MISTRAL TRUELY SUCKS!!!!!

[mirhosseini]

If youre thinking of buynig a Mistral Sailboard please think again! Im sure if you read the message titled:MISTRAL IS BAD!! VERY BAD!! on 5\24\00 in the Venting section of Community forum and many replies to that message, youll be glad that you have not made the same mistake that I have.

Mistral is truely BAD! REAL BAD!!!!

[mirhosseini]

Dear Sylvain,

First of all, on behalf of all windsurfers that you have helped on this forum currently and in the past, Id like to thank you. Your comments are truely appreciated by people like me. I hope you can help me and shed some light onto what may have exactly happened to my Mistral Screamer 268 98.
I dont know much about technical aspects of sailboard construction, so I hope, I can describe the problem without omitting some major detail.

I bought this board via internet from a supplier in Florida at the beginning of 99 season. On the very first day of using the board, I realized that just setting the board on its side and attaching it to the mast-base created a lot of dents dents onto its sides, therefore I was very careful not to set the board on the beach on its side while I was rigging my equipments. After 5-6 times using the board one day I realized there was a tiny open crack on the right, top side of the board close to the tail of the board. It looked more like a finger nail lifting, and no visible dent. Being closer to the tail section and curveture of the board it certainly was not caused by placing the board on it side for mast base attachment. Anyway I sealed the crack and being somewhat passive I did not bring this to manufacturers attention. I used the board for 20-30times during 99 season. This year I started the season and after two times of use, I noticed that the tip of the board on its bottom side opened up, very much like how our jaw mandible would open up. What I saw was a very thin outer layer of yellow plastic (as thick as candy bar wrapping paper) to a lenght of 2.5-3inches had opened up, exposing a white layer of foam underneath, to the elements. This was extremely surprisng to me beacuse I had not damged the lower side of the tip of this board in any shape or form and to see a $1,000 to go down to the waste after one season of windsurfing was extremely upsetting and frustrating.

Anyway I tried to dry the exposed section with a blow drier for 30min and used epoxy material to seal the bottom of the board. Then I called the Mistrals Customer Svc. (North Sports Inc, or something like that) and they wanted me to take pictures of the board and send a written claim, which I did. After a month or so I met with Mistrals Rep. in the Bay Area. The Rep, realizing that I was not very knowledgeable in the area of board construction was trying different excuses why this boards lower tip opened up in the way it did, and finally told me that it must have been the water got in the board from the tail section and has caused the tips bottom outer layer to open up in the fashion that it did.

Seeing that this Mistral Rep. changed his rationale for this defect many times during our conversation, I realized that he was BSing me and he just wanted to find an excuse to deny my claim in any way he could. I must add that the rest of the board seems to be OK!

Sorry for this long explanation, thats why I did not included my whole story, the first time and referred people to more knowledgealbe accounts of Mistrals structural defects under the sub-heading of Mistral is Bad! Very Bad.

I would appreciate to hear your comments or any other expert advise regarding this defect.

Thanks,

Mir

[wanda]

I have been a Mistral fan for a long time. Even though Im 61, I like the narrow stance. The boards just feel lighter than they are, and more responsive. Once, I broke the nose off my first Energy, a 92. The East coast rep sent me a 93 Energy after I mailed him the broken nose. Since then Ive had two Edges, an Explosion, and an Eruption and have had excelent luck. The rep tried blaming me for the broken nose (outer banks sailing) but later I found out many Energys failed in the same way.

Dont forget your rep doesnt make crap and he takes directives from dorky suits who dont sail, BUT he can cut you slack if you are cool. Mistral boards sail great.

[H2Oratt]

I also have a 96 screamer II that has developed cracks in the deck, but as a 200lb guy who sails waves and jumps it on a regular basis, what do you expect? My board is 4 years old and has hundreds of hours on it. You cant have everything.... We as consumers demand a fast, light durable, cheap product than complain like babies when we get what we demand. My first board was a high fly 700 it will last forever, but it was 30lbs and could barely plane.

Im gonna replace my screamer with a new board this fall, I would buy another Mistral in a heartbeat. bob