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KINETIC
Kinetic has been making boards for about 20 years, during which there have been good design relationships with Ed Angulo and Randy French, as well as durability problems. It’s only been in the last five years, when Kinetic switched to epoxy and signed Jimmy Lewis as its shaper, that the company has become a contender. And now the struggle is to become better known. There are about a dozen dealers in the U.S.
Kinetic is an interesting company, and deserves to be discovered by a wider audience. Its owner, James Chen, a Taiwanese sailor and businessman, is very serious about building good, fast, controllable boards. He’s a slalom sailor and recreational racer, and makes the decisions himself about which boards of that type to build. He mostly leaves the wave boards to Lewis, who is known for his ability to shape boards that flat fly, which is clearly reflected in the Kinetic line. Chen likes to boast that Kinetic is the first Asian boardmaker to work exclusively with an American shaper.
There is a careful, methodical approach todevelopment of the boards. Chen does his research, carefully crunching and comparing the numbers of his boards’ shapes and stats, and recording the R&D and market feedback. He says that’s an important and often neglected key to consistent, superior performance. When Kinetic finds a design that works, they may refine it but they don’t change it each year just to have something new to market. The philosophy and direction doesn’t waver. The boards evolve. Chen tries to find the market, not create it.
“Other brands throw away a lot of good things,” he says. “They change shapers and R&D riders too often, and this affects the direction. Sometimes they don’t even keep records. I learn a lot because since ‘92 I measure every board carefully, and have a deep reference. I understand why this kind of rail or that rocker line has the effect it does. I spend a lot of time studying the water release of the boards, looking at photos, watching the tail when I sail.”
The Kinetic boards are built in Chen’s factory in Taiwan, which began as a plastic injection company in 1973, and where he also contracts North Shore Maui boards. “I put all my energies into the business,” he says. “The design and manufacture of boards is quite complicated and interesting, a good challenge for my talent. I want to make the brand more successful. That’s my goal in life. I like the sport very much. It’s very good for my health.”
It’s the slalom, racing and flat-water freeride boards that stand out, but we weren’t able to fully test the Mission Race 68 and Mission Free 72, because of the heavy conditions during our time on Maui. We did get a few decent rides on the Ultra Light 58 slalom board, though. There were also three wave boards, an 8-3, 8-6 and 8-8, and the two freeride/freestyle boards, the El Nino 57 (257 cm, 86 liters) and 61 (262 cm, 110 liters). Their names, as with the big boards, relate to their width in centimeters.
As might be expected in boards by Jimmy Lewis, the wave boards were gunny. They had the narrowest outline among all our wave boards by quite a bit, especially in the nose. The 8-8, especially, had very little rocker and vee, which was reflected by its high ratings in Planing. A lot of boardmakers seem to claim that their boards are “incredible” at almost anything and everything, but Kinetic’s hype is off the chart, and there’s little in the shapes to back up such boasts of versatility. Actually, no board could have shapes to match such claims of perfect performance.
And because Kinetics come without fins, a world of new potential problems—that frustrating trap of incorrect equipment decisions—is opened up. During the early part of our test, for example, we couldn’t keep the wave boards from spinning out because the Jason Polakow signature fins that Chen recommended, which may have been superb for experienced wave sailors, were too soft for the skills of most of our intermediates. “That fin is a piece of crap,” said one of them.
“Oh really?” replied another, who had sailed the board with no problem. “Would you like to tell Jason Polakow that?”
Stiffer, cheaper fins mostly solved the problem. We didn’t begin counting the ratings until we found fins that worked for all our testers. Even so, there are surely better fins that will yield better results. It’s a universal statement, of course. But with a board that comes with no fin, the research problem is the buyer’s.
As for the other boards, there is a revolution afoot in the freeride world, as reflected by the El Nino line. Freeride is floating away from slalom, toward freestyle. Shorter, wider, more volume, while trying to hang onto speed and ease of turning. Kinetic and Jimmy Lewis have worked diligently on the El Ninos, to be a leader in this revolution. Interestingly, there are no old-style freeride boards in the Kinetic line. It’s either the new-style El Nino, the strictly slalom Ultra Light, or the wide, fast, light-air Mission boards. “This year everyone understands we can do the freeride and freestyle in one line,” says Chen, overstating things a bit by including “everyone,” as it’s hard to find another boardmaker fully (and bravely) committing to that belief.
8-3 Wave
SCORE: (12 ratings)
Upwind 3.36 Planing 3.5 Speed 4.0 Handling 4.08 Jibe 4.0 Overall 3.75
COMMENTS:
“With my 190 pounds and variable conditions, the Starboard Wave 72 worked better for me today.”
Said a highly technical, 150-pound sailor, “A very nice board. Does everything extremely well in 4.2-4.7 conditions.” Does everything extremely well? A comment that matches the hype!
“Well-balanced and quick. I really had fun jumping, jibing off waves, and front-side riding.” And this was with the soft JP fin. From one of our women, “Easy to sail in every way. It arcs easy wide turns in the strongest gusts and comes out planing. It’s fast and lifts off any excuse of a ramp with ease and control. I was never uncomfortable even though sailing totally overpowered.”
One sailor said it felt heavy, although at 14.5 pounds it’s really not. “A little sluggish upwind. A good board for an advanced wave sailor in windy and wavy conditions,” he said. On the same day, this sailor pronounced the same-sized RRD 250 the best board he had tried so far.
One highly experienced sailor, an instructor, said, “Maneuverable in the surf. Great little chop hopper.” But the very next day, he only gave it a 3 for its performance in chop. He gave a lowly 1 in Upwind, and said, “Overall good but not great handling. Fin was really funky. Spins out easy.” Of course, he also thought the board was a Bic. Maybe his confusion was a result of the sun frying his brain under his shaved head.
STAFF: Overall Rating: 3.20
“Non-skid good, pads good, straps poor.”
8-6 Wave
SCORE: (6 ratings)
Upwind 3.67 Planing 3.67 Speed 3.83 Handling 3.67 Jibe 3.67 Overall 3.70
COMMENTS: “A little more stable than the 8-3,”
“Less manageable than the North Shore Maui 264, RRD 250, and Starboard 88 Wave.”
8-8 Wave
SCORE: (8 ratings)
Upwind 3.86 Planing 4.13 Speed 4.0 Handling 4.13 Jibe 4.0 Overall 4.03
COMMENTS:
“With my 190 pounds and variable conditions, the North Shore Maui 264, with its wider tail, worked better for me today.”
“A great combo with the Pryde 5.4 Soul. Slightly underfinned, but it didn’t matter because the board is real fast. It worked because the rig had power. Board had excellent top speed; I noticed some other testers really smoking on this board. More nose scoop would be nice, but it wasn’t an issue.”
“Does what it’s supposed to.”
“Fast and stiff feeling, suitable for conditions here of flat water, onshore waves and small sideshore surf.”
El Nino 57
SCORE: (3 ratings)
Upwind 3.33 Planing 3.67 Speed 3.0 Handling 3.0 Jibe 4.33 Overall 3.47
Comments:
“Too loose,” from a sailor with below-average intermediate skills, who found the RRD Avant Ride 70 to be a “great board,” on the same day.
STAFF:
Generally, we think the board is better than its ratings, and didn’t get sailed carefully or thoroughly enough to get a fair shake.
El Nino 61
SCORE: (5 ratings)
Upwind 3.8 Planing 4.0 Speed 3.8 Handling 3.2 Jibe 3.0 Overall 3.56
COMMENTS:
“Bouncy and unstable in overpowered conditions,” said another below-average sailor, a woman, who loved a different RRD, the TwinTip freestyle board, on the same day.
“Didn’t work upwind at all. Also slow to plane,” said her
husband, and you wonder if they compare sailboard notes in bed at night, under the romantic Maui moon.
For what it’s worth, in last year’s test, Ken Winner said, “Turns beautifully, and maintains speed through a jibe like no other.” Kinetic still uses the comment in its promotion, which is where we found it.
“Has all the great features of the RRD TwinTip, yet is a touch faster and stiffer in feel, which helps you catch a little more air time.”
Ultra Light Slalom 58
SCORE: (4 ratings)
Upwind 4.75 Planing 4.75 Speed 4.25 Handling 4.25 Jibe 4.5 Overall 4.60
Comments:
“Fast like any Jimmy Lewis board—geared toward the Racer Guy. A hard ride, and you must be aggressive to turn it properly.”
On the day when the water was like glass inside the reef, with winds still in the 12-20 range, our workhorse woman gave the 58 straight 5’s. She said, “It is great! In true slalom board style, it’s a rocket ship. Although a 4.3 sail is not what I’d normally use on a slalom board, it never felt unbalanced and came out of jibes as fast as it went in. I sail a 270 Thommen at home in the Midwest, and this board felt just as fast.”
MISSION RACE 68
You can’t get much quicker than a race board shaped by Jimmy Lewis. His email address, dafastest, is fitting. The Race 68, named for its width, is 280 cm long with a volume of 145 liters, and its full carbon construction keeps the weight down to 15.4 lbs claimed, 15.8 measured.
The Mission Race line, also including a 72 and 76, is new for 2000. The boards feature wide diamond tails, three positions for each footstrap, and have fairly light vee, rocker and nose scoop. The 68 is intended for 6.0 to 9.0 meter sails, and Kinetic particularly boasts of its upwind capability. And Kinetic is known to place a high value on control.
Glenn Fuller’s experience bore that out. He gave the board 5's in Upwind, Planing, Speed and Handling, and a 4 in Jibe. He was astounded at how quickly it went from a standstill to planing. “I’ve never sailed anything in my life that planed that quickly,” he said. Of course, he hadn't sailed the Starboard Formula 155 yet.
Earlier, one of our dealers (not Kinetic) sailed and praised it. “It really unwets in ocean swell, and it's reasonably easy to maneuver," he said. “You sail right off the tail with this thing. You can go as fast as you possibly want—only your courage gets in the way.”
MISSION FREE 72
The Mission Free boards, also including a 60, 68 and 76, use less carbon than the Race boards, so the Free 72 weighs 18.5 pounds. It has the same 280 cm length as the Race 68, but its additional width, especially 54.5 cm at the tail, gives it 160 liters and allows for sails from 7.0 to 10.0 meters. There's more dome, giving comfort for the farther inward footstrap option. There's slightly more rocker, vee and scoop than with the race board, but the rails are actually sharper.
Maybe that's why we found it to be excellent to plane and go upwind, as well as being fast of course, but all four sailors who tried it gave it 3's in Jibe.
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