----------------- >KONA is the ONE <----------------

In 2012 there were the KONA East Coast Championships held in Trois Rivières, not far from Montreal. So, at first I thought about entering the open class races, but instead went as an observer ...


Locally we have "Sailboarder", who was taking part and ended up in 8th place plus had a lot of fun. Other than him, there is only one other person in town riding a step-tail, but that is the RRD LongRider.

For me , the issue was always cost of a KONA ONE and the fact that I already have a Mistral Equipe I/One and Fanatic Ultra CAT. For bigger winds, early planing , etc I am well covered.

What about others who would like to embark, but find it too expensive. Well, not long ago KONA announced the KONA Step ONE which is about $1400. Since the original ONE is about $1900, this step down is a LITTLE more affordable.When it hits the used market, it should be under one thousand dollars. However, it is my understanding that the Step ONE is NOT accepted or allowed in the KONA ONE class races - how unfortunate !!


Before the KONA STEP ONE (i believe it was before) there was also the KONA ONE CARB ie a carbon version of the KONA ONE. Obviously for those who wanted the shape of the ONE with a stiffer, lighter construction. Again, obviously, this model is MORE money and again NOT accepted into the KONA ONE class races...



In Florida, Calema Sports and Tinho Dornellas, often host an event with races. Well, Tinho has gone over to the Kona camp in a BIG way since about 2014 !!


But that is only the beginning. Tinho is not only well known for being considered a "master windsurfing instructor, but also a class A windsurfer designer. He is responsible for such boards as the AHD ZEN, but also built his own Z2 board .


It is quite large and allows for beginners, heavy weights, etc without the need for a centreboard. This board was an inspiration for Tinho and KONA to build another board ... This one is called the HULA and came out in 2015.


Hula2 from tinho dornellas on Vimeo.

This board and the Z2 are wider than the KONA ONEs. The Hula is almost 88 cm wide and in my book is a FreeFormula. It should plane early and be a very comfortable board. Why are KONA offering other models now ?? There is more discussion here...
http://www.konaone.com/blog/kona-hula-setting-new-standard-within-school-boards/

And just when I thought that was the limit, I received a comment on my blog post regarding heavy weights windsurfing , which informed me about a KONA tandem called the Mahalo. Here is a post where Ottis is riding it alone. He likes it even like that - with the nose out of the water like a BIG longboard (RSD2 or Phantom 377):




Just a small reminder - the KONA ONE came out of the Exocet camp. Believe it was sold or ?? to Joachim Larsson of Sweden and became its own brand ...

So, while i was expecting the StarBorg to bring people back to windsurfing, it looks like it will be KONA and it all started with the ONE.

And what is this one - a KONA 9.5 TT "sails like a 90 liter board" ?? from Toronto ads


How the Gecko and Shark SHOULD be compared

Finally.

 A decent comparison on the Fanatic Shark (a board that I have highly recommended on more than one occasion yet never managed to own) and the new Fanatic Gecko (that is supposed to replace the Shark, but is different as agreed upon) - in the following analysis:

https://thewavehobbit.wordpress.com/windsurfing/articles/2015-gecko-133l/

and has decent photos with the boards side by side ...

133 Gecko beside 150 Shark
The discussion in the post touches the subjects of length and width in comparing the two boards. And it comes to the conclusion Geckos are NOT a replacement - too different in volume ...

More of the same from a guru:


http://www.fanatic-boarderscenter.com/en/boardandridermonth/116

This is how a sail should be presented

Clique to enlarge

This is obviously a NeilPryde/NP HellCat sail. It shows quickly what wind range suits which sail size AND it is written underneath that this is assuming an 80 kg rider where skills, water, etc make a difference...

The actual page is @ Neil Pryde Wind Range Chart

Am happy to see an 80 kg rider can plane in 9-10 knots with an 8.2 m² sail :-)
Means I have only 20 to 25 kilos to lose :-)

Though I like the layout of the page, I would have preferred the possibility of cliquing on the name of the sail , the chart or somewhere to get directly to the detailed description of the sail that interests me.
Had to click on gear to see that HellCat is a no-cam free-race sail.
Scrolling to sail specs was NOT obvious either.

So, although I LOVED the idea of the wind range, the rest of the page layouts left something to be desired.

Disclaimer: Am in NO way affiliated with Neil Pryde products and do not benefit in any way from discussing their products here.

Another website that is NOT working for me is the following:


It seems Barry Spanier and Artur Szpunar have NOT been idle since they left (or were forced) to leave MauiSails in early 2015. Rick Whidden seems to be in the portrait as well and there seems to be a fourth (4th) person as well - based on this photo/marketing:



Looks like I may need to do a separate post on this entire subject. It was due to Barry Spanier that I started with MauiSails and still use them ...

Info for S2 found here: http://www.abcwindsurf.eu/index.php/materiali/vele/3571-abcscoop-s2-maui-wave-a-freestyle-range-2016-official-brochureq

Ironically these days there is more info on facebook than in the dot com ... look up S2Maui there ...