New products from Mistral

Ernstfried Prade is a true windsurfing veteran and one of the founding fathers of Mistral. After a few years in which the windsurfing division of the former industry leader was rather quiet, the company is now making a name for itself with two new products - the Mistral TWIN AIR SUP and the Carbowing. In the surf interview, Prade talks about the background.

SURF: Ernstfried, at Mistral you have developed the TWIN AIR, an inflatable WindSUP with new technology that can also be used for planing. Please tell us something about the details.

The new TWIN AIR model has two air chambers in the longitudinal direction. The first reason for this is the safety aspect. Every air mattress and every water wing has had to have two chambers for ages, but the issue of inflatable surfboards has apparently completely bypassed the regulatory authorities. But it is to be expected that they will take countermeasures at some point. In addition to the safety aspect, two chambers also offer a number of design advantages.

What are they?

We can incorporate a rollable stringer between these two chambers, which provides stiffness that comes close to hardboards. As you also have four vertical sidewalls with two chambers, which also act like stringers, the construction is extremely stiff. This allows us to reduce the inflation pressure of the boards to 10-12 psi, whereas 15-18 psi is normal. This means less pumping and less tension on the seams, i.e. longer durability. Even if you leave it out in the sun, you don't have to worry about everything flying around your ears. The two chambers also offer the option of anchoring stable boxes for the fin and centre fin in the board. These components are pushed between the two chambers before inflation and sit extremely firmly in the board when inflated. In this way, even a long fin can withstand the stresses and strains of surfing, which naturally results in much better performance compared to fins that are anchored in boxes glued to the outside.

You advertise the TWIN AIR as a glide board. To be honest, we have yet to test an inflatable board that comes close to fixed boards in terms of performance...

To get as close as possible to the performance of fixed boards, certain factors are important. A shape that does not change and remains stiff, a sharp trailing edge in the tail area and a good fin. The TWIN AIR fulfils all these basic requirements for good planing.

What sizes does Mistral offer and how much should the boards cost?

From June 2020, there will be a 12'6'' longboard (which corresponds to a length of around 380 centimetres, editor's note), a 9'6'' all-round or family board (approx. 290 centimetres) and an 8'2'' board (approx. 250 centimetres). All boards come with a fin and a centre box in the middle; standard deep-tuttle-box fins can also be used with an adapter. The boards are priced at 999 euros.

Let's talk about your new Carbowing, a rig that will be on sale from spring. If I may say so, it's more reminiscent of a catamaran sail.

We worked on it for three years. The idea is to develop a high-performance sail that does not need a camber, offers a lot of performance and is extremely light and easy to handle. The rig consists of a special profile mast made of carbon, into which the sail is threaded. The mast is hollow and made of full carbon, there is no mast pocket to absorb water. This makes water starts child's play. The mast is also not bent via the trim, so the trim forces are low, the sail is only inserted into a groove, similar to a catamaran. The mast itself rotates with the profile and therefore always favours the formation of the correct profile. Because the profile is very soft, the battens flip perfectly, so you don't have to tear after manoeuvres.

A normal windsurf sail needs an appropriate luff tension and a loose leech to release the pressure in gusts and remain controllable. Doesn't a concept like carbowing necessarily have to be top-heavy and difficult to control in strong winds?

The sail profile is very flat at the top, it releases the pressure well. However, as the mast does not work but retains its shape, we hardly have any pressure point movements, as the sail does not develop the usual transverse forces of round masts, but everything goes into propulsion. The mast is hollow, light and consists of three parts. It can be used for all Carbowing sail sizes from 4.5 to 7.2 square metres. The boom has a fixed length and the trim system is integrated in the spar. As a result, the boom only weighs around one kilo!

So you need a special fork for this?

Exactly, the Carbowing is designed as a complete rig. The height of the boom is adjusted via a rotating mechanism, and can even be adjusted with millimetre precision while surfing. The tenor of the entire concept is based on simplicity: low trim forces, low weight when launching, but performance like a camber sail. The entire sail range from 4.5 to 7.2 square metres works on the same mast length and with two booms. There is no other product like it on the market.

When will the rig be available?

You should be able to buy it from June. The price for the complete rig will be in the range of other high-performance camber rigs.

As soon as both products are available on the market, we will test them and present them to you in detail in surf Magazine.