nils

Never seen those fish :) was there summer '93 before teahupoo was "discovered" it was known this area as the place for the huge cruiser boats to be able to enter lagoons ( deep reef)...and its frankly a long drive from Papeete with many world class waves before on the road ( taapuna etc..).. I'm way from having the level to be on a normal wave over 6' in tahiti, so you can imagine what it is to be there...it is just make me s**t my pants thinking of sitting on those wave shoulders hearing the thunder roll and feel the water sucked from the reef.... As for tow in surfing: i do not consider it surfing so i'm not impressed even if it takes corones and ready to die attitude to be there...the hardest part in surfing is the paddle and take off, not the riding which takes, to my opinion, less technical level and stamina than paddling in a very steep fast wave and stand up. The timing is so critical in tahiti or at other very fast waves that you need 110% commitment that you don't need when you're towed. Another thing i dislike is the pollution, the noise and attitudes that come with tow in surfing...but that is a long debate...magazines do not complain because tow in sells photos and incredible wave sizes... Nils

i guess its barely 2m deep where the guy is..and if he falls anyway he will get sucked under the falls by the rotation...i've ridden in much smaller waves near the "island museum" closer to papeete, and got sucked each time i bailed ( then the reef is suddenly very close).. just watching this pic and imagining the sharp grindy reef is making me chill !!! is there any vid from this session available? Nils

ugly BX course they've set up...ugly to watch compare to the torino race.. Anyway what is making me really happy is to see that despite all the money involved, its only two small snowboard brands that are able to make boards able to win in the olympics BX and PGS... it points out a few things: 1. to make boards able to win races you really need to be a good shaper, and there is only a handful on the planet it seems. 2. you don't need an incredible shaper to make a board able to win the pipe event ( i personnaly hate all kind of things that are not judge by first arrived or clock...subjectivity should not be a criteria in any olympic sport so not a big deal). 3. no big sponsor thought of putting his brand name on a kessler or a oxess for the races or BX...( remember Isabelle Blanc Hot board ( tropical tube inside)).. N.

blueB you need a phenix ( seb perret the shaper is freesurf's second shaper), a boheme, and a swellpanik ( call the banker)to add to the woodies you got. I got from Seb a later highlander with a very short nose (much more racing oriented) was so stiff and springy was dangerous...) http://www.phenix-snowboards.com/ http://www.en.boheme.fr/ http://www.swellpanik.com/ another one is clone pretty cool: http://www.clone-ind.com/

kind of levitation board :) I think i recognize the rider (he is also in the next pic; doing levitation, again!))..he is not totally converted to EC, but is in the top 10 in Switzerland ( BX) ( antoine pochon) ( he usually barely turns) so we like his (power) feedback.

thnx to Vahur and others, pics are here now, vids should follow soon Extremely low temps ( -20°C), incredible third day perfect grooming perfect snow. too many pics to choose from but one of my fav is: http://carving.grewu.org/gallery/ecsVII/monday_le_col/dsc_5066.htm Nils

correction ( you were right) > i meant 10 meter diameter not radius.. i also find huge circles at low speed not very spicy.. All attempts that are doing tail spins or unburrying the edge to shorten the radius are not valid :) What i'm eager to see is a snapped turn, not a lazy carve. N.

still waiting for a 360 done full edge under 10m radius turn!! Who's gonna shoot this? Nils :)

way way too high on the board....but could be usefull to people that like huge lift and cant... nice mechanical aspect ( lock on the ball)..I see maybe an issue with getting all the pressure distributed to the mast under the ball, then redistributed on the disc...wonder how they will prevent it from breaking ( the mast). Nils

great pics :) Hope Larry likes his ride ! Phil > if you happen to drive by Lyon on your way to the alps, stop by so I can let you try a Dual and one of my Swellpanik swallowtails ! Would love to see examples of the 5D HD film ability too Nils

yes water and as a diamond Usually am sharpening with: - 200 diamond to untemper the steel - icecut race file ( vallorbe special steel) that leaves no marks on the steel - 400 diamond - 800 diamond - arkansas: but i'm using it only when i want that mirror look: its very long to obtain ( our specialist friend from tooltonic told me he needs 4-5 hours to get his son ( BX races) a real race finish that lasts: its a mirror but it needs a hell of a job) I am therefore rarely going as far as the arkansas step, it takes too long and doing a half job ( half polished half unpolished) seems useless compare to a good 800 diamond, but when i do its always with water! Nils

no clue :) If i had the time i'll modelize it in autocad and see how it would be, alas i have no template of a softboot/binding combo in dxf of dwg... I think you should try and see by experimentation rather than try to calculate things precisely: this topic clearly shows the need for a new generation of softboots able to take angles and do real power carving...Duck stance is not an option in my opinion when you need to really carve...from what it seems, the Catek freeride seems a very interesting binding, alas its a bit confidential distribution and i think its a boot/binding combo that should be developped for this new softboots with angles tendency. N

It all depends on what bindings you will ride! and what style of riding you will achieve on that particular day!. The 175 is not too stiff, if you are not a midget ;) you will be able to turn in easy if you are over 180cm. If the tables say you are right on spot for the 168, then its all about the settings and preferences: 1. Do i want to ride duck stance / softboots and do fakie, tricks? 2. do i want to ride hardboots hard on piste with occasionnal tricks, small jumps, powder ... 3. settings will of course be very different, on the same board, for such a different kind of riding. Of course 27cm is not enough for a 0° setting: you would need at least a 32-33cm board to be able to ride EC turns at 0°. My 28.5 mondo decided my angles, i started at the back foot, set it to 36-37°, found it would not overhang, then added 7-8° on the front. Closing 360 ( almost, will try better in three weeks) is achieved in a violent turn not too fast with the right slope ( you need to find an up going part to relaunch the last part of the turn). Its not really too fast ( EC turns are not really fast). On my Extremecarver 175 i usually close them at around 9m ( theorical radius of the board is 13m), I estimate its about 5-6m on the Dual but i'll verify this soon. N

Ahh hehe no translation distortion: its just that when its morning corduroy, i rather destroy it with an Extremecarver with much more efficiency..its still great fun on the Dual, but you better use F1 car on F1 tracks than a Lancer Evo X right? As for length, check the tables: you can see the sizes overlap rider height or weight by some: I can use both the 175 and 168 really, ( am 6'3 / 80 kilos/28,5 feet).. its up to you to decide if you want the bigger or smaller adapted size: length will give stability at speeds and more edge, shortness will give manoeuvrability, shall it be on softboots or hardboots..its also true in powder. Nils

The flex is not related to edge hold, or basically it is but its more about the torsion distribution that the edge hold works or not on that board. I've tested it with huge pressure EC turns to see if it would release without succeeding in loosing an edge ( on good snow of course)..(The 175 get to small turns around 5-6m radii when you really want it to do...)

Johnasmo, Your point of view makes sense, and I did not feel offended: its normal to be sceptical regarding the announced fields aimed by the board. I think it would be a great idea to ride it :). During the season, more and more riders will post pics or vids of them in various situations and settings... i'm with alpine settings and rather high angles for such a shape ( i hate overhang) and yes, in deep pow i prefer a Swallowtail, but from the few days i've spent on my Dual ( not duel ;), its clear that it will fit 75-80% of the situations when its not early morning corduroy or deep pow....Its not really comparable to a BX board because its has a very soft flex pattern compare to a BX... ( its already the case with the Extremecarver that has a softer flex than most other boards). We have a rider in the swiss national BX and we'll follow closely his feedback on the Dual ( he rides it in BX races): He might need a harder flex for the BX, but we'll know after more time...

Interesting topic showing there is room for a "hybrid" binding for sure. Its a difficult choice to make on the DUal: do i want to ride hard and EC, and ride 20-30% offpiste on the sides of the slopes, or do i want a real softboot setup to be able to really enjoy offpiste and be able to do tricks. Softboots will not be able to be efficient a 45°, and boot overhang will affect carving...dilemna..As always its going to be personnal preferences of the rider! Fin: its time to create a softboot binding for freecarving alpine way/freeriding Its going up to everyone, my personnal preference is to loose agility by keeping angles and use softer hardboots setups ( TD3SW). I would have want to use my SB121 again, but the sole is too long and adds more angles...What i like is to bomb on piste and do turns and small jumps offpistes which my set up allows. Riding duck is no option, and riding softboots and loose efficiency on piste neither one ( plus the spread legs style is ugly to my opinion).. As for board width: 27cm is wide, but strangely i don't feel the width at all, its only at very low speeds that you feel it: the softer flex pattern ( compare to other boards) makes turn initiation not that of a problem really. Nils

Actually pic 1 and 3 is on a groomed piste ( not really corduroy) More images from the day ( was a small EC meeting organized localy by a uni sport's team in Toulouse: Clip 1 Longer final Clip 2 Not too much Dual footage in the clip ( they had only two demo boards) but they seemed to have fun :) Nils

smartass :)

Here is the first decent pics we get from the Dual in action, protos were not cute and first prod boards were too late in the season so here it is! Thnx to rider and to photographer :)..there is old school mood in those pics ( maybe its the hair :) or the stoked face :). Resort: Peyragudes, Pyreneans, France, January 10, 2010. / Swoard Dual 168 Nils

its a real mystery how they ship at 30 euros really....No clue...worth inquiring thu!! Let us know your results ! Nils

Bob, If you have fedex account # from the US, it can be cheaper to pick it up from your account directly where the sender is. Sending otherwise is in the 100-180 euros range depending on the companies ( Fedex, TNT, DPD, DHL etc..) Petrol tax is between 15-18% too adding to the cost they give you ( its crazy)... This shows also the unfair way overseas to/from the US is managed worldwide: it must have something to do with politics/economics ( its about 3 times cheaper to ship from the US to europe than the opposite...)...but its not much any of us can do to make it cheaper from here... Nils

"I didn´t know what you did at that time 2003 / 2004( rumours I heard: You worked as a nurse!?)" such an elegant attack! seems no one seems to notice anymore... there is even "lawyers" that think it's right to defend that way....( did not notice any reason why..) I'm sorry Jack but I would have stand out as a moderator at a point there... Anyway, few eyebrows raised only, the vibes are cool right..? N.

its about the same result: if you lock at hips, and initiate from shoulders, the hips follow :) If you look carefully at the slow motions in the vids, you can see it goes from up to down... :) Nils

Justin, The pb you are noticing are mostly due to one thing: lack of rotation during the turns. Try to read carefully the how to methods on the website. Boots, bindings, stance set up do have their importance, but not as much as rotation which is number one thing to pick up: - initiate the turn with upper body ( shoulders ) - try to avoid using arms ( try to imagine them velcroed to the legs) - "lock" torso to lower body ( in order to avoid counter rotations and to transfer shoulder moves to board) - practice at lower speeds on skidded turns ( see the simple vids of the first steps..), avoid going downhill which will make you gain too much speed: see on the vids as riders are going uphill to control speed, keep it constant whatever the steepness is - ride on two feet ( as pokkis said) instead of front leg to back leg balance such as other technique usually do.. Its really a mental thing: once you got it, you'll know where to progress. Good luck :), it took me 2 seasons to understand the " no arm flapping" part :) Nils