Upon unwrapping the sail, I couldn't help but do a double-take; the sail not only looks ever so bright and polished, but in spite of its overall light weight, the materials used simply exude quality. In fact, without fail, every single surfer that we supplied with a KA sail was similarly impressed at the intense colors, robust feel and attention to detail that's obviously gone into the design and development of these sails.
Rigging
In all honesty, the rigging of the Koncept takes a bit of effort. Although in this particular case this is undoubtedly in part due to the newness of the sail, it goes without saying that a bit of effort at rigging is what you get when you surf a cammed sail, as compared to a non-cammed sail. My take on cambers though, is that once a cammed sail is rigged, that little bit of elbow grease pays off handsomely out on the water.
So yes, the Koncept cams take a bit of a nudge here and a push there to pop them into place. But when I took the sail out out for its maiden surf....
Riding my Koncept 8.3 in a Sumatra Squall - July 22nd 2010
Performance
...the way it performed blew me away. It's an 8.3m but it feels like a 7.3m. Its lightness not only results in much less swing-weight during manoeuvres, but its solid locked-in feel during downwind charges also raises your overpowered zone by a few notches simply because you're always in control. When I'm asked about the wind speed after a session, I find that I consistently underrate the windspeed using
this sail. I reckon that's a testament to the sail's smoothness, even in well powered-up conditions.
Speaking of well powered-up conditions, the Koncept is fast, unmistakably fast. I mean, it goes like the clappers. I'm sure it's inherent to the sail design for one thing; the Koncept is a speed sail after all. But with that speed design comes the ability to sail very close to the wind (probably as a result of the smooth, moderately wide luff), as well as comfort and ease of sailing. It comes as no surprise then to hear that this sail allows you to surf with optimal technique. I haven't worn my GPS yet so it's a little subjective for the moment. But we're due for a few wicked southwesterlies any day now, and I for one can't wait to go paddle to the metal.
Meanwhile, the cams are a dream. They simply click, effortlessly and almost inaudibly, into place at the end of the gybe. In fact, even when just doing some dry pops on the beach in a handful of knots, I found that the cams rotate perfectly into their respective position all by themselves. I'm quite chuffed by this, because I've had my share of grabby-cambered sails in the past that required a yank, a punch or even a kick, to beat them into submission. No more. These Koncept cams are awesome!
One more thing that I consider a bonus. Because of my body-weight (78kg) to board volume (104l) ratio and relatively small high-wind fin (a raked back 38cm Falcon F1) I'm not known as an early planer. But sailing the Koncept I've found that I plane that much earlier. I'm not sure why that is, but my guess is that the aggressive Koncept design translates into additional forward drive and this forward drive apparently applies to lighter wind conditions too. Works for me :)
Conclusion
If you're looking for a sail that performs like a flame-belching rocket but handles like a Beemer 7 Series, look no further than the KA Koncept. The Koncept raises your game - and top speed - when the wind dial is deep in the red zone, but also gets you planing while other surfers are still doing the bob-around. This alone is enough to make the 2010 Koncept the sail of choice for anyone who takes blistering no-holds-barred speed and heaps of water time seriously.
July 17th 2010
We caught a ripper of a storm yesterday. It seems the usual SW pattern of
regular storms is finally setting in. And it's about time too, seeing that
it's almost August already. Then again, the NE wrapped up only in May this
year, so I guess it's only natural that we suffer the hangover from
over-indulging at that party.
Back to yesterday. I awoke with the radar showing a huge patch of redness
west of JB. Better yet, even though it seemed to be inching towards the
northeast, clipping Jurong and missing us, the good news was that lots
of small rambutans were spawning into a crescent shape on its southwest
edge, and all of this was set on a course towards us.
True enough, within a few hours, the huge red patch was on top of Jurong and
reports were coming in that winds there were big.
Cue adrenaline rush!
After alerting the regular circle of hardcore chaps of the impending blow, I
made my way to the club. Visually, the situation there didn't seem that
promising, a few areas of moderate gloom over at SW. Still, keeping the
overall radar image in mind, I estimated our chances of getting a good blast
at 70%.
Within 30 minutes, the gloom had deepened and the dark line that had formed
at the SW horizon was now showing signs of white caps in the distance. Best
of all, not a rumble to be heard.
In the end we got over 30 minutes of very decent winds, gusting up to of a
maximum of 16-18 knots. Sure, a bit of rain at the end, but altogether one
of the better storms nonetheless.
Anyway, why am I telling you all this? Because the Koncept 8.3 performed admirably, superbly even. I never felt overpowered
or in any way out of control, even though the speed that the sail delivered
was simply blistering.
The Koncept has a solid, in-control and fully locked-in feel, even while you're
full-on careening across the water in downwind off-the-fin charges. The sail
is ever so finely balanced and spills its exhaust unnoticyably. This is what
windsurfing all about - the ultimate bliss!
After the wind had eased, I had a chat with Ian and he confirmed what I believe
is the basis for the solid almost auto-pilot feel the Koncept gives you,
even at the upper wind ranges. Looking at the shape of the sail, it's clear
to see that the bottom section has plenty of profile to it. This scooped out
section acts as the sail's afterburner - this is the area that kicks
in when winds are strong.
Typical early planing sails, usually the camless ones, tend to be softer and more flexible; their power is derived from
the upper section of the sail, making full use of the breezes that waft around up there.
Once the wind is honking however, that kind of sails will tend to want to pull you
ass over tit, because their upper end drive makes them feel top-heavy; you
end up struggling to keep them reined in. It's as if the sail wants to take you everywhere at once and you're just trying not to get bucked off. The dead give-away something is wrong is when you're having to press the sail away from you with all your might. Early planing sails' very fortes in lighter winds, their softness and delayed feedback characteristics, work against them in
powered-up conditions .
What you need in strong winds is a sail that feels almost like a solid foil, gives you instant feedback and that gets most of its raw drive
from below. This is the kind of wind where the Koncept comes into its own. Its design allows you to enjoy maximum forward thrust without any of the twitchy catapult tendencies. Even in a howling wind, the various forces in the Koncept are always kept in check by the cambers, providing both ultimate straight-line drive and optimal balance. In practice this means that you're confident enough to coax ever more speed out of the rig.
Conclusion: I haven't been truly overpowered yet on this sail, so a slight
disclaimer is in order. But I have to say that when your blasting away on
the Koncept, it feels as if the only speed limiting factor is the size of
your cojones.
July 22 2010
The charts were right. After a pre-dawn downpour that lasted from 6 till past 8 am, the wind, chilled by the spell of rain, started picking up power around 9. By the time I reached the club, Boo was already blasting on the rapidly intensifying SW. Best of all, looking out towards the horizon, there seemed to be plenty more where that SW came from. As I launched, about 10 minutes later, it was already blowing about 15 knots.
In the next 2-3 hours, according to consensus, the gusts reached 18 knots, beyond the ship zone, especially behind Keta, touching 20 knots.
As Singapore goes, this puts today in the epic catagorie. In fact, on my wind log, which is color-coded, red signifying exceptional, today is the first red day since March 10th.
On a day like this you don't leave any left-overs; I had a massive 2,5 hour session, took a small break, then went out again for about 30 minutes while the wind slowly spent itself.
All told, a good 3 hours on the Koncept. And once again, it went like the clappers. In fact, at the apres-surf chat, I was a bit surprised to hear from the others that they rated the wind up at 18-20 knots. I mean, sure, the 8.3 was a bit of a handful at times, but I never felt outgunned in any way, a testament to the Koncept's lightness and ultimate control properties.
GPS-wise, the max display stood at 25 knots. In absolute terms this is not the fastest of times, but considering that the wind oscillated between SW and SSW, the direction that traditionally whips up the sea into a churning cauldron, 25 knots is positively break-neck. I can only imagine what this sail is capable of during a westerly storm, when the sea is more friendly.
Maybe tomorrow :)
Note: Graeme Latoa took some decent pics of today's session. Have a look here.
August 1 2010
Today we got hit by the mother of all storms. It arrived like they did in the good old days, a galloping herd of white horses approaching from the horizon. And once the wind hit, at around 10 am, it seemed to never let up, instead, just picking up more and more steam, to a consistent spell of 25 knots, with gusts of over 30 knots!
By that time I was back in of course. But I did surf for over 2 hours in near-20 knot conditions, which on an 8.3, even if it's a KA Koncept, is bloody tiring. Still, the fact that I was out there for two hours while most people were on 6m+ is evidence that the Koncept is as stable as they come.
Not a lot to add to that, other than to say that it was sheer bliss :-)
Some visuals of that Magic Sunday
(Note: Best lower your volume, because a howling wind and a Nano mic do not a very good mix make.)
October 1 2010
Well, it looks like we got our entire year's supply of wind on that epic 1st of August, because we've had precious little wind since. In fact, looking at my wind-log, 2010 is turning out to be a real annus horribilis. Sure, we got a few storms here and there, some of which went way into double-digits too. But by and large, the frequency of storms is at a real low this year, as is the total knottage per each storm.
Not sure if it's La Niña that's to blame or the ever-burgeoning built-up areas in JB, Singapore and the Riau Islands. Perhaps it's just the low-wind phase in the multi-year cycle that we're in. Who knows? In any case, the long and short of it is that the wind this year is crap.
Not that we've been idling all this time - au contraire. We visited Mersing several times and continued our preparations for the day of the Tioman crossing. Our very own Captain Gadget, Zhar, has discovered the joys of real-time online tracking with Map My Tracks and I can see how this cool little tool can add an extra element of fun for the folks back home while we're on our way to Tioman. (More about Map My Tracks later I'm sure).
We've also been to Air Papan a few times, just north of Mersing, and discovered there's huge potential there in terms of a whole range of sea sports, both on and in the water. Air Papan is a very big bay with a very gradual angle and no dumpers, ideal to learn how to sail, windsurf, kite or SUP. In fact, there's a sailing school operating there right now, Suka Layar.
Further out from the shallows, the bay gets full-on SW winds (about 15 knots) during the SW monsoon (in non annus horribilis years, that is) and mouth-watering 20 knot winds during the NE monsoon!
Blue water anglers can get their kicks here during calm days, because the charter vessel "Salam Salinas" will have you smack dab in the middle of sailfish territory in no time.
Other activities include scuba-diving, freediving and snorkling around the various idyllic islands that dot the area. Landlubbers meanwhile, can explore the expanses of pristine jungle that slope up from either end of the bay.
Best of all, Suka Layar has a nice homely inn for weekend revelers to spend a night or two in. F & B-wise, the sailing center has its own dedicated kitchen staff. (I sampled the Nasi Goreng Pattaya.... three times. It's that divine.)
Suka Layar, where nature's tranquility meets sea sports fun and games.
But I digress....
Fingers crossed for wind.
Suka Layar
The Salam Salina
SUP-ing off Air Papan
Great news! CNN liked my article on Tanjung Resang. In fact, they liked it enough to publish it! Have a look.
