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Kona Style is perfect family board
By Brooks Williston (10th. August 2006)
I just wanted to share what a fantastic family board the Kona Style is. My blended family of eight is on vacation in the Outer Banks this week. I rented a Kona Style from Ride Hatteras here in Avon. On our first day, I taught my wife and four of my children to sail. These were never ever sailors’, and by the end of my first lesson with them they were uphauling and tacking the board with no problems. Over the last three days in winds from five to twenty miles per hour, the Kona Style has been a total blast. Yesterday I taught four of my family to beach start, and today my son was sailing like he had been on a board for years.
This board if a perfect family board. I have been windsurfing ever since the ski shop I worked in during High School started carrying Curtis Hawks and Doufour Wings. In all these years I have never had as much fun as I have so far this week, and I have never seen so many people who have never windsurfed be so successful, so consistently, so fast and easily.
This is a board everyone in the family can enjoy, and it will really increase the amount of time I get to spend sailing as now everyone wants to go to the sound, not just me. I may have to buy a fleet of these!!
Thanks for bringing this board to the market, it is just what our sport needs to have the renaissance we have all dreamed of. I believe very strongly that the Kona is exactly what the windsurfing industry needs to recover in the United States. I began wind surfing in 1980, in the age of Division 1 and D2 boards. I was working in a Snow Ski and Sailing shop (Potomac Ski and Sail in Kensington MD), and was a team rider for several companies when the Fun Board explosion hit the market in the early 80's.
Fun Boards are what grew the industry in the US the first time around. Then the specialization came along. By 1990, I had evolved my sailing and equipment along with the industry to the point where I had $3500 tied up in equipment I could only use at the Outer Banks or other 'Hot" sailing sites. I could no longer just go down to the local lake or river and have fun or teach my girl friend. I was a modern windsurfer, otherwise known as a beach chair potato, or wind snob. After a few years of this I sold my gear in a swap and just rented on those rare occasions when I found myself at a good sailing site, that still had a local shop, and there was actually enough wind to plain a Slalom board.
Then you built the Kona. The Kona is just pure fun, what a concept. It captures the spirit of those all purpose fun boards of the 80's, but this one works! The Kona is fun, and easy to sail, right where you are, wherever you are. No need to go to Hawaii, or the Gorge or the Outer Banks. No need to sit waiting for wind, just go sail. Just like the old days, only more fun, and easier. The Kona is truly a board you can learn on, and still have fun on as an expert. My family's experience last week proves this.
While the one afternoon we had last week with 20+ mph winds had me out on an S3-105, I was able to sail for seven out of seven days on the Kona. The S3 was only sailable that one day. While I have to admit the S3 is an amazing board, the Kona was in the end a lot more fun, and everyone in the family could use it. When you look at my pics you will see we were out teaching and playing and sailing with hardly a ripple on the water. Other sailors were all rigged up and just sitting on the beach waiting for enough wind to plain, and very jealous of our secret weapon. There is a reason some purists from the 80's kept their Mistral Comp Lights, those old division one boards work in light wind. The Kona works in ALL winds !!
If the shop in Hatteras had even one board in stock I would have bought one, two if they had them to get more of my family sailing at the same time. Unfortunately the rental was the last one they had. You can count on adding me to the list of Kona owners next year !!
Thanks again Exocet, for making such a great board that brings back the fun of sailing in the 80's. I can't believe I am saying that because it really wasn't all that much fun those days. The sails sucked, and many of the boards were really bad, but you could use them in all winds, in all waters, and that is what it is going to take to bring windsurfing back in the US. Oh, and making it fun helps too !!
Regards,
Brooks.
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