Truemor is Fanatic are not releasing much in 2018. No new raceboards, not sure if new surf sups if so not many.
current race board models will have a two year life span.
Interesting to why.
Well IMO the current 12-6 Falcon could do with some remedial work, so it would be odd not to change it.
bit I suspect many of the brands might eventually move to a 2 year design cycle. If you are continually refining a design, there must come a point at which it approaches "as good as it is gonna get". And the low numbers of raceboards sold worldwide probably doesn't make the time investment in designing a new model every year worth the effort.
The volume sales are all
inflatables these days. So that's where your effort would go.
But how sure are we that this rumour is true? It sounds like the sort of thing a retailer might say to flog some gear he still has hanging around :)
maybe strike changes... this is fanatic flat water dug-out (I assume its a 2018 strike?) photo-from 2017LostMills
maybe strike changes... this is fanatic flat water dug-out (I assume its a 2018 strike?) photo-from 2017LostMills
Prototype.
Truemor is Fanatic are not releasing much in 2018. No new raceboards, not sure if new surf sups if so not many.
current race board models will have a two year life span.
Interesting to why.
A slightly inaccurate interpretation of what the retailers have been told Andy R. There will be race boards for 2018. They may be a little later than they normally arrive in Oz and in my opinion it's been a good decision....and for an exciting reason. I was at Fanatic today so I know the basics of what they're up to and it's a good strategy.
As far as surf goes, the new range has some changes where they were needed, but the catalogue looks pretty comprehensive to me.
Area 10 mentioned the 12'6". As far as the 12'6 goes - there's plenty of talk on 12'6 in Australia. (The Face Book thread was heated enough and opinion has swung in less than 6 months) I don't think too many companies will be doing much 12'6" development in the future. There were only a handful sold in Oz last year. Commercially it's a waste of time, at least in Australia anyway. It will depend on what the 2 major race series in the world decide to do. I spoke to one of the leading paddlers in the World recently and he said many of the elite paddlers would just prefer 14's. That may have some impact on what companies do development wise, but hopefully the boys put more effort into an unlimited than a 12'6". (Though I doubt that too) I'd be surprised if any retailers even order 12'6" in 2018. Most of the retailers across the country I've spoken to didn't sell any. If it wasn't for Surfing Australia the BOPs would be on 14' (Another long thread in itself)
It's an exciting time in board development and I'm looking forward to trying a few different things.
Area 10 is right re the inflatables being the major market, except in OZ where they are an extremely small part A couple of the big inflatable companies are completely baffled by the situation in Oz...until they visit. One of the big companies has even located here for a while to try and understand why.
Truemor is Fanatic are not releasing much in 2018. No new raceboards, not sure if new surf sups if so not many.
current race board models will have a two year life span.
Interesting to why.
A slightly inaccurate interpretation of what the retailers have been told Andy R. There will be race boards for 2018. They may be a little later than they normally arrive in Oz and in my opinion it's been a good decision....and for an exciting reason. I was at Fanatic today so I know the basics of what they're up to and it's a good strategy.
As far as surf goes, the new range has some changes where they were needed, but the catalogue looks pretty comprehensive to me.
Area 10 mentioned the 12'6". As far as the 12'6 goes - there's plenty of talk on 12'6 in Australia. (The Face Book thread was heated enough and opinion has swung in less than 6 months) I don't think too many companies will be doing much 12'6" development in the future. There were only a handful sold in Oz last year. Commercially it's a waste of time, at least in Australia anyway. It will depend on what the 2 major race series in the world decide to do. I spoke to one of the leading paddlers in the World recently and he said many of the elite paddlers would just prefer 14's. That may have some impact on what companies do development wise, but hopefully the boys put more effort into an unlimited than a 12'6". (Though I doubt that too) I'd be surprised if any retailers even order 12'6" in 2018. Most of the retailers across the country I've spoken to didn't sell any. If it wasn't for Surfing Australia the BOPs would be on 14' (Another long thread in itself)
It's an exciting time in board development and I'm looking forward to trying a few different things.
Area 10 is right re the inflatables being the major market, except in OZ where they are an extremely small part A couple of the big inflatable companies are completely baffled by the situation in Oz...until they visit. One of the big companies has even located here for a while to try and understand why.
That is good news for me then! The later in 2018 the better for me to convince the boss to let me uprgrade to a new falcon instead of taking her on holidays again ;)
will they be new designed boards?