Wind at last - 31st March

Finally Cornwall has been blessed with solid breeze after almost a 3 week wind drought!

An enjoyable sail down at Marazion, Station Car park on the trusty Ezzy 5.8m Wave Panther 3 and RRD Wave Twin Ltd 90.  Typical cross onshore conditions and a waist high wave allowed a fun cruise with some chop hopping and the occasional slash when any swell peaked.  Around a dozen windsurfers were out with mild temperatures and a slightly overcast day. 
It was my first opportunity to try out the Shock XTR extension system from North Sails.  Basically it is like a suspension unit built into the extension which combined with a specific north deckplate - Certanly it is not a cheap piece of kit but does it work? - The idea behind it
First impressions......
Rigging - The north ratchet XT system has been around for a while and I think it is simply a joy to use. It is efficient and allows you to tune your downhaul to perfection on the beach and is not at all fiddly once you are accustomed to it.  The extension is alloy and means it is robust and the adjustment collar is operational with the minimum of fuss.
On the Water:
In all respects it behaves like a typical tendon style deckplate (a little stiffer than the tradional boge UJ)  Sailing in a straight line on flat water between the waves I do not think you would notice the difference but where it comes into play is on choppy conditions and in landing from jumps.  The jury may still be out on the choppy water but it certainly felt very comfortable with less rig vibration once I was fully on the plane - Considering it was Starboard tack jumping (my worst side) and I typically have more than my fair share of 'slappy' landings I felt it really came into its own when landing from jumps. 

More testing with it is required  to build more concise feedback on this piece of windsurfing engineering, but first impressions are definitely positive - If you want to try one Let me know!
 For a boards  Video review of the extension - click here