Samy, even at first glance your boards are so radically different from "normal" windsurf boards. The outline is reminiscent of a peanut, with the narrowest point in the centre. What is the idea behind it? Both founders of the brand, Mathias Bavaud and Benoit Clement, were born in Switzerland and have a background in winter sports. If you take a look at the development of skis, you will notice that they used to be long and straight and are now much shorter and more tapered. It's the same with snowboards. There is a reason for this shape: it significantly improves carving and the decisive factor: These changes also brought great benefits for amateur athletes. At the end of 2016, we therefore built the first prototype with an outline that we now call the "Natural Drive Outline".
What advantages do you think this has? As soon as the board is edged, the parabolic shape automatically supports the curve radius. The water flow at the edge is therefore much more harmonious and with less friction than with a conventional board edge. As a result, our boards are smoother on the edge and glide better.
Windsurfing is not just about jibes. Your 90-litre waveboard is only 53 centimetres wide in the middle section, while the Freeride 115 is just under 58 centimetres. That's much narrower than conventional shapes. Won't that be very tippy? In relation to the same volume, our shapes are even more stable because the wider bow and stern sections act as stabilisers. However, the deck in the area of the mast base is not quite as flat as with normal board concepts, which takes some getting used to during the first manoeuvres. Otherwise, the boards are also super easy to surf on the straights.
You offer special shapes for surfers under 1.70 metres tall. What specific adjustments have been made to these XS shapes? We are very proud of these board concepts. They are completely different shapes compared to the other MB models. Based on the typical sail sizes that light surfers usually use on boards of a certain volume, we first adapted the crotch widths and plug distances. Instead of the usual crotch width of 54 to 62 centimetres, this is 44.5 to 55.5 centimetres for our XS models. The plug spacing for the loops has also been reduced to eleven centimetres to provide more lateral support for small feet. Of course, all this only makes sense if you also adjust the fin and mast foot position and revise the shapes. The result was completely new boards for small people - a target group that has been almost completely ignored by the windsurfing industry to date.
Where are your boards built? The development and testing work takes place in Switzerland, but our boards are built at Flikka in Slovenia.
Recently you have a team rider on board who is as freaky as he is internationally successful, Balz Müller... That's right. When we contacted Balz about becoming our first team rider, we were excited, but also unsure whether he would like our boards at all. Of course, we're really pleased that he liked them and we think that he fits perfectly with our brand with his innovative and funky way of surfing.
You can find more information about MB-Boards at: www.mb-boards.com
Manuel Vogel
Editor surf
