1999-2002 Naish 8'5" boards....

[LeeD]

Hi guys, as most of you know, I'm a broke, really old school windsurfer.
Just gave away my 8'5" Wave at Rio to someone who really wanted and needed a high wind board. Red lightning bolts with black outer border.
Next day, got a 8'5" Naish, no wave decal, but red flames with black outline.
Seems the second boards has much more V, but I gave away the first one the day before, so I can't compare. Anyways, the much more V is accompanied by a really flat mid to nose bottom section.
I already have a Drops and JP Wave board for waves, but wouldn't mind holding onto a flatter rockered high wind board for those rare days, maybe once very 25, that high winds occur in Berkeley.
Anyone know the differences in performance or rocker between the lightning bolt insignia and the flame patter insignia's?
Thanks.

[jingebritsen]

dunno if you can find archives of mistral, since the ownership has changed.

way back, all those naish/mistrals had flames, but odd numbered inches meant one style and even meant another. i had good times on the 8'11" it was a rocketship. was okay on a wave, but blasted around on flat water and excelled in onshore.

had the titan for a while, it was not as fast, but sure was fun.

[isobars]

My WSMag archives didn't help, as they never directly compared the two genres, relying instead on their usual subjective reviews. The text and charts sounded pretty similar between them. All I can add is my own highly subjective admiration for every board I've ever OWNED (I've SAILED one I didn't like) with Naish's name on it, from the late 90s through 2014. The fastest and smoothest by far is my red 1999 swallowtail Mistral Naish; the rest could be lumped into a group that sails, slashes and jibes intuitively with never any nasty surprises, is plenty fast considering how well they turn, but noticeably slow to initiate planing when modestly powered.

Their performance consistency over the years and decades has, IMO, exceeded that of any marque I've sailed. While almost every other mass produced model succumbed to trends (e.g., no-nose, shortwide), Naish resisted that and concentrated on what they (he?) felt best earned their Naish Wave label. That alone implies to me that flames/schmlames ... if it's a Naish Wave in that general size (volume) range, it's gonna behave similarly. Not until their retro 2014 models did I personally see their bigger boards slash and jibe as tightly and even violently (in a good way) as the smaller ones, but I've not sailed a wide range of their models (no Globals, Reals, etc.) and I have sailed only a few widespread years of them.

[LeeD]

Thanks, both of you. I knew you guys knew more than I did.
I do ride the blue 8'11" Freeride, with the nose cut off 9", and it's been my medium speed slalom board for 6 years now.
This Red Flame 8'5" seems flatter rockered, and more V in the mid thru the back than my previous Red Lightning Bolt 8'5" Wave, but doesn't have the "wave" label on it, and of course, I gave it away the day before I got the new one.
Thanks again, guys...

[PeconicPuffin]

[LeeD]

Cool, that looks like the red lightning bolt one I gave away last week.
I guess it had a lot of V also, and flat across from the mast track forwards, so they are similar boards.
I was hoping for flatter rocker, but not as flat as the yellow ones.
Thanks.

[isobars]

[dllee]

A famous board builder around here used the yellow one as his only board during his comeback into windsurfing.
Dead flat rocker, slight V, pretty fast freeride board for someone who's biggest sail is 6.0, and most winds more than 18 averages. There's one for sale at Windance or 2Rad right now.

[swchandler]

A famous board builder around here used the yellow one as his only board during his comeback into windsurfing."


Just curious, who would that be?

[dllee]

Remember Kevin Mitchell Sailboards?
Kevin just got out of S-2, windsurfed for 2 seasons, then fell back into the hole.