- This is how we tested
- Freeride Comfort vs. Freeride Sport: plus 2 km/h
- Freeride Performance vs. Freerace: plus 1-2 km/h
- Freeride performance vs. race slalom: >3 km/h
- NoCam Freeride vs. 2-Cam Freeride: 1 to 3 km/h
- 2-cam freeride vs. 3-cam freerace: 1 to 3 km/h
- Standard fin vs. carbon fin: plus >3 km/h
- Surf summary after five days of tuning
- The boards: 54-58 km/h, +7%
- The sails: 52-55 km/h, +5%
Four to five km/h may not sound like much. But with well-powered freeride windsurfing - with a 7.5 mm sail - that's around ten per cent. At four km/h more, the other surfer won't be wobbled by your wind draft when overtaking, like a Porsche Cayenne whizzing down the centre lane at 200 km/h - but you can still glide past at walking pace.
Can you achieve this with a material upgrade?
This is how we tested
Starting with a freeride set consisting of a JP Magic Ride 119 and a camberless GunSails Zoom 7.2, we first swapped the most important components individually - on identical boards or with identical rigs - and later tested x combinations against each other. In a direct duel several times over a distance of around two kilometres. Both testers also recorded these comparison runs with GPS. We adjusted the sail sizes for the upgrade in line with practical requirements, as a 3-camber freeride sail will be larger than a no-cam sail or a 2-cam freeride sail when swapped.
You can definitely implement a tuning measure over the winter in the dining room or on the weight bench. "I need more pizza, Nik is still three kilos faster" was another realisation from five days of testing. Because in addition to the very effective measures of our tuning experiment, the heavier surfer can always go one better at the limit.
Freeride Comfort vs. Freeride Sport: plus 2 km/h
In the first duel, the Magic Ride - as a representative of the comfortable freeride boards - has to compete with the sportier freerider from JP, the Super Ride. Both boards handle the 7.5 cm 2-cam sail well and glide smoothly. The wider Magic Ride slides a little easier and also starts earlier. The large, thick fin provides secure support very early on. The Super Ride offers a sportier standing position: the thicker tail with steeper edges allows more lateral pressure to be applied against the tail and fin.
Of course, we ran both boards in the outboard position, second hole from behind. At top speed on a half-wind and a light space course, the shape characteristics become really noticeable. The thin tail of the Magic Ride ensures a low stance position and therefore better control. The Super Ride "flies" noticeably more freely over the water with a corresponding speed advantage. When asked about our test, shaper Werner Gnigler adds: "With the Magic Ride, the strap plugs are positioned further forward, a flat scoop rocker line, a pronounced V and the length of the board also help with control". With more lateral pressure against the tail, the Super Ride feels freer, livelier, but without flying away.
The Magic Ride is fuller and more secure on the piste, but also with noticeably more resistance from the thicker fin. The Magic Ride accelerates very willingly up to around 47 or 48 km/h, beyond which more effort is required. The Super Ride, on the other hand, still runs with less resistance and therefore less holding force on the rig even beyond 50 km/h. You gain around one and a half to two km/h - at least in the range beyond 45 to 50 km/h. The Super Ride is also more fun. Even easier to surf and almost as fast in medium winds, the Magic Ride retains its justification: with better planing and super-easy jibing characteristics. Conclusion: The speed advantage is measurable and can also be utilised well with intermediate riding skills.
Freeride Performance vs. Freerace: plus 1-2 km/h
The Super Sport is a classic freerace board, 76 centimetres wide and with a long, slim 44 mm fin, but half a size bigger than the Super Ride. The board is able to realise this in the medium wind range in particular. It planes a touch faster than the Super Ride (both with GunSails Exceed 7.5), releases immediately and then accelerates very, very powerfully. When powered up to a medium speed, the freerace board steadily sets itself apart from the sporty freerider Super Ride, with around 2 km/h providing a clearly recognisable advantage after half a sea crossing. At top speed, the Supersport with the 44 mm fin is then more demanding and can only achieve a slight advantage of around one km/h. With a smaller fin, however, this would not be the case. With a smaller fin, however, there would still be room for improvement.
All in all, the freerace board offers a measurable advantage over the sporty freerider and a clear advantage over the comfort freerider. The differences are particularly evident below the top speed mark, where most matches take place on the lake. "From Magic Ride to Supersport, the boards are getting shorter and shorter, thicker in the tail and the rails fuller. This means a higher stance position and more leverage over the fin, which makes the boards 'fly'," says shaper Gnigler, providing the theoretical explanation for our results. A 3-camber sail in size 8.2 fits the Supersport very well in the standard set-up.
Freeride performance vs. race slalom: >3 km/h
Now it's finally off to the professional league. The 72 JP race slalom racer is also used in the World Cup. It is delivered without a fin, we use a 38 X7 S+ from MS-Fins. However, the comparison ride with two identical GunSails Exceed 7.5 starts with a disappointment. While the Super Ride happily sprints off and catches the first rays of sunshine in the middle of the sea, the slalom pilot ekes out a bobbing existence in the shadows. Without pumping, you would probably chug to the other side at walking pace. The thick, narrow board is more wobbly in the water than Magic Ride or Super Ride, and the thunderbolt effect is unmistakable.
However, the board becomes a thunderbolt with a little energetic push. With two or three powerful pulls, the board is lifted over the threshold and then knows no stopping. During the test, we suspected that the deep cut-outs were the result of the handbrake being applied, but shaper Gnigler has another explanation: "The Slalom is the shortest board and has the most extreme volume distribution, i.e. volume far back. When not planing, the front of the board lies deep in the water, making it difficult to overcome the planing threshold. The scoop pushes water in front of it and prevents planing. Only by actively planing, shifting your weight backwards and pumping can you start planing early. Longer boards have a higher speed in 'chop' and the transition to planing is therefore easier and does not require active planing. The cut outs have no negative effect on planing. The planing behaviour is more influenced by the middle section of the board and the cut outs help with top speed and control."
With pumping support, the race slalom board then actually tears itself away from its anchor abruptly and first follows, then overtakes confidently and finally overtakes the Super Ride. After changing boards several times, we are certain of at least three km/h. The higher the riding ability on the race board, the greater the difference. But beware: the high-quality fin is already included in the calculation. Surprisingly, the biggest challenge on the pro shape is the loop position, which is far to the outside. You won't find any alternative dowels on the inside, and they wouldn't make sense either. However, if you can really get to grips with the outside position, you will also like the very free gliding position. This enables enormous acceleration with the race slalom board and a top speed that is only limited by the other components (sail and fin) and your riding ability. Conclusion: With the right riding ability, the slalom board offers a lot of additional potential from mid-wind to top speed.
NoCam Freeride vs. 2-Cam Freeride: 1 to 3 km/h
First things first: if you're going for top speed with a GPS watch, the camberless sail is almost as good a choice in this class as the much heavier 2-cam model. Although the camberless Zoom 7.2 is not quite as stable and full in the hand, the sail was not responsible for maintaining the top speed on the speedometer. On two identical JP Super Ride sails, we could only detect a maximum difference of one km/h in top speed - during our test runs in a wind range that allowed just over 50 km/h on a light course.
This is good news and confirms previous surf tests: In terms of pure top speed, modern camberless sails with a lot of looseness are almost on a par.
However, the 2-cam sail Exceed 7.5 is also not a pure topsped sail, but a powerful freerider. And when the duel is extended across the entire width of the sea, it can capitalise on this. It planes better, performs significantly better and makes it possible to overtake the camberless Zoom in the mid-wind range with wind holes at around two to almost three kilometres per hour. Designer Morlotti explains this with "the more stable fixation of the centre of effort further forward in the sail due to the two camber. The extra tension in the profile ensures less movement of the sail profile, which results in a constant pull forwards." Conclusion: From a top speed point of view, the switch to camber within the freeride class has little benefit, but in terms of additional performance in the entire wind range it does.
2-cam freeride vs. 3-cam freerace: 1 to 3 km/h
The Vector 7.8 3-camber sail is literally cut from a different cloth than the two freeride candidates. The mast sleeve is about twice as wide as that of the Exceed 7.5 and the angle of attack from the mast into the sail profile is significantly flatter. Nevertheless, the Vector can already keep up well when planing - that's where the extra 0.3 square metres come into play. From then on, during our test runs, the rider with the Exceed only sees the Vector from the unloved perspective - from behind. This is because the Vector from the freerace class is even more stable, almost stoic in the hand, and it ignores gusts in terms of pressure point movements and instead converts them with a powerful kick on the accelerator pedal. As a result, it feels almost more relaxed in the hand, pulls away in medium winds and also provides around two to three km/h more top speed on the clock at the upper limit of our test runs.
Anyone looking for a really noticeable performance boost in a sail is therefore well advised to make the leap into the freerace class, which is characterised not only by more camber but also by a completely different cutting concept. Conclusion: While the 2-camber freeride sail only has a clear performance advantage over the camberless sail in the light wind disciplines, the 3-camber freerace sail dominates the race over the entire distance, on all courses, in light winds and at the limit.
Standard fin vs. carbon fin: plus >3 km/h
The standard fin in the JP Super Ride is already a fine fin with a good range of use. A direct comparison with the carbon fin also shows this. On the one hand. On the other hand, the carbon fin is unassailably superior, but not in the entire wind spectrum. Both JP Super Rides were motorised for the test with the 7.5 Exceed, the 40 series fin was pitted against a carbon fin of the same length but narrower and thinner, the MS-Fins X6 S+ 40.
Similar to the test of the race slalom board, we searched in vain for a performance boost in the first few metres. The larger, thicker standard fin immediately gives good feedback, builds up pressure and is up and away first. With a little help, the smaller carbon fin then gets up to speed and is on a par with the standard fin over a long distance at a good 47, 48 km/h on a half-wind course. But with significantly less resistance, a lighter feel and better board control. In short: more fun to ride. However, the advantages of the standard fin when planing and planing through lead to a disproportionate increase in resistance with increasing speed. As if a speed limit had been programmed in at around 48 to 50 km/h, you can only go faster with a lot of effort.
The carbon fibre fin, on the other hand, is light and low-drag even above this sound limit and seems to know no limits for the time being. Whilst the standard fin is difficult to control outside of built-up areas, the Super Ride with the carbon fin continued to fly stably over choppy water and we wished for even more wind.
Conclusion: The right carbon fin requires good advice, but provides the biggest speed boost for the money on fast freeride and freerace boards.
Surf summary after five days of tuning
If you want to improve your top speed, you can also do this with a camberless sail, but you need a fast fin under the board. And ideally it should be at least a sporty freeride board beyond the comfort class, as these have a speed limit. The sail plays a major role in the medium wind range. A freeride sail offers a good increase in performance, especially for matches on a half-wind course, even with "just" a fast freeride board with a standard fin. A race slalom board (with a well-tuned carbon fin) offers a decent boost and, apart from the extreme loop position, does not require much more riding skill.
The boards: 54-58 km/h, +7%
From left to right:
Freeride comfort
JP Magic Ride 119: flat deck, low stance position, large 38 freeride fin with thick profile.
- Volume: 119 litres
- Length: 2.41 m
- Width: 74 cm
Freeride Sport
JP Super Ride 124: narrower but thicker and with a slimmer 40 mm fin than the Magic Ride.
- Volume 124 litres
- Length: 2.38 m
- Width 72 cm
Freerace
JP Supersport 122: very wide, with a fat tail and a long but slim 44 G10 slalom fin.
- Volume 122 litres
- Length: 2.34 m
- Width 76 cm
Race Slalom:
JP Slalom 72: fat bike with the widest tail. Tested with a 38 mm carbon fin from MS-Fins.
- Volume 117 litres
- Length: 2.28 m
- Width 72 cm
The sails: 52-55 km/h, +5%
From left to right:
Freeride No Cam
The GunSails Zoom 7.2 is the representative in the race. With six battens and a narrow mast sleeve. A type of sail with which many surfers start their freeride career.
Freeride 2-Cam
The Exceed 7.5 impressed in tests as a 2-cam freeride sail with plenty of power and good speed. Is it a sensible upgrade compared to the Zoom?
Freeride 3-Cam
The Vector 7.8 is not like a family car with a small spoiler and stick-on design, but a real sports machine. In the test, it therefore shows a significant increase in performance.
