Mistral Radar 105

[anonym-anvandare]

Jag letar oxå info om 105:an men har bara hittat info om 125:an. Kan ju vara något att börja med.

MISTRAL RADAR 125 Tested Windsurf April 2002
The Radar is Mistral’s all-round freeride board range for 2002. The label ’125’ refers to its volume, and is the mid-sized board in the range, sitting in between a 140 and 105. Designed by Bruce Wylie, it has a very unique style and really breaks tradition with Mistral’s previous shapes. It features a concaved deck and wide shoulders, with a narrow tail that still holds considerable thickness. Attractive graphics and a new silver-cloth glass fin makes the Radar really stand out.
On The Water At rest, the shoulders of the 125 provide ample flotation, making for a stable platform until the power builds enough to push the hull onto the plane. Once there, you are instantly aware that this is a very unique board. It accelerates progessively up to an impressive speed, with a stance on the water that makes for a very comforiable ride. The fin grips well but does not dictate the nature of the board – reasurring when the wind gets up. Your body weight is distributed evenly through both your legs, allowing for a very relaxed and balanced posture; it is possible to sail this board for hours without getting tired. This is the real selling point of the Radar – being so controllable and effortless, its top-end (which is nothing short of.blistering on the reach) is so deceptive. You just don’t realise how fast you are travelling! As a result it inspires confidence; you hunger for power; loading it as much as possible in order to realise its full potential. When it comes to gybing the Radar is just as impressive as it is in a straight line. It has an awesome balance of composure, response, speed and drive. It feels like a much smaller board under foot. Entry into the gybe is tight and aggressive, yet the Radar looses no speed and continues around with ease and a resistance to relinquish any speed. If overpowered it will still power in without hesitation, even if you cannot sheet the sail in. If you enter the turn slow and power up as you go, the Radar will accelerate whilst still biting aggressively. A fantastically versatile board in transitions, it is suitable for a broad cross-section of the recreational market, from experts right down to lighter intermediates. Throughout the history of windsurfing there have been boards that were always known as classics, being ahead of their time. We get the feeling that this may well be one.
Verdict A unique new design from :Mistral. Easy, comforiable and very rewarding to ride, it has a perfect balance between performance and manners that will excite and flatter everyone’s sailing style. Highly recommended.

[anonym-anvandare]

upp

[anonym-anvandare]

Och vad skiljer den sej från Mistral MTX 105?

[anonym-anvandare]

Här finns lite från Boards…

Mistral Radar 105
The smallest of Mistral’s new line of Radar ’Freeride’ boards that is made up by the 125 and 140.

On The Water

Ride: It accelerates early onto the plane and gives a comfortable and smooth ride in moderate winds. In stronger winds or more testing chop it feels a lot bigger and less agile unless really driven hard. It’s quite a nippy board by nature, yet it maintains a very stable feel throughout, even when trogging along at low speeds.

When blasting about, many testers noticed a slight slip in the tail as if the fin is not quite gripping. Experimentation with other fins couldn’t completely cure it, so it could be the result of a minor imbalance between the heavy Vee up front and the much flatter and relatively low volume tail.

Gybing: A very smooth and accomplished gybing board with plenty of grip that impressed everyone.

Wind range: A decent overall range but not outstanding for a Freeride, as the tail slip is felt more with bigger sails in marginal winds, while control with small sails is only average. 5.5-6.8m would be our recommended optimum range.

Water states: Not great in heavy chop, but fairly tolerant of most waterstates likely to be encountered in moderate to medium winds.

Performance Style

Freeride: It likes to be driven and the straps are really set up to be used outboard (the front inboard ones are over too flat a portion of deck). It has a good turn of speed and gybes really well, and thus satisfies the basic requirements of a blaster/gyber very nicely.

Freestyle: For a board supposedly targeted mainly at Freeride its freestyle quotient is pleasantly high. While obviously the relatively outboard/blasting stance that it encourages is not ideal for freestyle, nor is it the most natural jumping board, it is very stable and offers a good platform for most non planing tricks. It is also a very reliable carving board, staying stable and predictable through carving tricks.

Waves: It has enough nose rocker to cope in a wave environment and will carve a nice turn but is not really loose and agile and is quite big for jumping.

Orientation summary: A Freeride with reasonable Freestyle suitability.

Ability level: More a progression board for intermediates than a performance board for experts.

Praises / Grumbles
The footstraps were universally unpopular in terms of comfort, and some felt that the outboard front straps were placed about an inch too far from the rail to fit the curve of the foot to the curve of the rail.

Verdict

The Radar is a decent progression board that mixes the basic Freeride requirement with reasonable Freestyle potential. It has a few minor failings like the tail slip and uncomfortable straps, but it is easy to use and has the advantages of good speed and clean, easy gybing.

Price: £799 with 30cm powerbox fin.