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Arrgh
Joined: 05 May 1998 Posts: 864 Location: Rio
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U2U2U2
Joined: 06 Jul 2001 Posts: 5467 Location: Shipsterns Bluff, Tasmania. Colorado
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Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 9:39 am Post subject: |
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Sorry, Dennis ..I don't get your reference?
The 3S has evolved a lot, the approach here, will suit many who don't want a multi fin.
I wonder if this is a economy version, hense lower in price? _________________ K4 fins
4Boards....May the fours be with you
http://www.k4fins.com/fins.html
http://4boards.co.uk/ |
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lturkevich
Joined: 11 May 2000 Posts: 68
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Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 10:04 am Post subject: VERY Interesting - and Boardsurfr had the scoop |
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I was wondering what Boardsurfr was talking about when he said "Tabou has re-released the older version."
It looks like they're bringing back the shapes from 2014-2016, which is a good thing IMHO. |
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NOVAAN
Joined: 28 Sep 1994 Posts: 1549
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Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 11:10 am Post subject: |
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I have both the 2017 and the older 14/16 3s. In different sizes. For advanced sailors I think the newer version does all things that the 3s boards are known for. Might require a bit more skill to make it happen. The short out line has its pros and cons. That said, Its pretty hard to do better than the the "classic" 3s shape..... |
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boardsurfr
Joined: 23 Aug 2001 Posts: 1266
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Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 11:11 am Post subject: |
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The 3S 96 was tested in the May 2017 Surf magazine. They stated that the 14 cm shorter version (compared to last year) does not plane or jibe quite as well ("..hat das Brett sowohl bei den Gleit- als auch bei den Halseneigenschaften etwas eingebuesst"), and that it lost its legendary control and user-friendliness ("Jene legendaere Kontrolle und Benutzerfreundlichkeit ... ist nun verschwunden"). The new shape still did pretty well against the 15 other boards in the test, but not compared to last years shape. Similar radical changes had happened to the 3S several times before - at some point, it even had had a fat freestyle tail.
In the July issue, Surf reported on the return of the classic 3S shape. The article was titled "Return of a Legend?" ("Rückkehr einer Legende?"). Again, they pretty much said that the shape change was "jumping on the stubby trend" that just did not work.
It's not that Surf has a problem with stubbies in general - the Fanatic STB 95 got a pretty good review, similar to the classic Fanatic FreeWave 96. It's more that the "classic" 3S shape was just outstanding. |
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dllee
Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Posts: 5329 Location: East Bay
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Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 11:42 am Post subject: |
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I'll bet any one of us can jump onto a 2010 3S and sail it as well or better than the newest ones. |
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Arrgh
Joined: 05 May 1998 Posts: 864 Location: Rio
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Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 12:04 pm Post subject: |
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U2U2U2,
The 3S has been Tabou's best seller for years. Then last year they built a version that is shorter than Fanatic's Stubby Freewave. (Fanatic kept their regular version, Tabou did not.) Many of us were not ready to take a chance on such a short all-rounder. Not surprisingly, Tabou will now sell both versions.
BTW, it looks like they are only offering the Classic in 97, 107 and 117 liter sizes. |
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U2U2U2
Joined: 06 Jul 2001 Posts: 5467 Location: Shipsterns Bluff, Tasmania. Colorado
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Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 1:49 pm Post subject: |
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Thx Dennis. Most of my boards are short, so 10cm less than the 240cm of the classic.
I have had three , 3S, the early 2007 era, were not stellar, narrow range, slo to Plane. Last 2011 was a really nice ride.
Last edited by U2U2U2 on Mon Jul 17, 2017 2:18 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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SPQR
Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 274
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Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 1:50 pm Post subject: |
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Meanwhile Fanatic will be offering the Freewave in a stubby configuration only. The older style version of the Freewave that many of us loved looks like toast. And they seem to be extending the stubby type outline on their line. That said, because I've read so many great Tabou 3S reviews on this site over the years I decided to purchase the 2017 116 liter 3S (from Matt P. and I'm 195 lbs) and love it. I never sailed any of the previous versions of the 3S but might yet now that it's being released again, but maybe not. I'm pretty satisfied with the new shape and might like another one in a smaller size for big wind days. It's nice to see though that Tabou will still offer both the newer and older versions of the 3S to satisfy customer demand. Although Fanatic is abandoning the older Freewave and going with the stubby design, they will be offering a new Gecko for standard windsurfing or foiling. |
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acalhounguy
Joined: 25 May 2013 Posts: 57
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Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 6:46 pm Post subject: |
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Of course these companies need to sell boards to survive and make a profit. As a windsurfing lover and someone who has purchased a handful of boards new I have no problem with this. My guess is that sales went down a little with the redesign and they listened to people like me who wanted the old shape but then hesitated or bought something else when they changed it. Smart of them to make both. As a curiosity- how many boards of each size are they likely to make and sell in a year worldwide? I have to imagine when you have multiple sizes and multiple board models and a relatively small pool of enthusiastic new-board buyers it is hard for them to know how many to produce. What's the average margin for a new board at full-retail? In any case, they lost my sale when they changed the shape which is too bad for both of us. I looked around for one in the old shape in the size I wanted and was not surprised that I couldn't find one given how well they are liked. Of course the manufacturers have to change the shapes to garner interest - the improvements year over year are mininmal I'd guess, more just a rebalancing of trade-offs in the last decade. Still, I like buying and trying different shapes so I hope they keep them coming. |
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