Hi everyone,
Has anyone tried this combination?

I’m particularly interested in the RRD Twintip 110 with a 24 cm freestyle fin and a sail like the E-Pace 6.6.

How well would it work?

I sailed a Tabou Rocket 125 for many years with sails bigger than 6.5 m2, but after trying the RRD Twintip with a GA Pure 5.2, I don’t want to go back to Rocket. However, I weigh 95 kg, and the GA Pure doesn’t get me planing unless the wind is gusting above 20 knots.

I’m not interested in doing tricks, I’m looking for more maneuverability while freeriding in not so strong winds.

Cheers!

Agreed. The sail is not too big and a freestyle board has a freeride rocker essentially. But that tiny fin will be horrible it’s not designed at all for the lateral loading of freeride sailing. It’s designed for the exact opposite - so go bigger.

I got this Twintip as a gift, so I’d rather not buy another board, although I could pick up an older RRD FSW 111. The Twintip is the only smaller board with three straps that I’ve tried, and I love it. It accelerates well and feels agile and responsive. It’s not great at top end speed, but that doesn’t bother me. Best of all, it feels easy to ride.
My Rocket feels like a tanker with sails around 7.0, but there are plenty of days with medium winds when the RRD and 5.2 combination isn’t enough for me.
I’m not sure what the difference is between an FSW and a freestyle board. I’ve also seen posts on this forum saying that putting a larger fin on a freestyle board isn’t a good idea. I think a good combination might be an NP Atlas 6.2 or something similar, but I’ll give it a try with the E-Pace 6.6.

I've got an RRD twin tip 100 litre board and its great for blasting, I use a 30cm free ride fin with a little sweep on the tip, usually with a 6.2m or 5.8m sail. Its a little twitchy when over powered but it accelerates quick and goes quick in a straight line.

I’ll borrow a 34 cm fin and try it out tomorrow with either the 6.6 E-Pace or the 5.7 NP Ryde. I’ll let you know how it goes.

I' m back with the results.

I tried it today. The setup was an RRD 110, a Select Progression 34 cm fin, and an NP Ryde 5.7.

I weigh around 98 kg (new measurement :D). The wind averaged 12–14 knots, with some gusts around 20 knots, and the chop was about 25 cm.

It felt good, lively, and fun. I placed the mast foot forward of the middle, but the nose still rode quite high. It accelerates super quickly and reaches its top speed fast. The top speed isn’t as high as on the Rocket, but it’s still nice.
The downside is that it bounces quite a lot over the chop, and sometimes in a gust it feels like it’s going to throw you over the front. Gybes are okay, but feel a little strange, and the upwind performance is mediocre.


I’ve never ridden anything other than my Tabou Rocket 125 (75.5 cm wide), so there are probably better combinations out there, but this one isn’t bad.

Prelucar said..
... there are probably better combinations out there, but this one isn’t bad.

"This one isn't bad" is a very interesting conclusion to say the least 😀

After reading your observations, it sounds like it didn't really work. Think my previous advice still stands but thanks for sharing your experience!

Prelucar said..
Best combo is good wind, FS fin and FS sail. This 'hybrid' with freeride sail and fin wins over Rocket at any time. But thats only my opinion
Going through many posts on this forum I'd say an FSW would be the best solution for what I'm looking for.
Maybe if budget allows I'll get something like Tabou 3s 116.

Don’t let these guys talk you out of what you are doing.. many many people use freestyle boards for freeriding and it’s loads of fun. There are some very good freestyle sailors near where i sail and they are not using small dedicated freestyle fins. More 24-25cm wave fins.

the comment above that you need 20cm fins or a different board is just ridiculous. Even the starboard website is suggesting bigger than 20cm fins on the ignite. The pwa guys are using bigger than 20cm fins.

freestyle boards are more than fast enough to have fun. They use slalom rockers. My starboard freestyle boards from a few years back actually used the same rocker as their slalom boards. Wouldn’t be surprised if other brands were the same. I’ll go out on a limb and say my patrick freestyle board uses the patrick slalom rocker or some variation of it because the way i’ve heard Patrik describe his slalom rockers is pretty much bang on for the patrick freestyle board.

most more recent freestyle boards have v which smooths out the chop and makes them track well in a straight line. The older ones can have no v which makes them bouncy and skatey in a straight line. But neither did some freeride boards of that era. Older freestyle boards also have a lot of rail tuck so they are harder to crank to windward. Newer freestyle boards have much less tuck and go upwind much better. That aside when sailing freestyle boards upwind don’t use the back strap. Sit your back foot between the front and back strap. You will find that makes a big difference. Same on fsw or wave boards. Anyone who sails around with their back foot permanently in the rear strap is either on freeride gear, sailing in super windy locations or missing a whole other option that’s available to their sailing.

fsw boards can be early planing and super fast. But they can also be very slow to plane and lack top end as can be said for wave boards. My local spot is bump and jump. Some guys are on freeride gear and some are on wave/fsw/freestyle gear and we are all blasting not doing crazy pwa **** and having a lot of fun. Some are even using thrusters.

Personally i can’t be assed with freeride. I’d rather use slalom gear. Freeride is nothing more than detuned performance gear to suit intermediates. Boards are somewhat heavier so they are tougher.

That aside, If you are to using sails bigger than 6.5-7.0m then that’s freeride/slalom territory. bigger sail needs bigger fins which suits dual rear straps to go with the bigger fin. For sails smaller than 6.5m then freestyle, fsw or wave are all great choices for freeriding.

Trouble going upwind and getting pulled forward suggests not enough downhaul for your sail. Maybe try more dh and see how you go plus don’t use the back strap when going upwind as that helps shift your body weight forward.

jdfoils said..
34 on a freestyle board? Why bother.

Either use something appropriate (20) or use a different board.

starboard recommend bigger than 20cm fins on their freestyle boards. I guess they and the pwa riders who also use bigger than 20cm fins in their boards ascwell as all the guys in my local scene using bigger than 20cm fins in their freestyle boards would not agree with you.

the rocker is the most important bit so it really does matter. If you want a fast early planning board you start with a slalom orientated rocker.


so what is the compromise when using a freestyle board for freeride.

But what’s the compromise. I’m genuinely interested because i don't see any.

freestyle is 90% freeride with the last 10% being a trick at the end of a freeride run. You can forgo the trick and gybe or tack.

Gestalt said..
But what’s the compromise. I’m genuinely interested because i don't see any.

The freestyle boards I have used didn't really want to go in a straight line, kind of the core of freeriding.

Further, the single back strap is far from great for blasting, especially in bigger sizes.

Also the rails generally don't provide much grip as they are designed for sliding moves, so power gybes don't work well.

There's heaps of freestyle boards out there, each with their own shapes. I've only sailed JP boards and wouldn't enjoy these for freeriding.

ptsf1111 said..

Gestalt said..
But what’s the compromise. I’m genuinely interested because i don't see any.

The freestyle boards I have used didn't really want to go in a straight line, kind of the core of freeriding.

Further, the single back strap is far from great for blasting, especially in bigger sizes.

Also the rails generally don't provide much grip as they are designed for sliding moves, so power gybes don't work well.

There's heaps of freestyle boards out there, each with their own shapes. I've only sailed JP boards and wouldn't enjoy these for freeriding.

I’ve ridden a couple that had tracking issues but that was back in the early to mid 2000’s when shapes were still being experimented with. It came about because boards had no v, had heavily tucked rails and came with fins that were 16-18cm long and would let go without much warning.


The small fins and no v were the biggest issue tho and combine that with some freestyle fins just not wanting to go in a straight line and things would go sideways quickly. I’ve tried so many freestyle fins from 16cm and up and most i think are just rubbish for general sailing. This is why everyone that uses freestyle boards for general blasting uses a bigger fsw or wave fin. I do have a couple of freestyle fins that do track very well but generally use wave and freestyle wave fins for back and forth.

The other thing is a front foot pressure stance is required, like on any board with small fins. Designs evolve,Modern freestyle boards have more v, harder rails and bigger fins. I would encourage you to try some better shapes. At the end of the day no mater what discipline a board is designed for if it doesn’t track well it’s a fail.

None of my freestyle boards have tracking issues. I have 2012 starboard flare, 2015 starboard flare, 2017? something patrik f-style. Plus a custom board. Actually my son doesn’t like the patrik because in his words it’s to locked in.
If i found a well priced recent model ignite i’d grab it too.

Interesting, thanks for sharing! It still doesn't sound too inviting to me, but you guys can grab the freestyle board bargains, leaving the FSW and freeride stuff for me 😂