerboard, and fin). The board is really fun in light wind, sub-planing conditions, and also great fun in marginal up-and down conditions where I am going on and off a plane. However, its not the most comfortable board... the centerboard sticks up when retracted, leaving my feet exposed to some scrapes and cuts if not wearing booties. There is no deck pad, so its a bit slippery if sailing out of the straps (which is often the case in light wind), and I think there would be a benefit to adding a single cheater footstrap on the centerline in front of the back footstraps and just behind the centerboard tunnel. The cheater strap may not be necessary if there were a good, grippy deck pad in that area...

What I'm curious about is how adding another 3+ pounds of weight to an already heavy board would affect its performance. A fabric centerboard cover would add negligible weight, but the deck pad would be pretty significant in size, and another footstrap would add a few ounces as well.

I'm not concerned about competitiveness for racing, but I don't want to do all this work and find out that I turned the board into a total dog.

BTW, I'm about 200lb, so no part of the board/rig/sailor combination will be very light. I typically use an Ezzy Lion 9.5 or Zephyr 7.5 with this board.

swchandler · Joined: 08 Nov 1993 Posts: 10588

I would recommend contacting NSI and getting data about the weight of their pad materials. These materials are non-water absorbent, and are surprising light. I think that you would gain the needed traction you're looking for without gaining much weight. I'd be very surprised if a large pad added more than a pound.

NOVAAN · Joined: 28 Sep 1994 Posts: 1551

Get a good pair of O'Neil booties. Protects your feet. Adds great grip. Don't weight much. Costs about as much as the NSI pads. Easy to install. I use the 2 mill ankle high with great results.

Sailboarder · Joined: 10 Apr 2011 Posts: 656

Agree with the booties. I think these boards are designed to be used with booties.

About weight, my old longboard is about 75 lbs, with water in it, and my cousin has the exact same board but without water, at around 55 lbs. In subplaning conditions, it doesn't make much of a difference, once the board is in water... (In fact, we leave the boards moored for weeks when we're at the cottage. Water got in my board on land, while stored under my deck.)

I haven't planed on it in close to 30 years, so I cannot compare in these conditions.

U2U2U2 · Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 9:28 am Post subject:

yes it does.

a board that started at 12--15lb with a addition 3 pounds would be noticeable.

a board that weights 38lbs called a Superlight ... an additional 3 lbs IMO would have a minimal effect, except carting it to the water

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

I don't understand the three pounds. I add many pads to most of my boards to protect the board and my joints and to add comfort and traction. Even huge deck pads add only a few ounces. I added some cheater straps decades ago, but with good deck traction (from pads, non-skid, or booties) that's not necessary. But even 3# wouldn't affect the performance of a 38# board under a big rider.

A cheater strap would help "traction" in only one very specific spot, at the expense of something else to trip over, hull penetration, and zero other benefits like comfort and deck/joint protection. Waffle padding offers all of those benefits and none of the downsides and adds more space to put your feet wherever you want them.

whitevan01 · Joined: 29 Jun 2007 Posts: 607

The previous owner of my megacat (250-260 liters, about 25 lbs. with centerboard), used Re-Dek on the board. It is so grippy, I wear long "pants" because the deck scrapes my knee on those ever so rare occasions that I fall off and have to climb back on.

There are other products for painting on traction, like Kiwi Grip. Monster Paint Clear Traction comes in a spray can.

As for the OP's question about weight, here's an anecdote from personal experience:

I am not strong. My Megacat, as stated above, weighs around 25 lbs. with centerboard, straps, etc. I use an Aerotech Dagger 7.5 sail with it, it has 6 battens and is a fairly light sail in its standard form. I paid extra to get one made of UDL04 (I wanted a cuben fiber one, but it's gotten too expensive and Aerotech doesn't do it any more), and it is ridiculously light. (it may be as light or lighter than my 5.5 Wave Panther III sail). I use a chinook carbon pro 1 boom, chinook carbon extension and powerex 100% carbon mast with this sail.

Expensive? Yes. Light? Yes, very.

I have lots of fun with this combo and can sail if for hours without getting tired, well, except from for my calf muscles from railing the board when non-planing.

A friend of mine has (or maybe had at this point, he's selling it) an Ultracat. Heavier than the Megacat. He has an Aeron alu boom, No Limitz RDM (no, RDM's aren't lighter than SDM's, they are heavier as they have more material in them), and an Aerotech Phantom 6.8/

He talks about how hard it is for him to handle this rig. He let me try it a few weeks ago. I sailed it for less than an hour. My immediate impression was how heavy everything was. I found it very hard to handle also. It tired me out right away. I was still hurting the next day. Took way more effort in my legs to maneuver the board, as it is heavier and doesn't respond like the Megacat does.

So, for me, weight of board and weight of rig are both huge issues.

This is my personal experience, so don't tell me I don't know what I am talking about.

Your experiences may be different.

manuel · Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Posts: 1158

The heavier a board is the more it'll sink and therefore will need more energy to get out of the water. For the same size, a heavier board will plane slower.

rhorton1 · Joined: 19 Aug 2010 Posts: 88

Thanks all for the info. I got some 3mm diamond pattern foam padding. The uncut piece weighs less than 2lb, so I expect after trimming to fit and installing with contact cement, total board weight will be kept under 40lb. I think the benefits of comfort and traction outweigh any loss in performance. I don't think these mods will have any effect on sub-planning performance, and I don't know if I'll be able to notice a difference when it comes to planning performance.