hey, nice video. can you please give me a tip about the spot? Where is it? Thanks

hi why did you give up on the simmer boards and replace them?

Spot on review! 💯 The open palm mittens are especially developed for windsurfing. Good to see you like them. The precurved Claw Gloves instead are are more popular amongst kiter as in kiting the bar is thinner and individual fingers are very handy when dealing with the lines. Some time has passed since your review. By now we're stoked to offer two additional gloves for windsurfing. Check out our new Hybrid Gloves suitable for shoulder season featuring a thin palm. For the frosty months, the new Artic Gloves have thick 5mm neoprene on the outside but a very thin palm on the inside. We highly recommend trying these 🌊

What Loch were you on? Thanks

Where I live the wind is too light. I measure it with an anemometer. It was 8knts when is windy. So which gear do you recommend for light wind

Could you not put it UNDER the sail sleeve? As it is an RDM mast, there is maybe room enough to put it under the sail? Is was hoping to do this myself, but I have not bought the protector yet. Thanks for your. comment!

Thanks for the review, it was well done. I have a JP Australia Hydrofoil LXT 135 board and while it hasn't been used much and I've never crashed hard I'm amazed how many small dings exist now on the deck along it's "ridge". The deck has a concave shape and I'm thinking this makes the ridge area more prone to damage. Also the RDM masts may be harder on the deck as compared to SDM? I have 35 year old windsurf boards (Seatrend & BIC) that have been used a lot more and don't have any dents. The JP board is extremely light, but they seem to have compromised durability as compared to old boards. What I'm wondering is what type of mast base protector do you have? It looks like if you could somehow attach the ion protector to the mast base protector the 2 might help keep each in place? Just a thought.

any guess as to how much wind you had? thanks for the video/reviews

100% agree with the open palm mitt flopped over the back of the hands. I do but they fingers in it times if they get cold. I cut the palm out of my claw fingered gloves and the forearm pump was much better. Just harder to get fingers in and out of they get cold.

Nice review. I have the same one, and i have a small rope to it to my uphaul so if it comes loose it doesnt float away. I also found out that in realy hard crashes my board still has some damage. Going to combine it with a surfbent now for extra protection. But i have to say, i would have had a lot more damage without it.

A really interesting interview and great to hear about MK from the boss. I’m looking to get one for my big kit, and I haven’t heard any negative comments about them yet from all the folk I know who use them. Also great that it’s a UK company. Thanks.

Have you used it in stronger winds since then? The Drake Ready to Race fins aren't G10, they are lowish % carbon, guess 40% from repairing the tip of mine. Still a nice fin for the money, or they were before they went up in price to nearly £200.

Too many jokes…… my head is going to explode 🤯

Nice one Paul and Larry. MK product is and always has been outstanding in their design, reliability and price. I agree with both your comments about our sport and it's rise in popularity again. So many people like Paul and myself have come back into the sport after a significant number of years and are now as passionate as we were when we were youngsters. Let's hope this popularity can inspire the next generation to take up the sport and become as passionate as we are.

Great interview. I must say that I agree with everything said here, I had a brand new MK boom fail on me on the first proper outing. The customer service was outstanding, within 15 minutes of reporting the failure Larry was straight on the phone texting me his apologies and he personally sent out a new one immediately on the arrival of new stock. This is a level of customer service that is unfortunately missing with the big international windsurfing companies now. We now constantly hear of friends within the windsurfing community shelling out vast sums of money and then having huge issues when something goes wrong. There seems to be an inherent fragility in a great deal of the new kit and very poor support structure when it goes wrong. Well done Larry in having the faith and commitment to your great products.

Great interview, really interesting, thank you.

On the fragility of modern 'light' constructions: super mega ditto! Having come back to windsurfing in 2019 I have to say the modern boards has been disappointing in quality, especially the 2 Starboards I owned. What a bunch of total cr$%! (Fanatic seems to be better, as does Goya, but then I suspect anything is better than Starboard - even your Simmers hahahaha). In my teens, I learnt to go custom, earlier this year I 'remembered' and invested in Witchcraft's HDD construction. In my opinion, the large scale manufacturing with 'new models yearly' means brands are skimping on materials & quality. Smaller brands refining and updating as they go along (like MK) are achieving much better quality. OK rant over!

I bought the base earlier this year and am very impressed with the quality at half the rate for the 'branded' ones. Next on the shopping list is the 150-200 boom :) Buy Local folks!

Nice one Paul. I would be particularly interested for you to talk to people about the development of windsurfing, you mentioned here that it is having the best resurgence since the 90's we need to make the most of it, as we all know it is the best! We should have more schools, more shops for the next generation.

I was one of the first mk carbon boom owners . They are just great.

you would think board manufacturers would factory fit a nose protector in the colours of the board.

Great vid! Small thing, an R7 is a 2016 year sail.

I've just ordered and Ion amaze core 5/3 for surfing. Was going to go for the 4/3 but living in Scotland Is felt like I needed something I know will keep me warm all year round !! Really excited to see what it's like :)

Was the drone auto-tracking or someone operated it manually ?

Loving this drone footage Paul. Careful - the Broon will be charging for it soon! And looking forward to the Summer Slalom Series! 🤣

I think you should tighten the bottom most batten

Interesting video, thanks. I sail all year round across in NI and have tried the Palm “claw” type gloves, but find the forearm pressure too great. Recently I’ve started using a pair of 0.5mm Rooster Hot gloves under either my fingerless Gill sailing gloves or the new thin rubbery types they do (like gardening gloves). This allows adequate movement, they’re not too thick and I haven’t had cold fingers (yet)!

Sail looks well trimmed. As for rotation, have a look at the cams, if there are spacers remove them and rerig to check rotation. Board looks very flat while sailing, put the mastbase a few cm towards the rear to free up the nose a bit. And if you can find a good carbon boom (I use an 190-240 Maui Sails with 7.5-8.5), not only way stiffer but also wider. Width helps not only for the sail belly not touching the boom but also gives you a bit more leverage over the board (= more control). Subbed :)

Gloves are awful. Try the Mystic 5mm lobster claw mitts, individual fingers are terrible for windsurfing

Welcome to my world. Interior lake sailing in British Columbia, Canada. Once you get that tuned right and have a day with consistent 15+ knots you will absolutely rip. Very nice set up. Invest in adjustable outhaul for sure. Decent gybes btw in gusty conditions on a new kit. Bravo!

For sure you need a carbon boom. I have 5 overdrive sails and they are awesome but to take full advantage of the power of the sails a carbon boom is a must have. A severne mast will fix the Cams rotation, buy the severne ARC mast. Nice vídeo!!

Thank you. I just got a new board and really don’t like the foam nose protectors. This looks like a great alternative and it will protect all my boards. I just saw your glove review as well. I tried a pair of closed claw type and my forearms were on fire after one run. Definetely have the cold to contend with in Canada🥶 Cheers. Keep them coming. I appreciate the honest, real life review of gear that matters to the everyday windsurfer.

Great review man,thank you very much!Please try open palm mitts but with just the pinky fingers out (or the last two fingers out) and let me know what you think.

Thanks for review, I have been thinking about palmless and will probably go for some now......... ION good gear too . Had Neil Pryde before useless.

After 20 something years of windsurfing I concur that the open mitt glove by Ion and at least one other maker is great for the cold weather. I have small hands, use small diameter booms, and have also tried numerous glove types over the years. These are great and I had not really thought about letting them “flap” around and will give that a try. I find this video an accurate and honest review 🤙

I believe boom manufacturers have arrived at the comfortable max diameter grip for the majority of folk to use without gloves. This allows hands to be in a relaxed but strong claw shape which requires minimal input from forearm muscles, rather like carrying heavy bags with fairly narrow handles eg suitcase. Wearing full 2mm gloves effectively adds 4mm to the diameter of the boom arms and for most people this is enough to prevent them forming the claw shape mentioned above. If you're lucky to have a big.... pair of hands😂 you may find that full gloves are comfortable for you. Personally I favour narrower booms, open palm mitts and if extreme cold add thin nitrile/latex gloves or washing up gloves under open palms. Last thing, I had a pair of Atan mitts that were only neoprene construction and contact friction wore them out in half a season, so I'd recommend mitts with amara reinforced bits.

That has been my experience too Paul. Also if it's super cold I double up the palmless mittens.

Good review Paul, like you I find the open palm ION mitts the only comfortable option and I've tried gloves of different styles before but they make it difficult to grip the boom

I cut the wrists out of the claw and open the palm and they got a lot better can do a hour with them but still prefer the mittens as no limit with them. They are a bit warmer but doesn’t worth it

Great review. One thing that people often don't realise or think about is that you can get a chemical reaction between neoprene or any rubber and aftershave or any other skin care products. I am not saying it was but maybe your "old spice" didn't get on well with the neoprene. Drysuits are even worse for reacting to such things and you can check the neck seal which is like new, go out in the dry suit and a hour later the latex has changed into a black gunk and welded itself to your neck. Regarding the neck height it seems that quite a few brands are going for lower necks, I think it comes from surfing. The high necks feel a lot more cosy on the beach but when you move your head forward it tends to open up the neck at the back just ready for a wave to go down your back when water starting. If you do feel a bit exposed around the neck the ion neck gaitor things work well but they are constantly out of stock.

Oooffff!

Good review Paul. Have an ION winter wetsuit, a good few years old but still going strong. Well made and keeps must of the water out but I find wearing a neck seal makes a massive difference. Very toasty with that in. Billabong Furnace for the Autumn which is new and has the fancy lining that makes it comfortable and warm but a bit tricky to get out of as it's a front zip. My summer wetsuit is an ONeil, also a front zip, but much more stretchy, perfect fit, and is really easy to put on and take off. My favourite.

nicely done Paul - keep them coming : )

Nice one Paul 🤙🤙