pierrec45 said...

You haven't mentioned WODs, there's a larger market for you with that model. Not as fast and racy as the boards you mention, but WODs have the large volume, and allow some freestyle and fun sailing. There are more of those gathering moss than anything else...

Mrgob said...

Wow! A Bic Be-Bop!

I raced one in the late 80's, and while it couldn't beat the Cats upwind it wasn't at all a bad shape.

The construction and fittings were another matter. The A.S.A. skin would usually crack along the seams near the front from flexing, and once the water got in it would remain waterlogged, and weigh a ton.

The mast track was a horror! It was all plastic with two rails over which the plastic slider fitted. At the first knock (mast falling over board) the leverage would snap the slider lugs, and you swam back in.


Too true you re bee bop and nearly all those PVC boards
The sliders were £9.99 (in 1986) and I almost used the shops entire stock of them!! I used to fit a spare one to the track ready for a quick change over at sea when the inevitable happened. Eventually, the plastic rails of the track itself softened up with use, and the sliders just kept popping off of their own accord,

The problem was cured by pulling the lot off the board and drilling two holes right through top to bottom, and shoving a couple of steel bolts with big washers up through the board. An ordinary short board base was bolted on top, in the most used position. No more breakages. (And to hell with the waterlogging.)

The Bamba with Ace Tech construction and proper robust fittings replaced the Be-Bop. I still have that one undamaged, twenty years later, so Bic had certainly come of age with their Ace Tec construction. The pity was they never applied it to the Be-Bop. I'd have loved one of those to use again now.