Witchcraft Wave Series V3.0

For 2012, we will continue with V3.0, entering it´s 3rd year now. Basically we still would not know what to improve and did not want to change something just for marketing purposes. IF, we´d wanted to change anything, with our advanced CAD/CAM system it would be dead easy and done in a day. The V3.0 has a proven shape and both range and style seem to be spot on for experienced wave riders with a good mix for both side and on shore conditions.

Many customers rave about it´s carving capabilities with an electric grip. It´s smooth and responsive, fast and tight turning. The compact outline get it´s grip from the fully sharp rails in the back half, one of the main points that set Witchcrafts apart. Round rails are for Hookipa, sharp rails in the back half give more responsiveness without needing more rocker, more grip and better planing and upwind. Sharp rails are more energy efficient, accelerating through the turn.  The sharp rails are supported by the inverted V bottom shape, giving more rocker on the rails and a flatter rocker in the centre, having the rails deeper, the reaction to steering impulses is inmediate. Towards the front the inverted V is combined with a convex, again adding more rocker where the rails cut into the water, the flatter rockered center of the nose area only becomes effective when the board is put flat to accelerate faster. A wide stance gives a lot more performance, the mast track is closer to the front straps so it´s easier to give mast foot pressure in turns to have more drive when needed.

Our trifin system is going into it´s 14th year of development now, it´s the most advanced and verstaile fin system, with the least drag and best and smoothest turning behaviour. It can be set up extremely forgiving to back foot pressure to super sensitive for the tightest turning. New for 2012 are the optional RTM fins, with again less drag due to a new flow optimised shape (Pat. Pend.) and more flex. Being 55%! lighter than G10 fins, they are also more sensitive for touching the bottom.

We have also managed to drop weights considerably without any sacrifice to the strength. As Witchcraft boards are designed to last many more years, the design has been kept mainly white for easier touching up. 

The V3.0 is aimed at advanced to expert wavesailors for both on and side shore conditions.

A few of the points that sets us apart:

• Huge Range of Use; From " compact"/new-gen/onshore riding-wave boards to radical/classic/trad waveboards, everything is completely covered by 1 shape, based on our (r)evolutionary progressive railshape, parabolic rockerline, tri-fin system and inverted V bottom shape.
• Short Steps in size; Every sailor can choose a board as close as possible to his/hers ideal volume, just like you can with sails. Having a vast experience in custom boards we know the importance of having the right size so the huge range of use is there where you want it. The whole range is basically the same shape scaled up or down with each step up having a touch more width than length added to cater for both different wind strenghts and sailor weights. Through the range the characteristics remain the same so the least adaptation is needed when changing board size.
• Witchcraft Trifin System- Completely redesigned, tested and proven for more than 8 years: Gives the highest allround performance for waveboards. See the Trifinpage
• Witchcraft's famous constructions. Unmatchable by anyone.

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Sizes

*All boards have the same shape and are scaled up or down from one size to the next but a bit more change in width than in length so not 100% proportionally. The smaller boards have been designed for both stronger winds and/or smaller sailors, the bigger boards for lighter wind and/or bigger sailors. These are full on high performance wave boards, for early planing just by wind power alone, the Chakra is the better choice 

**Weight +/- 5%

***When ordering a board you have the following options of Tri Fin set-up: SDT.) The Standard Fins are an entry level Tri Fin set up. Comes as standard with the SDT construction but can be chosen freely. HDD.) Pro Fin set up. Intended for the same windrange as the standard but for a modern upright sailing stance and more experienced and/or lighter wave sailors with who want it looser. Comes as standard with the HDD construction but can be chosen freely.

****All prices incl. Pro Limit ergonomic straps, 3 fins and 2 blanking plates to close off the sidefinboxes for single fin mode.

Upon choosing which size, some customers have said the control and manouvrability is higher as most wave boards so you can choose a size bigger, however others have said that planing and up wind ability is also good so there is no need to choose a too big a size.

In general, for a one wave board quiver, the volume should be around your weight to about +5L, for higher skills or better conditions, maybe a few liters less and for less experienced skills or less ideal conditions a few L more. For a 2 board quiver, usually the best is the smaller a few liters below your weight and the bigger 8 to 15L difference to the smaller board. To really get planing earlierby wind power alone, it is better to choose the Chakra then just going up in size.

Distribution

Use the map to find a distributor nearby. If there is no suitable dealer in your area, you can also order direct by sending us an email. Contact us if you have a question about distribution.

Pricing includes World Wide delivery to your closest airport. For deliveries outside of the European Union deduct 19% VAT. Local VAT to be paid upon arrival. If there is a Witchcraft dealer in your country, we advice to order through them.

Details

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Shape V3.0

Witchcraft V3.0 bottom

Since march 2008, all the boards are being produced by our new, highly innovativ CAD/CAM production system. This allows us to step away from the model by year system, since any changes can be put through quickly without any further costs. We no longer have to wait till the new models are due NOR do we have to take hasty decisions if we would like to test a little longer......... With the introduction of the CNC system we have put through various minor changes, a deeper inverted V, adapted fin angles (by 0.1°), a slightly wider nose, straps a little closer together, and all lines and volumes have been recalculated by our shaping program. We have the same system in our R&D centre and custom board factory on Fuerteventura as well as the production board factory in Sofia, Bulgaria, to make sure what we design in Fuerte is the same board you can buy in shops.

General Info:

Bottom

Witchcraft boards are designed in the north of Fuerteventura. The advantage of the north shore of Fuerte is that there are over 10 different spots for different wind and swell directions within 10-20 minutes drive. Maybe there is not such a clearly defined wind season as the other Canary Islands but all over the year there is an at least as high average of sailing days if you can also make use of less windy conditions when the quality of the waves is usually better. We have conditions from 10 to 40 knots, from off- to onshore with waves from 0,5m to +6m. And we sail in all of it.

As a custom board company operating since 1994, we have always used the most expensive materials and all of our team riders use 1 or max. 2 wave boards, consequently increasing the need for boards with a big range of use even more. Quite different to pros who have a board for practically each condition.

The boards get tested by our team and clients all over the world and we get a lot of direct feed back from sailors at all skill levels.

We spend practically all our time designing, building and testing wave boards, not just in between the free-move-style-ride-race-slalom-formula boards.

Our (r)evolutionary progressive rail shape gives Witchcraft boards the advantage in added up sailing performance over any other board. For V3.0 we have continued changed our progressiv railshape. The added rail lift has moved from the rail apex to the tucked under line, making it more efficient for lesser degrees of footsteering as well and allows more variety between front and back foot pressure. It still adds 2cm of extra rocker on the rail as in the centre rocker. This also means that the rail shape itself looks much more normal. If you put the board flat, our parabolic fast rocker gives a flatter, more efficient planing area. In the rear half of the board the rail becomes becomes very sharp, adding even more to early planing, speed, responsiveness to turning impulses and a rail bite which makes you feel the board accelerates through the turn.

We have also changed the rockerline with more rocker all over allowing more vertical turns in smaller or steeper waves and a slightly wider shorter outline adding to more maneuvrability at lower speeds and a slightly increased tailwidth to compensate for the added rocker and allowing more versatility between front and back foot pressure.

Witchcraft Tri-fin setup

Witchcraft Tri fin system: With more fin area and less leverage it significantly improves performance, which is especially of advantage in less than ideal conditions such as less wind, on shore, smaller or shorter waves, currents. Earlier planing, much better upwind, more manoeuverable, more drive, more playfullness. Can still be converted to single fin for lean back-blasting or very fast cross-off, down-the-line wave sailing. For anything else our tri fin is the best. You can catch more waves and do more with them. The Tri-Fin requires an upright sailing stance, driving more of the front foot and mast foot, rather than a leaning out slalom style.

Also see our our message board or testimonials for references.

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Constructions

Rider: Will Ward, Photo: Bouke Becker

Our constructions are another part of the revolution for production boards:

• Inner strength. Buying a board is investing in a good time on the water, in the healthiest drug in the world, in stress-relieve and not to cause stress. We want your board to last. This is why we pay as much attention to making the inside of the board as strong as the outside to avoid invisible internal damage or fatigue
• A board is only as strong as its weakest component. All of our constructions are very efficient by carefully choosing materials and lay-up with a similar elasticity so they all work together in harmony. We have developed and fine tuned our constructions over many years to try to avoid practically all damages as much as technically is possible.

All boards are semi custom build with overlaps on rails and single, double or triple sandwich depending on the area, all tapered into each other to avoid weak points. With the introduction of our new CNC CAD/CAM production system, we can prepare and produce all EPS and sandwich parts necesary to produce the boards, down to the 0.1mm exact for a perfect fit, ready to be assembled. Even all inserts are cut out by CNC.

There are 2 constructions available:

• SDT. Single, Double, Triple sandwich.
  -H-glass (50%), Carbon (15%),Dyneema® (5%)-epoxy-Single-Double-Triple sandwich.
  1 year guarantee*. With full H-glass on top and bottom, overlapping on the rails.
  H-glass is a new fabric with patented hollow glass fibres. It´s 40% lighter and more impact and pressure resistant as normal E-glass. Witchcraft is the first brand to use this material in production boards. H-glass based composites are more efficient in shock absorbing as normal E-glass. After Dyneema we found this material has the best price/quality ratio for use in wave boards.
• HDD. Heavy Duty Dyneema
  -Dyneema® (60%)-Carbon (15%)-glass-epoxy-single-double-triple sandwich,
  Our famous Heavy Duty Dyneema® construction with 18 months guarantee*. With full Dyneema on top and bottom, overlapping on the rails. Another first from Witchcraft, the specialists in full Dyneema boards since 1995.

When in doubt between these 2 constructions, in our 15 year experience, for about 40-60% of all wavesailors should choose the HDD right away and another 30-40% would certainly benefit from it´s strength, impact resistance, longevity, safety in off the water handling/transport and resale value. The SDT construction is roughly about as strong as any normal production board, which is, to be honest, under- engineered for most wave use. Like many of you will have experienced.......

Remember that a board does not break when there is no wind, each repair is a lost of time and money, and a slightly heavier board still sails a lot better than a light board that is damaged.

Also the boards are short and the centre of gravity of our boards lies much further back which on the water makes them feel some 400-800 grs lighter as conventional boards.

The SDT is available because there still is a small group who do not really need an HDD. But for those who buy an SDT for economic reasons but should really need an HDD to handle their sailing style, should handle it with more care and take a shorter lifespan into account. Or look for a used HDD.......

About Dyneema

Since 1994, under the tough demands of the conditions on Fuerte, Witchcraft started using Dyneema® fibre  as the main fibre in their boards. Dyneema* is the strongest fibre on the market. It is very light, even lighter than water but has a very high tenacity and energy absorption. Still it is stiffer than Kevlar and glass fibre, being slightly more flexible than carbon. It also has a long flex life and is not brittle as carbon or glass.

Comparison of technical properties of different fibres used in wind surfboards:

*) DSM´s registered trademark for High Performance Polyethylene Fiber

Check out the impact resistance of Dyneema in this hammertest video on Youtube

Apart from the price, the problem with Dyneema is that it is hard to work with, hard to cut, to sand and to laminate. It requires high quality workmanship, since irregularities cannot be corrected afterwards.

With Dyneema it is practically impossible to puncture the board. On impact there may be a dent which can be heated out with a hairdryer or hot air gun, since the sandwich material we use has memory and returns to it´s original shape over 70° C. On heavy impacts, the thin layer of glass fibre covering the Dyneema for the finish, may crack, the Dyneema will usually still be intact to stop water penetrating the board.

We have also developed various secret construction "tricks" on the inside, to make boards stronger and to prevent fatigue, that are quite simple but very effective.

We don´t use T or Delta stringers, our solution is much more efficient and stronger.

Wood is in principle not a bad material for weight/strength/price ratio however it also has a few flaws which is why we don´t use it:

• It is only strong in 1 direction so when pressure is applied it will just break along the weak line.
• It is also a completely different material with a different elasticity than the other materials used therefore losing a lot of it´s efficiency.
• It can´t be bend around the rails.
• And it can absorb water, inch or start rotting.

But, as we don´t want to reveal too much here, you´ll have to take our word for it and let our guarantee conditions convince you. We are also the first company to actually reveal the amounts of different fibres we use in our boards, just like is common with masts for many years.
All this results in a superior board with the highest strength to weight ratio possible, truly ``Witchcraft``

*Functionality first: All boards are equipped with G10 Witchcraft Trifins, one colour ergonomic pads, Pro Limit ergonomic straps,  four screws per strap, sidefin boxcovers.

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Downloads

• Series Guarantee Conditions (pdf)
  
• Download PDF Brochure (3MB)
  
• Download User Manual
  

Other links

• Testimonials
  
• The story behind the Witchcraft Trifin
  
• Read all about the 2007 Models
  

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