TESTED: RRD JUICE V3

This test review is written by the independent ‘The Kitemag’

RRD’s Juice V3 seems like it has taken a look at itself in the mirror and decided that it needs to toughen up. There is a more aggressive vibe, with tip cut-outs, new channels and some fresh graphics – which are very pleasing on the eye. RRD have also decided to go to the track system which really gives you the ability to tune your perfect stance set up, and this will have a large appeal to the boot riding crew as tweaking those stance angles is key to powered landings and getting that explosive pop.

Another couple of impressive touches are the straps and pads which are exceptionally comfortable, and the smaller fins which work perfectly on this style of board.

The Juice V3 has had a lot of input from RRD’s entire freestyle team and particularly Dutch giant, Jerrie van de Kop, who pushes his boards to the limit so we were expecting bombproof performance. It is designed for wakestyle riders who want to go hard and as such it has an increased rocker line and an outline designed to give you smoother landings and increased control when you are landing hard. Despite this, on the water we were impressed by the fact that the rocker line was very well balanced so you are not sacrificing too much upwind performance. Coupled with this, the board’s flex pattern is very well-tuned to deliver some seriously explosive pop, but it is still a relatively easy board to cruise around…

For us, although the Juice V3 might have you wondering if it’s the right choice for you as it is touted as a wakestyle board, it is well worth checking out as it is actually really manageable for all levels of riding. So there was just one more thing to say: Stupefacente! (‘Amazing’ in Italian…)

IN A SENTENCE: The Juice V3 is a very well thought out and engineered board, guaranteed to quicken the pulse of any serious wakestyler but also a surprisingly enjoyable board to cruise around on.

Click here for the review on The Kitemag website

Click here to go to the Juice V3 on our website

 

The Xmas SUP Cup is the race that usually closes the SUP racing season in Italy and it’s always a funny but very competitive event held in Igea Marina, with a lot of riders coming from all around Italy because of the great organization always displayed by local shop URBAN.

This time the RRD team was simply unbeatable, with “the Fast” Paolo Marconi running away on his RRD Razzle Dazzle 12’6 since the first strokes, and “the Furious” Jacopo Giusti fighting hard in the 14′ fleet aboard of his RRD Air Race 14’0 and catching the victory against the others composite boards right on the final sprint!

In the between, beautiful Susak Molinero displayed all her woman-power while dominating the Women fleet and leaving a lot of strong guys on her wake with a great 6th place in the overall ranking!

Congratulations to all the RRD riders for the great show!

Below you can find the full report (Italian language) of our Paolo Marconi.

“La XMAS cup è ormai una classica di fine stagione. Oltre ad essere una buona occasione per testare la condizione fisica invernale, è una bella occasione per divertirsi e ritrovare gli amici del sup con cui condividiamo la stagione estiva.
L’organizzazione e l accoglienza romagnola ci ha come sempre regalato una bellissima giornata all’insegna dello sport e del divertimento!
Per quanto riguarda l’aspetto agonistico della manifestazione, è stato un successo per il team RRD che ha conquistato buoni piazzamenti, ma sopratutto il gradino più alto del podio in tutte le categorie Race.
La gara si svolgeva su un percorso tecnico con 4 giri di boa e due giri del percorso. La quasi assenza di vento ha dato vita ad una gara davvero veloce sull’acqua piattissima. Il razzle dazzle era la tavola perfetta per questo tipo di condizione e le medie sono state molto alte!
Per quanto mi riguarda sono stato davanti al gruppo dall’inizio alla fine cercando di fare selezione al primo km per sgranare il gruppo. Susak ha chiuso la sua gara al sesto posto assoluto nella categoria 12’6″ battendo la maggior parte dei maschi e dominando la categoria femminile!
Jacopo ha vinto la categoria 14 piedi imponendosi sul resto del gruppo a bordo del suo AirRace 14’0, mettendo in evidenza le incredibili potenzialità di questa tavola gonfiabile!
Ottime prestazioni anche per il resto del team che ha visto il giovane Lorenzo Boschetti come sempre in crescita e i veterani del team Giorgio Magí e Daniele Frattesi fare una gara di alto livello nelle prime posizioni del gruppo.
Grande divertimento anche nella gara amatoriale con i Monotipo e con il Megasup che hanno colorato la clàssica di Natale!
Un bel successo che conclude in bellezza una stagione piena di emozioni!
Buone feste a tutti e ci vediamo in acqua nel 2016 sempre più competitivi e veloci! ”
A presto!

Antoine Albeau wins his 4th consecutive PWA Slalom World Title riding RRD X-Fire LTDboards and his 23rd personal World Title after 6 days of tough and crazy competition at Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup.The first day of competition was packed with drama and massive upsets, with Antoine finishing the day in 35th position and requiring to rise back to a top 4 finish in order to deny Mortefon a maiden world title!

Let’s see how Antoine makes it his incredible exploit!

DAY 2
After a low key start to the event on Day 1 the trade winds returned with a vengeance on Day 2 of the Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup to provide an exhilarating day of racing in 20-30 knots of wind, which was packed with drama and massive upsets that could have massive repercussions with regard to the men’s title race.
The men’s title race seemed as though it would realistically be a two-horse race between Matteo Iachino and Antoine Albeau coming into the final event of the year, but the day showed how quickly things can change in the world of the slalom as the title race was turned on its head by the end of the day with Pierre Mortefon blitzing his way through to assume control at the top of the overall rankings.
Matteo Iachino had barely put a foot wrong so far this season, but the first day of competition really wasn’t the Italian’s day as he took early exits in both of the eliminations completed.

On his side, Antoine Albeau endured a torrid day. Antoine was extremely unlucky in the opening elimination, suffering two broken masts right before his first round heat, and despite his best efforts he couldn’t make the start line in time and he too suffered the worst possible start to the day with an early exit from Heat 4. The reigning world champion then made a slight recovery in Race 2 by finishing 11th, but he too will be looking to discard both results over the coming days in order to get his title challenge back on track.

DAY 3
Day 3 saw another exhilarating day of racing as winds of 15-25 knots greeted the competitors.
Antoine Albeau started his recovery to get his title challenge back on track in the perfect fashion as he claimed his first bullet of the event in Race 3. However, after taking a step forwards it was then a case of two-steps back for A2 in the very next race after being eliminated in the quarterfinals. Albeau was not willing to lay down without a fight though and he hauled himself back into contention by clinching another bullet in the final race of the day, which could prove crucial in deciding the title race. At the end of Day 3 Albeau rises to 8th in the overall rankings and is only 6.2 points off 4th place, which is the minimum result he requires to deny Pierre Mortefon the 2015 PWA Slalom World Title.

DAY 4
The wind arrived late on Day 4 of the Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup to provide a fascinating conclusion to the day as further drama unfolded. With light winds 8-20 knots Antoine Albeau missed out on a place in the final!

After missing out on the winners’ final it was a case of damage limitation for A2 in the Losers Final and he managed to do just that as he won the heat to record a 9th place finish in Race 6. Albeau’s latest result sees him rise one place to 7th, but he still has 3 places to find — as only a top 4 finish will guarantee him a 4th successive world title.

DAY 5
Antoine Albeau leads the fight for the world title after hauling himself from 7th place at the end of Day 4 to 2nd by the end of play today. In the first race of the day the reigning world champion finished 3rd behind Pierre Mortefon and Cedric Bordes.

At this point Albeau had already moved into 3rd and therefore assumed control of the title race, but he further improved his position by claiming an emphatic victory in Race 8, which he celebrated by fist pumping the air as he crossed the finish line ahead of teammate Julien Quentel, Mortefon and Taty Frans.

DAY 6
The final day of the Airwaves Noumea PWA Dream Cup saw huge crowds gather in Noumea to see the world’s fastest sailors battling it out one final time for 2015.
In 20-25 knots of wind, Antoine Albeau was made to sweat it out on the final day after a premature start in Heat 14, which saw 6 sailors disqualified!

Antoine takes a 16th place in elimination 9, but anyway he finishes the event in 4th place, which was just enough to see Antoine collecting an incredible 4th consecutive world title, which is his 23rd overall world crown.

Antoine Albeau said: “It feels super good, it was a bit difficult with the points because I wasn’t really sure of the scenarios, but now it feels great to win one more world title.”

2015 Airwaves Noumea Dream Cup – Men’s
1st Pierre Mortefon
2nd Taty Frans
3rd Cyril Moussilmani
4th Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde / Chris Benz)

2015 PWA Slalom World Tour – Men’s Overall Ranking
1st Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde / Chris Benz)
2nd Pierre Mortefon
3rd Matteo Iachino
7th Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde) 

After 4 weeks of waiting and attempts at the 2015 Luderitz Speed Challenge event, finally un-forecasted conditions arrived on the 2nd of November which were perfect for Antoine Albeau to break his World Speed Record and the 53 knots barrier as well!

The day began with a 25-30 knots average wind speed, with the race starting at 12.30. From 2pm, the wind suddenly started to increase strongly, with gusts over 50knots! Sand was flying everywhere, so also over the speed course, which made sailing down the channel really challenging due to the strong sand blasts.

After a couple of runs over 50 knots, Antoine Albeau who achieved 51.66 kts 2 days ago, was determined to beat his World Record (set at the 2012 Luderitz Speed Challenge: 52.05 kts).

Then Antoine broke his world record, for the first time, achieving 52.41 kts!

After this run, he never stopped and broke his other records 5 times: 52.50 kts > 52.76 kts > 53.1 knots and then the actual World Record which now stands at a highly impressive 53.27 kts!

ANTOINE ALBEAU: 32 runs total > 13 runs over 52 knots > 4 runs over 53 knots – amazing!

Antoine Albeau: “53.27 KTS!!!!!! A DREAM COME TRUE !!!!!! Finally I managed to beat my Windsurfing World Record I just did 53.27kts ( 98.66km/h )!! This is unbelievable! I really cannot imagine that today I could pass the 53 knots barrier, this is amazing! I was pushing so much the limits the last 4 days and in the end it paid off, I am so happy!!! I did few times over 55.50kts ( 102.79km/h ) in Vmax! I have no words…”

 

 
Program: Fast Freeride / Free Race

 

Originally designed and trimmed to combine early planning, speed, control and easy jibing,the new Firestorm V3 line has been completely re-considered not only in terms of shape and details, but mainly for its program of use.

During the last 48 months since the first introduction of the Firestorm V1 Line, we have consistently kept on shaping new prototypes trying to improve the magic mix of the existing boards. But we could only improve one or two parameters, better upwind or better jibing while keeping the same top speed, but then either early planing or manouverability was getting worse. 48 months of development, over 25 prototype boards and over 300 hours of testing time in the water have not been able to improve the magic mix of the V1 and V2 Firestorm shapes.

Then we have started to re-consider the program of use and we have understood that when you choose a new board around the program of “fast freeriding” the most important parameter is SPEED. So the whole concept of creating a 30% faster board whilst keeping early planing and control have given life to a completely new line of Firestorm boards: the VERSION 3.

– – –

The 2015 PWA slalom season has got off to a flying start, with Antoine Albeau riding his newRRD X-FIRE LTD V7 at his best and taking a first step to a world title hat trick in the men’s fleet. With two rounds completed for the men, the event’s top 10 and the current overall rankings are as follows:

2015 Ulsan PWA World Cup
Men overall ranking

1. Antoine Albeau (RRD/Neil Pryde)
2. Pierre Mortefon
3. Josh Angulo
8. Arnon Dagan (RRD/NeilPryde)

Here it is a quick feed back about this Korea victory from our reigning World Champion:

- Ciao Antoine, congratulations for the great start of this PWA Season! Which are your feelings after this first PWA event?
I feel really good! There was some stress like usual before all the events, but the first one is always important! I fell super good with my gear so I just need to concentrate on the racing.

- Korea racing field looks being pretty tricky. Which were the main conditions during this event?
The wind here in Ulsan is a thermical wind so you never really know when the wind will kick in and kick off, the place is also super gusty and this days we got gust up to 28kts I think, I was on my 8.6 NP et 114 X-Fire V7 and I was flying!!

- How did you manage to be so consistent in this kind of conditions?
I was fast and I took some really good start during all the heats. Only during the second Winners final I did a terrible start and I find myself fully covered by everyone and I arrive last at the first jibe, but luckily I manage to arrive 5th at the end!

- After the pre-season training and after the first PWA event, could you explain us which are the main differences in performance you found in this V7 XFIRE range compared to last year V6 range?
The V7 has more control that the V6 during navigation and this make you going more fast in straight line, also the V7 has more surface area in the back allowing you to accelerate super fast after every jibe to your top speed!

- Which are the next events you’re going to attend?
Now I will be going to the Défi Wind, it is going to be a fantastic race and this year it will be 1.200 competitors, but this is going to be one of the hardest race because lots of fast sailors from the PWA will be there and lots can and want to win this event, it is going to be super physical!

MORE ACTION PICTURES: CLICK HERE 

Windsurfing legend Antoine Albeau wins the 2014 PWA Slalom World Title! This is the third time in a row since he joined the RRD family, showing this way that he finally founds the right stuff and the right team to win races, Events and World Championships!

This new World Title victory anyway was not easy to catch, cause Antoine faced the last PWA event in New Caledonia starting from the second position overall, with the mission to finish the event in the TOP 5 and in front of his contender Cyril Moussilmani to rise to the top of the PWA overall ranking!

Day 3 of Airwaves Noumea Dream Cup PWA event was the first day of competition, and saw the pressure rising for Antoine. After almost seven hours of racing three eliminations have been completed for the men, Cedric Bordes was in first and Cyril Moussilmani looks very consistent in second position, while Antoine was in a not so encouraging 4th position!

During day 4 further three races were completed in 15-25 knot of winds, and Men’s title race takes a twist as Antoine Albeau edged into the lead in the battle for the 2014 taking his second bullet of the event in the final elimination of the day, raising to the 2nd provisional place behind flying Dutchman Ben Van Der Steen with Cyril Moussilmany in 4th position.

During day 5 a further two races were completed in winds ranging from 14-25 knots and at the end of the day Ben Van Der still heads the event rankings with one day to go, whilst the men’s title race will go down to the wire between Antoine Albeau and Cyril Moussilmani with just 3.6 points separating the two Frenchman, so there is all still to play for.

And finally it comes the last day of the event. Day 6 saw a grandstand finale to the 2014 PWA World Tour as Ben Van Der Steen had been leading the event rankings for the past two days and the flying Dutchman secured his maiden event victory after claiming the final bullet of the week, whilst Albeau completed a famous hat-trick of world titles after finishing second compared to Moussilmani’s fifth place in elimination nine.

Overall Results Airwaves Noumea Dream Cup PWA
1st Ben Van Der Steen
2nd Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde)
3rd Cyril Moussilmani
4th Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde)
11th Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde)
14th Andrea Rosati (RRD / NeilPryde)

Overall Results 2014 PWA Slalom World Tour – Men’s
1st Antoine Albeau (RRD / NeilPryde)
2nd Cyril Moussilmani
3rd Pierre Mortefon
6th Julien Quentel (RRD / NeilPryde)
7th Arnon Dagan (RRD / NeilPryde)

A new Girls Camp in Morocco – Dakhla is incoming.
RRD team rider Kari Schibevaagi will be again in  our beautiful RRD Center DAKLA SPIRIT to coach all the girls and push them to discover new limits.
The Camp will start the 20th of October, so it’s time for girls to sign up, cause this Camp will be just …full power!