Fanatic Blast

Just when I was getting used to the idea of "free move" windsurf boards\sailboards ...
The following things happened ...

1. The freemoves gained such popularity that ...
2. The Gecko replaced the Fanatic Shark completely - NO MORE Sharks !!
3. The Fanatic Hawk 135 disappeared
4. The BLAST as a "free carve" showed up and then
5. The Hawks disappeared completely - NO MORE Hawks !!

Somewhere I read the disappearing model(s) had been around for about ten(10) years ...

For me certain models like the Sharks and the Rockets feel like they are timeless ...

Excellent boards that are difficult to improve on  even more ...

The Tabou Rocket has managed to stay around - for now ....

Before we go too far, the Blast is apparently based on the Stubby concept and looks like this:

That image makes it look like a typical freeride and does NOT show how it has a parallel outline with the stubby nose .. Let's try again ...

Ah, much better. One can see the narrow diamond tail (like the AHDs) and the wide middle to front that is almost parallel plus the wide, short stubby nose ...

Personally I am NOT a big fan of the narrow tail nor the short boards. Thought this was due to my lack of windsurf skills, but was reassured when reading some comments from John Ingebritsen on the iwindsurf forums where he does NOT like the short boards nor narrow tails on wide boards and he IS a blaster !!

Here is an extract from the 2017 Fanatic brochure:

clique to enlarge

Local windsurfer, Force10 has had the Gecko 120 LTD and now a Blast 115 LTD.

Was surprised that he would change out so quickly ... and asked him about it ...

"The Gecko is a very easy board to sail, supremely polyvalent (multi-purpose), quite fast but it lacks 2 things:

Power in the tail for larger sails in lighter winds, so with my 8.3 it was only good with the 8.3 fully loaded" and "The board was getting pretty big and bouncy around the 6.4 mark"...

These comments don't surprise me due to the narrow tail of the Gecko, but I do NOT see how the Blast would be any better in that regard. However, sailor in question also has a Fanatic Falcon LightWind 152 which should be fine with an 8.x sail and the appropriate fin. Since I have a JP SLW92 which is similar to that Falcon, those boards are fine in 8.x weather if and when there is NOT much chop. With 90+ cm width they tend to slap the water if one is not skimming over it !!

The Gecko 120 is 76 cm wide and slated for sails 6.5-8.5. When I used an 80 cm freeride with a 7 meter sail in the appropriate conditions, it was rough and so, it is not surprising that the Gecko would have issues in 6.4 weather ...

So, how does the Blast 115 address these issues or concerns ?? I do NOT think the power in the tail will be improved... However, the board with 66 cm width should be ideal in 6.4 conditions. My personal concern, once again, is the board is only 232 cm long. 

Force10 does a good description  of the Blast 115 here and he does mention the Blast seems to be for more advanced sailors while the Gecko 120 is a little more forgiving and user friendly...

http://quebecwind/index.php?showtopic=11343&st=0 in French

I will attempt to translate the key factors into English here ...

Actually, let's try google translate :

https://quebecwind/in english in  English

with some key points about the Blast 115...

"Fast as a slalom board, but "easy" as a Freeride. "

"If you compare with the Gecko 120, the Gecko has more stability, gybes more easily in moderate wind but for the rest, Blast is superior in planing and in high speed gybes."

Force10 mentions "nose dives" in his reviews as do even some reviews on  the shorter Free Moves.

What about the Hawk ??

"The Blast replaces the Hawk with a different approach; It's not the same feeling, it's more "connected", direct, significantly more aggressive in the gybes without asking for better technique, I feel more attack with the Blast. The Hawk cut the chop, whereas the Blast flies over it (absorbs it), you must be in the straps and not be afraid to press the gas ... 

the short nose sinks a little only if you are semi-planing (schlogging)..."

Not sure why, but when I read all this, I get a feeling that it sounds like the new Severne FOX.

When are we satisfied with the boards we have ? It feels like we are always looking for the board that planes earlier. Reminds me of the commercials\adverts back in the day when we watched TV\television. They were always advertising "cleaning even more than white" and the "closer shave". Read somewhere that we now have seven blade razors ??

In any case... it does sound like a FUN board that can kick ass ... If you want to go with bigger sails or are a little less "technical" than Force10 or heavier like me , I guess either a Gecko 120 , 133 or Blast 130 would be the ticket.

Cannot find many videos other than the marketing video @ this time ...

Fanatic Blast 2017 from Fanatic International on Vimeo.

Now get out there and ride !!! sorry - BLAST !!

Now some videos are starting to show up ...

fanatic blast 130 ltd from Rave Creative Ltd on Vimeo.

In the comments section Clyde, who is a lightweight sailor, felt the Blast 115 did NOT meet up to his expectations. He feels it does NOT schlogg well and in terms of early planing has to send it downwind to get it going. Ironically when I posted these concerns on windsurf forums, people suggested freemoves and freewaves. No-one addressed it on the Blast other than one suggestion to move back in the mast track bit.

from iwindsurf forum:
http://www.iwindsurf.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=33325&sid=f74eaa80556719c2967519dfeae343bf

wazenski:
Bought a 115L Blast from Ocean Air this spring. Way fun. Glad I bought it. 

I own an aging 115L Fanatic Freewave. I consider this board the ultimate light wind wave board - fast , smooth, maneuverable. Compared to the Freewave, the Blast holds a bigger sail more comfortably (due to it's tail width), and edges out the Freewave in pure straight line speed. The Freewave with its narrower tail is more responsive in turns and performs better in waves by design, but the Blast turns with amazing confidence at high speed as it digs and holds its rail at full speed. 

alap:
so yesterday I sailed my brand new Blast 115, 2017, LTD 

I thing this is my first review, if I buy new thing I typically do it on closeout; so review is kinda obsolete. This is probably a really new thing that I bought (although it is 2017, and yes it was on sale) 

in my review I'll try to avoid the use of words good and bad. When we say good it actually means better, and bad means worse. All is based on prev experience and on relative comparison. 

So, first of all my level is intermediate, may be aspiring intermediate. I wndsrf for 35 years and I enjoy everything from 8.5 to 3.5, jybe being my weakest link. I complete almost all my jibes (well not on 4.0 and stronger) and this week I even started to exit planing (thanks to Peconic Puffin, Coach and Kevin K). 

The reason I bought this 115 is that I had 
Fanatic Ray 145 light edition, 82 cm wide, 2011 
Fanatic Ray 130 wood, 71 cm wide, 2011 
Exocet Carve 103 liters, 64 cm wide, I think about 15 years old 

Although 145 and 130 are identical shape, 145 is lighter than 130 and actually better. I first bought 130 for 8.5 primarily, but it is a bit small, works nice in the gust with 8.5 but in the lulls it is a bit too small. 145 on another hand is perfect with 8.5 and even with 7.0 it is better than 130 

So basically I had two boards for similar conditions, and when it was blowing strong 7.0 this Ray 130 with its width was too bouncy for the chop. 

So I wanted to move from 145...130...103 for sails 8.5... 7.0... 6.0 to 
145...115...103 

The width wise I had 82...73...64 

So the Blast 115 with width 66 seemed like a good choice. 

(Also notice my absence of experience with other modern brands and trends, like Magic Ride, Ray 145 from 2011 is definitely the latest and the best I have sailed) 

Straps are in outboard position, and I started with mast foot in the middle at 130. Later I moved it two cms forward, and this was much better. It was better in pumping on the plane and more stable and also first in the chop there was like a noise of blasting from my fin (no pun). I am guessing it set the board into more horizontal position. I'll move another cm forward next time just to find the optimum. 

Wind wise first two hours it was more like an overpowered sailing on 6.0. I was on stock 38 fin (i don't have smaller power box fin, but I'll buy it shortly), but not a single spin out. 

Then it died down, I rigged 7.0 and for 15 minutes I sailed it in the perfect 7.0 conditions, with very moderate chop. Then it hit really strong, I was really overpowered had couple spin outs and sailed another two hours on 6.0 again very well powered and sometimes overpowered. 

To me in those conditions it was absolutely better than my Ray 130, no comparison whatsoever. In fact I would be using my Ray with those 7.0 only for those 15 minutes. And coming back when it hit would be much more difficult than on this Blast. And using this Ray 130 with 6.0 - forget it! 

I am not sure with 6.0 what woulda be better, this Blast 115 or Exocet 103. Very very competitive, even with wrong fin. 

For my liking blasting on the reach I liked it very much. Very responsive when you want to "wave" sail the chop. Very stable straight on the reach, ignoring this chop. Very comfortable upwind and downwind. Shlogs upwind well as well. 

Uphauling on flat water in the wind shadow with occasional gusts - had no problem on both sails. 

Jybes - liked it. As I said, exited few jybes with speed (but also did so on Monday in stronger winds on 103 and 90 liters - so I can't contribute my success to the board exclusively). 

I think that the width 66 with parallel outlines serves two purposes. First when blasting the drag is created by the max width, so it is the same as the similar width of more classical shape (like compare to my Exocet 103 l at 64 cm width). On another hand the effective width is actually wider in lighter conditions (like pumping, or recovering from the jybe with no exit speed, or burring the rail when shloging upwind, or uphauling) 

I also like the weight, it is light, and this is great feature. The fact that 130 was heavier than 145 was an eyesore. 

The only unusual thing is the wide boxy nose that I see all the time when on the reach, but it doesn't affect the performance in any way. It is just there, a bit an unusual view, but I was already accustomed to it by the end of the day. Also speaking about the nose, NSI pad was applied and the one that fits is the widest possible square pad 

To sum things up, I am very happy with my upgrade, and at the moment I can't complain about the single thing.

I had my second session yesterday and want elaborate a bit. 
The forecast and my local knowledge was calling for 7.0 conditions, but when I arrived it was 6.0 

I took my Blast anyways instead of 103 and had a fantastic time for probably 1.5 hours. Then it died and I was shlogging doing light air pivots and light air upwind and then even straight downwind for last 100 meters 

Then I took Ray 145 thinking if may be I should rig 7.0 as well. But it came back so I went again for a very good hour on the Blast 115 with the same 6.0 

Then it died again and I switched boards. First 45 minutes it was very nice light air shlogging, turns, upwind... and then one gust, another, increasing and increasing. Certainly the water was very calm in the beginning and no chop and it required quite a bit of pumping to get going. First time actually sailing 6.0 on 82 cm board, but it was fantastic. In jybes it was a bit more drag that needed, but the extra stability for not falling. Then the wind was even stronger with a chop back, so I quit. 

I must say it was extremely nice combination of one sail 6.0 and 145 and 115 complementing each other. 

I have no drawbacks to report on this 115. Easy to pump on, easy upwind when powered and even easier when shlogging, very predictable in the jibe, no spin outs even with stock 38 fin. A very good sensation of speed and very nimble under the feet, and very controllable if you want to ride it in S line, chase some bumps, or turn downwind a bit to sail from the "wave" 

Also I recently bumped in the specifications of 2011 Ray. The 115 LTD version has the same weight as this Blast and practically same dimensions, although of course it is not a stubby. I certainly suspect that it woulda be very similar in terms of performance. But there is no way to find out  And no reason. Regardless, I have now very nice quiver of two LTD Fanatics, bigger Ray 145 2011 and 2017 Blast 115, that work very good together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g44K9iJc0u4&feature=youtu.be