azuli said..Heavy1 said..Who said you need at least 8 Knots to have fun?
Nice, thanks for posting.
Am interested to know the difference in speed between the Div2 hull and raceboard like a SB Phantom, in this wind with same sail, rider weight etc. Have you guys done any speed comparisons upwind and downwind?
The Div 2 boards rule, certainly up to 8 knots and maybe to 10 or 12 for a heavy weight. I have a tiga race and a lechner 390, and the lechner is faster all round than the tiga (the tiga being quite a bit older design). But Id back the tiga over a phantom for me as a heavy weight at least to 10 knots, and of course the lechner faster again. I also have a starboard serenity that may have a tiny tiny advantage upwind in sub 6 knots but downwind the serenity it a real handful and so much less versatile than the d2 boards. Over 12 knots its incredibly challenging to go down wind at all on the serenity. (but gosh its slick in the super light stuff.)
Upwind it would be hard to estimate the point where a phantom would start to overtake a D2. It may be more just difficulty of control that is the split. (no beating straps on D2) but once the phantom was able to plane down wind, track back, it would be faster and sail deeper, and be much less technical especially in gybes , than the d2. So id estimate maybe 12 to 14 would be where the phantom would start to rule over the D2 (still weight and skill dependent) (need to be more skilled to get speed down wind on lechner than on phantom.)
So how much faster is the lechner than a phantom in 6 to 8 knots? Id estimate as much as 20% quicker around a course. Especially if the lechner gets enough to start railing. And it will do that considerably earlier than a phantom.
So why isnt there more interest in Div2 .
Well they are fantastic fun, but they don't really have the "hey wow look at me" value of a planning hull. They are pretty heavy, hardish to store due to a bit longer, and a hard to get or would be very expensive if you could buy one.
We love the D2 s because they feel great, and get us on the water with bugger all wind.
John and Pete, please alter anything you think is inaccurate. You guys are more practiced than me.
Oh and I also have an Exocet RSd2 which to be honest is 80% race board and maybe 1% D2 and maybe 19% something else. The wave piercing nose is mesmerizing but it certainly doesn't match a lechner in light breeze. Perhaps a touch faster than the phantom in the 6 to 8 knot zone, but actually perhaps not.