Jimmy Lewis Flight Deck vs Spleene Door - Very Light Winds

[knot_moving]

Looking at 154 Door vs Flight Deck. I am 185#, my son is 140# & we will both be using this board. We have lots of days with winds 8-10kts. Kites are a Contra 17m and a T3 11m.
We are both beginners (been thru basic lessons) and able to ride but both still making the long walk . But both committed to lots of hours on the water this year so looking for reasonably rapid progression.

Its a rare day when the wind is 20+kts sustained, but when the sea-breeze blows hard we do get some 15-20 kt days.

We have an older Prodigy 158 board as well

Just looking for pluses & minuses on the two options above

[stauter]

IMO....The Door is the way to go, having owned 2 doors and living in the light wind capital,
NW FL. the door is the board of choice.

Since you are starting out, the faster you learn to go upwind the faster you will progress, and the Door will deliver in this area.

Once you are more proficient you might want to consider the flightdeck as it will be a little more trick friendly.

[mobettah]

Looking at 154 Door vs Flight Deck. I am 185#, my son is 140# & we will both be using this board. We have lots of days with winds 8-10kts. Kites are a Contra 17m and a T3 11m.
We are both beginners (been thru basic lessons) and able to ride but both still making the long walk . But both committed to lots of hours on the water this year so looking for reasonably rapid progression.

Its a rare day when the wind is 20+kts sustained, but when the sea-breeze blows hard we do get some 15-20 kt days.

We have an older Prodigy 158 board as well

Just looking for pluses & minuses on the two options above

I've ridden both boards. The door was the monster door (160cm). Here are my observations. I'm 180 lbs, intermediate kiter and use a 16m C in light winds (around 10 knots).

Jimmy Lewis Flight Deck
- good light wind performance maybe 1 knot less than the door
- cuts chop better than the door
- performed better for me when the wind came up. I could hold it down in more wind

Door
- needs a lot of rear leg pressure to keep the nose up
- good light wind performance
- could not hold it down in when the wind started to come up

I was going to get a lightwind twin tip but after trying a strapless surfboard and having a blast I got one of those. Probably a little early for you to think of that.

[FredBGG]

Personally I would never kite on something resembling a weapon, in particular an aircraft carrier.

That said Jimmy Lewis makes fine boards.

[noel]

Looking at 154 Door vs Flight Deck. I am 185#, my son is 140# & we will both be using this board. We have lots of days with winds 8-10kts. Kites are a Contra 17m and a T3 11m.
We are both beginners (been thru basic lessons) and able to ride but both still making the long walk . But both committed to lots of hours on the water this year so looking for reasonably rapid progression.

Its a rare day when the wind is 20+kts sustained, but when the sea-breeze blows hard we do get some 15-20 kt days.

We have an older Prodigy 158 board as well

Just looking for pluses & minuses on the two options above

I've ridden both boards. The door was the monster door (160cm). Here are my observations. I'm 180 lbs, intermediate kiter and use a 16m C in light winds (around 10 knots).

Jimmy Lewis Flight Deck
- good light wind performance maybe 1 knot less than the door
- cuts chop better than the door
- performed better for me when the wind came up. I could hold it down in more wind

Door
- needs a lot of rear leg pressure to keep the nose up
- good light wind performance
- could not hold it down in when the wind started to come up

I was going to get a lightwind twin tip but after trying a strapless surfboard and having a blast I got one of those. Probably a little early for you to think of that.

The Monster Door is 164x50 compared to the Flight Decks 147x@40. Big difference! The Monster Door is made for heavy riders. I have a rider here that weighs @290 lbs. and loves the Monster. The board you should be looking at is either the Session 142x42 or for lighter winds but not as much fun later, the Door 160x44. These boards have loads of pop for such a large board. I also think the construction on the Spleene is better than the JL.

If you can try? Try!

[knot_moving]

I should have specified the 154 door is what we are looking at - not the monster

[grantman54]

the flight deck is onsale only for today on Real
just thought i would let u know

[diraklib]

Sorry to jump in like this with a new choice - I am not a pimp, just very happy with my new Flyboard L 165x46. It is very comfortable and light, moves around like a smaller board. Very similar to the Speene in terms of the flexible tips. Does not have the "channel" on the bottom like the Spleene, but is asymmetrical and has different stiffness on the heel (more) and toeside (less) to supposedly help with riding toe side. All I can say is the board kills chop and gives such a smooth ride that speed feels more manageable. some links below - choices choices choices...

http://www.foilzone.com/phpBB2/viewtopi ... highlight=

http://www.flyboards.de/Content/469/?mnid=187

[alden]

I own a JL Flight Deck. I weigh 185 lbs. I like this board a lot. It helped my progression with easy water starts in low wind and it would go upwind when my other boards would not. When I ride this board I don't feel that I am giving up a natural feel of a regular twin tip. I've ridden it in a variety of conditions and it does well. I'm able to jump it and practice transitions very naturally. In chop and small waves it does well, occasionally in these conditions I have to remind myself that this board has little rocker and therefore I better keep a little focus on keeping the nose up. It can cruise quite fast in light winds.

[FredBGG]

Sorry to jump in like this with a new choice - I am not a pimp, just very happy with my new Flyboard L 165x46. It is very comfortable and light, moves around like a smaller board. Very similar to the Speene in terms of the flexible tips. Does not have the "channel" on the bottom like the Spleene, but is asymmetrical and has different stiffness on the heel (more) and toeside (less) to supposedly help with riding toe side. All I can say is the board kills chop and gives such a smooth ride that speed feels more manageable. some links below - choices choices choices...

http://www.foilzone.com/phpBB2/viewtopi ... highlight=

http://www.flyboards.de/Content/469/?mnid=187

Dira brings up an intresting point.

The flyboards are very intresting due to their asymetric outline and asymetric flex.
This is an inovative design to make the boards easier to ride toeside.
This is particularly important with bigger boards. They tend to feel even bigger when ridden toeside. This will be particularly important for your son as he is lighter.
If you think about it our toes and heel are very different.
Both Spleene and Flydoor have been making light wind boards for quite a while
and flysurfer (flyboards mother company) makes the best low wind kites out there.

Both Spleene and Flyboards have top german engineering and production.
They are also extremely durable but also very light.

Spleene boards are symetric and have a center channel.
Flyboards are asymetric and have a concave hull.

From my experience concave hulls are better in choppy conditions
especially when combined with good flex.

I have recently been riding a very intresting directional board that is made out of aeronautical grade carbon fiber and is hollow. It lets ne modify the amount of concave in the hull.
I can take it from totally flat to a deep concave, but maintaining hull flex all the time.
It had made me apreciate how nice a concave hull is, but in particular when combined with flex.
I have tried ridgid concave surfboards and they are not the same.