Surf Festival: The highlights of boards and sails and the best of the first day
Tobias Frauen
· 30.05.2023
A full house on the south beach on Fehmarn: on the first day of the surf festival, the wind only blew with a light breeze in the afternoon. In view of the prospect that the next few days could see significantly more wind on the water - up to 23 knots are forecast - this was the perfect opportunity to take a leisurely look at the masses of equipment that the exhibitors had brought with them. Of course, it is always possible to try out and test the equipment yourself - preferably after previous Online registration!
The revised version of the Volare crossover board catches the eye at I-99. The update includes a deep tuttle box, which makes the board even more suitable for windsurf foiling. Of course, the double US rail for wings remains, it is clearly in front of the tuttle box. I-99 has also launched two brand new freerace and freeride boards, the Perfoma and Grandtour. The C5 is the revised wave board with five fin boxes, which can also be seen and ridden on Fehmarn.
Next door at Exocet, alongside the Freeracer S-Cross and the Allrounder Cross, there is the new Freefoil, a board for wings and windsurf foiling. Here too, there are both US boxes and deep tuttle boxes for the windsurfing option. Loop plugs are also available for both variants.
Fanatic brings back the Eagle, Duotone brings back the Duke
At Fanatic, developer Marco Lang is focussing primarily on the new Eagle. "We want to put people on it here at the surf festival because we are very convinced of the concept!" The Freerider should be particularly easy to ride and jibe, and an expansion of the range for the coming season has already been decided. The Freeracer Jag is getting a new fin, developed together with team rider Jordy Vonk.
Duotone is also focussing on the freeride sector: the E-Type now also comes in an extra-light SLS version. "Like the normal sail, but on steroids," enthuses Marco Lang. The team has used the coronavirus period to specifically develop the SLS models. This includes the Super Hero SLS, which is mainly glued instead of sewn. This is intended to reduce stretch and increase the range of use. Carbon strips in the rear area also ensure a very stable pressure point. In the freemove sector, a familiar name returns with the new Duke, replacing the Super Session.
At Naish, the focus is on the Force 4 and Force 5 wave sails, some of which can already be seen as 2024 prototypes at the surf festival. In addition to the Assault wave boards, the Galaxy range for flat water will also be there. Following the Naish takeover by Kubus, the freeride sector, among other things, is set to become an even stronger focus in the future.
125 litre Happyness from Bruch Boards
Dany Bruch presents his boards together with his new sailing sponsor Sailloft. He has a 125-litre version of the Happy with him, which should be ideal for particularly heavy riders in small waves. The Freerider Freedom has also been given new sizes in the 128 and 138 litre versions. In addition, Bruch has brought the Liberty, the brand's first freestyle board, to the surf festival. In addition to minor changes to the Air, Sailloft has completely redesigned the freeride sail Cross this year. "We are delighted with the good test, which shows exactly what we wanted from the sail," says sailmaker Olaf Hamelmann.
Tabou will be presenting the revised DaBomb, as well as the well-known bestsellers Rocket, Rocket plus, 3S and 3S plus and the combined foil and freerace board Fifty. GA Sails is also focussing on the familiar sail lines, most of which were already on show at Boot.
A similar picture at Goya: the brand renews its boards and sails every two years and has the full range of familiar models with it. GunSails will also have the new products from boot, such as the recycled Re-Torro, at the surf festival. Point-7 has thoroughly revised the freerace models ACZ and ACX for this year, and both models will of course also be available for testing. Severne has completely redesigned the Freerider Fox and, like Starboard, will be bringing all models from the current range to Fehmarn.
New to the windsurfing business in Düsseldorf, the Austrian brand WeOne brought its entire range to Fehmarn for testing. Shaper Gerhard Scharl also announced that wing boards would be added to the programme in the future.
There are also plenty of bestsellers like Fusion and V8 to try out at NeilPryde. JP-Australia has the Freestyle Wave in the new size 124. At RRD, the focus is on the completely new Power Move and the revised Fire Move - here too, the outline has been stretched slightly for better gliding characteristics.
Insights into Manuel Vogel's freeride equipment
In addition to the manufacturers' test equipment, there was also a lot to see on the stage on the beach: surf tester and riding technique expert Manuel Vogel highlighted the differences between freeride sails and boards in two presentations, while personal trainer Sascha Lange gave tips on effective workouts for surfers. And surf editor-in-chief Andreas Erbe opened the festival together with Fehmarn's head of tourism Oliver Behnke and emphasised how important Fehmarn is for the surfing scene against the backdrop of plans for a Baltic Sea national park.
Although there was little windy windsurfing action on the water, some candidates were able to try their hand at the pump-oil launch ramp at boot Düsseldorf. The Bitburger 0.0% SUP Challenge was also launched. Both are still possible in the coming days, and testing can really get underway when the wind picks up. With the German Freestyle Battles and the Racer of the Sea, two exciting contests are also on the programme!
