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Exocet Kona Bonus Coverage
By Eddy Patricelli (10th. May 2006)
Exocet's KonaStyle is a big board that's looking to be a big part of your windsurfing quiver. It's also been one of the most talked-about boards of the year. WindSurfing's Eddy Patricelli was one the first people in the US to catch a ride - here's his take.
Eddy Patricelli Level: Expert Weight: 175
Impressions on Land
It's a can't-miss board. Its 11'6" length is eye-popping. So are its floral graphics that wrap around the rails.
Relatively lightweight at 32.5 lbs. Its narrow width also makes carrying the Kona Style with one arm rather easy.
Front foot straps are just behind the centerboard, leaving ample uncluttered foot room around the mast base for learning basics and freestyle.
The rails are relatively rounded and its outline resembles a longboard surfboard -- rounded nose, long parallel rails and a slow taper toward the tail.
EVA foam deck is unique in that it wraps around the rails all the way to the board's bottom no shin guards needed for rail rides, and windsurfing and surfing newcomers need not worry about scrapes climbing onboard.
Regular mast box. You can adjust your mast base placement, but you have to stop sailing to do so. That said, I never felt a need to adjust it, even when switching from a 6.7-meter sail to a 9.0.
Power fin box makes for easy fin switches, but limits jumbo (65-plus cm) fin usage though that shouldn't be much of an issue with its long outline and parallel rails.
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The tail is stepped one portion of the board ends just behind the back foot straps, though there's a separate raised portion of the tail that extends another 34 cm to the tail of board. The raised portion looks to improve light-wind performance with a longer waterline. |
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Centerboard has a foam adjusting knob which looks to be easy on the feet. The centerboard (and its soft-plastic casing) is easily removed with four screws. This removeable feature makes the deck flat and comfortable for surfing. |
Impressions on the Water
In 5 mph of wind, sheeting in is a bit of a time warp. The board glides and, with a little pressure placed across the centerboard, rails up nicely, making it easy to lean against the sail out over the water.
Reminds me of what hooked me on windsurfing. It wasn't just the speed it was the sensation being supported by the sail, silently cruising with my body a few inches over the water. This is real fun, and there's no real wind
Tacking is surprisingly responsive. Lean the sail and move those feet.
Jibing oops, centerboard down means pressure the windward rail. I'm rusty. It's been a while...
Planing Pumping in a gust, it climbs up to speed, going through 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th gears along the way. At first, it feels weird. Wide boards are all or nothing in speed. This offers a lot more planing gray area that's fun regardless of gusts or lulls.
This is also exercise. The comfy deck encourages active feet. Move 'em for the ideal trim in each gust and you get rewarded.
Rail rides I still can't do 'em very well, but with this board I'd be inclined to learn because my shins aren't bleeding.
Waves Oh
My
Gosh
It's a Sherman tank. It motors over everything. Its centerboard lets you point straight into waves in onshore wind conditions. Its gliding prowess in light winds carries you right over the whitewater. It's so stable at slow speeds it's easy to regain balance after each wave rolls under you. This board could get a lot of wannabe wave sailors out into the surf safely. If they fall, hop on and uphaul.
Wave riding Careful of surfers, you catch waves well outside of their takeoff spots. Also, RUN back to keep the nose up when the wave gets critical -- otherwise you'll pearl. I did this once. Don't plan to repeat.
Overall Impression: I want this board. Its simple versatility combines the best of then and now. I also like that I can teach someone to sail on it, without necessarily steering them toward the gear expense and wind-waiting that comes with high-wind sailing. They can improve on this without outgrowing it. But as eager as I am to own one and get friends hooked with it, I more anxious to see what this board will do for the sport. It has the potential to put more happy sailors on the water in more locations, more often. Good news indeed. Very stoked, and very eager to see its impact on the sport. My bet is it will be a big one.
Exocet's Patrice Belbeoc'h comments on the inspiration, design and evolution of the KonaStyle.
Looking back, we know what kind of boards attracted the masses at the peak of windsurfing in the mid 80's. Modern wide boards are excellent learning platforms, (although tacking and upwind performance are inferior) but they will never replace a longboard with a centerboard and good sub-planing characteristics.
Our aim was to re-invent the adaptable concept that initially ignited the sport, and at the same time add in the best of today's technology and design features. The Kona opens up a world of opportunities as a versatile cruiser and raceboard due to its adequate volume, flat rocker, soft rails and a gently curved outline. Likewise the planning threshold has been dramatically reduced by implementing a "duck tail" which shortens the waterline when powered up, and boosts the board on to a plane much earlier than conventional longboards.
The idea came actually very slowly, since we've been testing boards using daggerboards for three years. We were working quite a bit on the Olympic board project and then on our PACER line, and I realized that those boards are still fairly technical for entry level sailors and the every day sailor who just want to be on the water. 20 year ago technology was different, boards of that size weigh about 20/25 kg nowadays it is at 15 kg with a bit more volume! The technology we have access today is way better than 20 years ago. I was pretty sure that we could make a low wind displacement board that could be fun. But how too make it fun once you are on the plane, that was the problem!
There were some surprises in the Kona's development, because the ouline is taken from a pure classical longboard. We also displayed a vee that is very similar to some long boards because they are very fast paddling boards.
For the big duck tail [ 35 cm] I wanted to have a nice glide in light wind - this is why the duck tail has no kick. The scoop line once on the plane is a old but very nice scoop that we designed for an AHD 310 10 years ago! First I was very surprised to see how quick the board was railing on upwind legs because the dagger is not that big, then I got some good wind and the board went straight on the plane. It was a strange feeling at the beginning to have this long tail but after a while you forget it completely. On the plane the board feels actually quite short and I did manage a top speed of 28.2 knots with board so it really goes!
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