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Witchcraft 90L Review
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- Category: Latest
- Published: 23 May 2014
- Written by Rod
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One of the attractions about Witchcraft boards is that they are made by complete enthusiasts on a never ending quest to improve boards in every way you can think of (and in quite a few ways that you couldn't) - anyone who has ever met Bouke Becker (the owner and designer of Witchcraft boards) will know how infectious his enthusiasm is.
My board is a custom, but Witchcraft make a range of production boards (with identical construction to my custom) https://www.witchcraft.nu/
All Witchcrafts have a trifin set up with toed in side boxes that use the mini Tuttle system and a US box in the centre. Despite probably being the most heavy duty fin systems available the boards are still light - as light as other production boards – typically around 7 KG for a 90L.
Although this review is specific to my 90L custom board the shape is quite close to the Shaman Witchcraft range - so my comments would extrapolate well to that range of boards, at least in the bigger sizes. I have also sailed an 85L and 100L Chakra v2.0 (the Witchcraft freestyle wave range) and briefly sailed a 99L Wave v3.0 and whilst the bigger Chakra didn’t turn as well as my board (it has a flatter rocker) its other attributes and the general quality of the ride are applicable.
The Character
The first thing you notice when jump on a Witchcraft board is the incredible sense of release and acceleration that is more characteristic of a free ride board than a wave board. It is unlike any waveboard I have ever sailed before.
All the witchcraft boards I have tried are characterised by this sense of quick and free feeling acceleration and it really comes into play when entering a lull, or heading out through white water, the board glides and jumps easily without losing speed.
These qualities are also particularly useful for getting around a break when the wind is gusty and there is a lot of water moving around. It's easy to keep your speed up and the board planing – this also makes for an effective jumping machine too: Being able to quickly accelerate at any wave offering a launchpad. It also means that is possible to change down sail earlier because the efficiency of the board doesn't require so much power to drive it. On my recent trip to Moulay with consistently large waves these qualities really helped punching out through wall after wall of whitewater and then having to generate speed for the next one as the wave tried to suck the board backwards.
It is very noticeable how much easier to get going and much quicker my board accelerates compared to my similar sized Moo custom and also against other similar sized boards I have sailed such as the Koster kode 87 and the Nuevo 93. (All of which are very nice boards to sail in their own way).
Turn any Witchcraft over – including my own board – you can see that they have hard rails extending as far forward as the front foot strap - and I guess these must partially contribute to this feeling of easy release.
Despite the hard rails my board feels comfortable in the evil chop that somewhere like Avon beach can produce when the harbour is flooding out across the bay.
The Build
Witchcraft boards are defined by real attention to detail: four screws in every foot strap, A raised stopper on the entry point of the mast track – so that if your mast foot works loose it cannot immediately slip out of the track, extra deep and recessed (and comfortable) foot pads. But the one characteristic that isn't visible is the ultra tough construction. The HDD boards are literally hard as nails (yes I have bashed one with a hammer to see). And my 90L board has now been sailed nearly a 100 times and it has been dropped on rocks, run into rock ledges and jumped pretty high. Apart from a few paint chips it is like new and still has that sharp solid ping of a new board - rather than the slightly dull squishy feel typical of most boards that have been sailed a 100 times. It is the only waveboard I have owned (bar an Evo) that I have not snapped jumping. As you might imagine, I am quite pleased about that; my pre Witchcraft days were really quite expensive (I snapped 4 waveboards in three and a half years - all different brands).
My board, at 230cm long 59.8cm wide with a 36.5cm tail, packs in 90L in a relatively typical plan shape. This volume and plan shape combined with the quick release make for a very versatile board: I use it with 5.8-4.2 sails (I’m around 93kgs).
The ride
Sailing in a straight line the ride feels fast and direct and on a wave they are designed to be turned on the rail, which, when you get it right sends you through the turn at an incredible speed keeping momentum right to the lip in a more extreme way than I have experienced on other boards. With light to medium power that means the board will still maintain speed through the turn on a wave. My board definitely rewards good technique: get the rail in properly and a bottom turn feels as if you are a pip being squeezed out of an orange.
For comparison even the notoriously fast Kode wave 87 I used for a few days in Maui (1 cm wider) felt more sluggish!
The witchcraft feels very loose but very precise under foot and it is worth experimenting with small fin set ups which I found loosened the board even more. I use 13cm sides and a 16cm centre on my 90l for almost everything bar a 5.8m sail.
The same crazy efficiency also means my board also shoots upwind even when lightly powered. Even if the board is only just planing you can still make easy ground upwind.
So are there any downsides to the super efficient release and the bite and acceleration through a carve? The board rewards good technique so get it wrong and the board still turns fine but without that witchcraft pip out of an orange magic. In fact the only downside I have noticed sailing my 90L is bottom turning when I am overpowered on my 4.2 and the wave is choppy (that is 3.7 wind for 80kg lightweights), the acceleration can be hard to control and the rail feels as if it will lock you into an insanely fast carve. But by then, in a solid 35 knots of wind, a smaller board is going to feel a lot more controllable in every respect (remember this is a 90L and 60cm wide board). By contrast sailing the board overpowered with a 4.2 in bump and jump conditions (no bottom turning) it is hard to find its top end.
I haven’t used my board in bigger than logo high waves, and it is not designed as a big surf cross-off down the line board. However I have had a great time on it in up to logo waves (which quite frankly are big enough for me).
What size board should you get?
This really depends on what you are intending to do with the board and whether it is a one board quiver. There is a current tendency with modern multifins to buy quite large boards (proportional to body weight). I don’t think this optimises the performance you can get from a Witchcraft and once you have something that is 10L bigger than your bodyweight (for me that was the 100L Chakra) I suspect you gain very little in early planing and acceleration because the boards are so efficient and you may also lose unnecessary top end.
So my recommendation - based on the kind of sailing I do in moderate sized waves - would be to buy a Witchcraft around your body weight or maybe a few litres more for the absolute optimum range of one board.
All the Witchcraft ranges come in sizes that are only a few litres apart so it easy to get exactly the right sized board without going custom.
|
| The board that does it all. 90L 230 x 59.8 (ono 36.5) |
My board is a custom, but Witchcraft make a range of production boards (with identical construction to my custom) https://www.witchcraft.nu/
All Witchcrafts have a trifin set up with toed in side boxes that use the mini Tuttle system and a US box in the centre. Despite probably being the most heavy duty fin systems available the boards are still light - as light as other production boards – typically around 7 KG for a 90L.
|
| Moulay Forward Loop, April 2014 |
|
| Jumping the 100L Chakra, Fuerteventura 2012 |
The Character
The first thing you notice when jump on a Witchcraft board is the incredible sense of release and acceleration that is more characteristic of a free ride board than a wave board. It is unlike any waveboard I have ever sailed before.
All the witchcraft boards I have tried are characterised by this sense of quick and free feeling acceleration and it really comes into play when entering a lull, or heading out through white water, the board glides and jumps easily without losing speed.
These qualities are also particularly useful for getting around a break when the wind is gusty and there is a lot of water moving around. It's easy to keep your speed up and the board planing – this also makes for an effective jumping machine too: Being able to quickly accelerate at any wave offering a launchpad. It also means that is possible to change down sail earlier because the efficiency of the board doesn't require so much power to drive it. On my recent trip to Moulay with consistently large waves these qualities really helped punching out through wall after wall of whitewater and then having to generate speed for the next one as the wave tried to suck the board backwards.
It is very noticeable how much easier to get going and much quicker my board accelerates compared to my similar sized Moo custom and also against other similar sized boards I have sailed such as the Koster kode 87 and the Nuevo 93. (All of which are very nice boards to sail in their own way).
Turn any Witchcraft over – including my own board – you can see that they have hard rails extending as far forward as the front foot strap - and I guess these must partially contribute to this feeling of easy release.
Despite the hard rails my board feels comfortable in the evil chop that somewhere like Avon beach can produce when the harbour is flooding out across the bay.
The Build
Witchcraft boards are defined by real attention to detail: four screws in every foot strap, A raised stopper on the entry point of the mast track – so that if your mast foot works loose it cannot immediately slip out of the track, extra deep and recessed (and comfortable) foot pads. But the one characteristic that isn't visible is the ultra tough construction. The HDD boards are literally hard as nails (yes I have bashed one with a hammer to see). And my 90L board has now been sailed nearly a 100 times and it has been dropped on rocks, run into rock ledges and jumped pretty high. Apart from a few paint chips it is like new and still has that sharp solid ping of a new board - rather than the slightly dull squishy feel typical of most boards that have been sailed a 100 times. It is the only waveboard I have owned (bar an Evo) that I have not snapped jumping. As you might imagine, I am quite pleased about that; my pre Witchcraft days were really quite expensive (I snapped 4 waveboards in three and a half years - all different brands).
My board, at 230cm long 59.8cm wide with a 36.5cm tail, packs in 90L in a relatively typical plan shape. This volume and plan shape combined with the quick release make for a very versatile board: I use it with 5.8-4.2 sails (I’m around 93kgs).
The ride
Sailing in a straight line the ride feels fast and direct and on a wave they are designed to be turned on the rail, which, when you get it right sends you through the turn at an incredible speed keeping momentum right to the lip in a more extreme way than I have experienced on other boards. With light to medium power that means the board will still maintain speed through the turn on a wave. My board definitely rewards good technique: get the rail in properly and a bottom turn feels as if you are a pip being squeezed out of an orange.
|
| S Wales reef April 2014 |
For comparison even the notoriously fast Kode wave 87 I used for a few days in Maui (1 cm wider) felt more sluggish!
The witchcraft feels very loose but very precise under foot and it is worth experimenting with small fin set ups which I found loosened the board even more. I use 13cm sides and a 16cm centre on my 90l for almost everything bar a 5.8m sail.
The same crazy efficiency also means my board also shoots upwind even when lightly powered. Even if the board is only just planing you can still make easy ground upwind.
So are there any downsides to the super efficient release and the bite and acceleration through a carve? The board rewards good technique so get it wrong and the board still turns fine but without that witchcraft pip out of an orange magic. In fact the only downside I have noticed sailing my 90L is bottom turning when I am overpowered on my 4.2 and the wave is choppy (that is 3.7 wind for 80kg lightweights), the acceleration can be hard to control and the rail feels as if it will lock you into an insanely fast carve. But by then, in a solid 35 knots of wind, a smaller board is going to feel a lot more controllable in every respect (remember this is a 90L and 60cm wide board). By contrast sailing the board overpowered with a 4.2 in bump and jump conditions (no bottom turning) it is hard to find its top end.
|
| Kimmeridge May 2014 |
|
| Moulay April 2014 |
This really depends on what you are intending to do with the board and whether it is a one board quiver. There is a current tendency with modern multifins to buy quite large boards (proportional to body weight). I don’t think this optimises the performance you can get from a Witchcraft and once you have something that is 10L bigger than your bodyweight (for me that was the 100L Chakra) I suspect you gain very little in early planing and acceleration because the boards are so efficient and you may also lose unnecessary top end.
So my recommendation - based on the kind of sailing I do in moderate sized waves - would be to buy a Witchcraft around your body weight or maybe a few litres more for the absolute optimum range of one board.
All the Witchcraft ranges come in sizes that are only a few litres apart so it easy to get exactly the right sized board without going custom.
|
| Backlooping in Wales 2013 (I landed that one) |
Authors: Rod
Read more https://forwards4cowards.blogspot.com/2014/05/witchcraft-90l-review.html