RE: Stretch, Haut, French (new ones), Ricardo Ricchi, Foote?

From: Brad James (bjames@exponent.com-DeleteThis)
Date: Fri Jul 16 1999 - 14:16:34 PDT


Received: from opus.hpl.hp.com by jr.hpl.hp.com with ESMTP (1.37.109.24/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1) id AA064489957; Fri, 16 Jul 1999 14:19:18 -0700
Return-Path: <bjames@exponent.com-DeleteThis>
Received: from hplms26.hpl.hp.com by opus.hpl.hp.com with ESMTP (1.37.109.24/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1) id AA039209948; Fri, 16 Jul 1999 14:19:08 -0700
Received: from menlomail.exponent.com (unknown-107-17.exponent.com [198.70.107.17]) by hplms26.hpl.hp.com (8.9.1a/HPL-PA Relay) with ESMTP id OAA24826 for <wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis>; Fri, 16 Jul 1999 14:19:07 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by MENLOMAIL.exponent.com with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2232.9) id <HH97C1RH>; Fri, 16 Jul 1999 14:16:34 -0700
Message-Id: <6717C84A8642D2119F1700A0C9D5D9F4014CCE4B@MENLOMAIL.exponent.com-DeleteThis>
From: Brad James <bjames@exponent.com-DeleteThis>
To: "'wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis'" <wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis>
Subject: RE: Stretch, Haut, French (new ones), Ricardo Ricchi, Foote?
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 1999 14:16:34 -0700
X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2232.9)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Ed-
I have a '99 8'6'' Stretch and demoed a '99 RRD 255 in the Gorge a couple of
weeks ago...

I absolutely love the Stretch, I originally bought it thinking that it'd be
a dedicated waveboard and I'd continue to sail my 8'6'' Enduro in the bay.
But the Stretch is really a superior board in every way, tons better for
wavesailing, but I also like it better in the bay. It has made me a better
wavesailer. Definitely looser than the Enduro, but still has good speed.
Very controlled ride- it really hangs in on bottom turns in choppy water
where any of my other old boards would have been skipping like a stone.
Every one of my buddies who have tried it really like it, some have dumped
their practically new boards to get a Stretch. If you go with Stretch- be
prepared to wait a couple of months - you can't buy one off the shelf- he
does everything custom. My Stretch also seems great for durability, I've
pounded it a few times with no adverse effects at all.

As for the 255 RRD, I was skeptical, especially given the slightly different
shape... but I really liked this board. It was plenty loose, and tracked
and held very well thru any sort of jibe. Since there are no real waves in
the Gorge, I don't know how it'd do in the surf, but it seems like it would
be just fine. One interesting aspect of the "spoonier" RRD shape was
incredible slogging ability. That 8'4'' RRD felt like a 9+ board while
slogging- it was truly amazing. Not as much V in the RRD as my Stretch, so
it didn't seem as quick or loose going quickly from one rail to another.
The RRD was also looser than my old ASD.

(Note, I do not mean to imply that the ASD Enduro is a bad board in any
way-- it's a great board for mostly bay and occasional coast sailing, plus I
believe the '98 and newer ASD Enduros are a big step up from the earlier
ones, looser and surfier- mine was a '97)

Don't know much about the other boards....

Hope this helps!

Brad



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Dec 10 2001 - 02:35:50 PST