Journey

Lightwind weapon

Patrik Slalom 110 has been on test for a very short time. She found her new owner soon, and now both girls are happy with each other. So what's there left for me?

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (Slovenian importer for Patrik boards) has made great effort to deliver us their lightwind weapon – Patrik Slalom 135. She arrived just in time, on the day we left for Pelješac, Croatia.

Now, when our trip is over I can only say that Patrik Slalom 135 kind a saved my windsurfing time. This year we have been on Pelješac from 8th to 19th August and the wind wasn't very strong. For most of the time I was using Patrik Slalom 135 and Gaastra Vapor 8.6. Since the Patrik slalom boards are sold without fin, I used Deboichet R16 46 fin. Nice combination, but when I returned home I have also tried Huricane 50 (thanks to Tine) and I must say that Hurricane Fin is really superior to Deb.

The board really surprised me. I haven't used so big slalom boards till now (I have a Formula board, but I'm not really fan of big equipment), so I didn't know what to expect. First days wind was kind of low (10 – 12 knots), so I had time to adapt to the board. When I found how to rigg Vapor 2011 right, the combo was nice. With two or three pumps board went in gliding mode and from here fun started. The board is surprisingly easy to ride, fast and responsive and stays on glide for a long time. Going upwind is not like on Formula board, but other windsurfers on Pelješac could only dream of going so much upwind. But since this board is not made for upwind, I was way more interested in downwind performance, and there where Patrik Slalom 135 is at her best. Nice and easy, I could also rail it so I was flying downwind with smile. In these conditions (10 – 12 knots, 85 kg of my bodyweight) I could score 22 – 23 knots of speed.

But the most interesting thing came one day, when the maestral unexpectedly switched to 20 – 25 knots. Since I set my sail with low downhaul for low wind, I was soon overpowered. I didn't want to take too much risk (the board is only on the test), so I went back to the beach, put another 2 cm of downhaul to the sail, and went straight back on the water. The combo was absolutely brilliant. Board stayed on the water, every gust was transformed in speed, and I was cutting through the nasty Pelješac chop without any control problems and going over 30 knots on my GPS. My fear that 135 litres and 83 wide cm board would be too big for stronger winds disappeared! Jibing isn't the easiest thing on this board, but once you can jibe on formula board, bigger slalom boards are not problematic. It's not a learning machine for a beginner jiber, but usually these boards are bought by good windsurfers.

So at the end: If you need a board that can win races or just have fun in low wind and you don't want to buy formula equipment, this board could be the right choice for you. With right technique you can get it planning in 10 – 12 knots (depends on your sail and weight), and you can use it without problems to 20 or even 25 knots.  But you need a good slalom fin from 46 to 50 cm and a sail from 8 to 10 sqm. With this you will have real lightwind weapon.