After a few months testing here is what we have to say about the new Duotone D/LAB Grip 3 and 4! Insane build quality and significantly lighter than the SLS and 2023 boards! Making them very sensitive and lively on the water. Helping with early planning and higher performance!
Duotone Windsurfing Grip 4 D/LAB 2024 - https://worthingwatersports.com/products/duotone-grip-4-grip-3-d-lab-2024?_pos=2&_sid=629fc45c5&_ss=r
Duotone Grip 3 D/LAB 2024 - https://worthingwatersports.com/products/duotone-grip-3-grip-4-d-lab-2024?_pos=1&_sid=629fc45c5&_ss=r
Duotone Falcon D/LAB 2024 - https://worthingwatersports.com/products/duotone-falcon_fin-sls-2024?_pos=16&_sid=a27eb0ac3&_ss=r
Good morning. I just wanted to do another video. I've had a few people messaging some of the fans online, which is really nice saying that I need to carry on doing the YouTube videos. Definitely had a bit of a break over Christmas and yeah, trying to sort of shop out and try and get things sorted for the new year. I hurt my ribs Kiting. When was it like a few weeks before Christmas, maybe a month, three weeks before Christmas. Cutting to the back row by accident and then that kind of thing, and adding on my ribs. And I miss loads of the good, good ways we had over the Christmas break, which is a real shame. I managed to get in a little bit, but miss sort of like only really got like ten, 15 minutes before it started hurting. But back on the water now, and to be honest, I have been kiting quite a bit.
The waves and the wind hasn't really been strong enough for proper windsurfing, but I have had a chance to go on this three lap and the 76. I did a quick video when they first came out on the weight because as soon as you open them up and they come out the packaging, they were obviously a lot lighter than anything else that we've had here in the store. And yeah, wanted to use them a bit before I did another video and how they actually feel on the water. But I've had a few people asking because it sounds like it's probably going to be their next purchase and just want to give you our insight or my insight. But also next bit, Nick Bike has been using these quite a lot and I've got customers now that have quite a few of these and yeah, we also did a demo day the end of October.
We had a couple of D/LABs there and just give you some feedback really. So first thing is this the quality, like the build quality of these boards is like, I've only really used you a tiny fanatic, like four boards. I mean, I had some style boards when I was a kid, but most of my life I've only heard it had its own a fanatic. These are from my perspective, as much as I can remember, the highest quality boards that I've ever seen at surprise Thing, I didn't realize how much of a difference CNC boards make to. I think their mode like that just raise my hand and it cut out the video and so yeah, the main thing I would say is it's the quality. But the thing, the difference is, is these CNC inside rather than sort of put in a mould and blown and then sort of hand-finished and you can tell the difference and actually next to each other compared to an s less, there are parts of these boards where this shapes I didn't realize was meant to be there because I already had the letters first and I had, you know, all the boards that have been before these have been inside.
You don't really notice it until you see what the CNC is like. Just the details and like everything is just a bit sharper. But yeah, the retail on this, this D lap compared to the last version is different, even though it's meant to be the same board in a different construction. But it's, it's because it's been manufactured in a different way and the precision is different and that's like what you feel on the water. People are saying that these boards are like slicker, like faster, but they're like, they're not technical, but they're more accurate. If that's the way of describing how a board feels, I think they're just how they're meant to basically be and how the designer wanted them to! But if you've never had it yet, you don't know any different.
So there's nothing wrong with the SLS boards. I really don't think there is. And, but yeah, like these are the next level. The white obviously is a putting it in the other video so these are 300 around 300 grams and people said the fins weren't in that video. They were they were tucked into the fit straps. These board these boards are about 300 grams lighter than the SLS. But what I haven't done is shown you the weight difference of an SLS to last year's board. So this deal is actually significantly like almost I would say I need to check, but I think it's around half a kilo lighter than last year's grips grip.
400 - 500 grams is a significant difference and you really do feel it and if there was going to be one negative which like just because I think you should talk like honestly about boards, the negative I would say of these boards is you could you can and could get over board. It's slightly quicker. So getting the right size is more important because especially for lighter riders, because they also like if you go try and use a 95, for example, in 30 knots, you're going to find the board is going to be very lively and come out the water quite a lot and you're not going to have as much control as you might have had on the SLS or maybe on last year's board.
But the massive positive of that is the bottom end. So you can use the board you ultimately want to be on in lighter wind conditions or the right conditions. So and I know before I ended up buying like an 86 instead of an 82, I had this conversation with someone just couple of days ago. They have an 82l. But just sometimes when this current or the wind's not quite strong, they feel like they need the 86 grip. And these boards basically, I personally believe at the moment they get rid of a lot of that problem because they're light like they get up and going and get planing a lot quicker. You just do what you want them to do, which is why you buy windsurfing board and why you buy a good windsurfing board is because you want it to do what you wanted to do. People, I guess negative people would say the price, but these are actually the same price as last year's group Team additions and the member team additions. But the weight is obviously significantly different, like, you know, over 500 grams different. And the build quality, as I've explained, is very different. So I don't think the price is really a negative. You're getting a lot more value for money and then you've obviously if money is a concern, the sales is still a really good board. I'm personally I'm personally using the SLS boards is a bit funny when you go between the less than the dealer.
Once you sort of been there, you obviously don't want to go back with the dealer, but like I still have to go back to the SLS because this is actually next board or the demo board. The only one that's actually mine is my 76 and obviously it's not always windy enough to use that. So my 85, my 95 are actually Les's there's not enough of these labs around to like have that many demo boards for every shop. But yeah, we do have access to I think Nik's got the 95 which is here. I'm not sure if there's an 85 D lab, but there's definitely an 81 grip for and an 87 and no, he's using a lot and he's like fully in love with them. I mean, again, like, because there's this like big white difference to what they were last year. I think like we used to compensate a little bit by using a three fin board because it had more volume in the tail and it would get up and going a little bit easier if we have a little current here. So get up and going a little bit easier.
So rather than using the grip for which I think like obviously anyone a lot of people would like to be on because it can be a bit more radical. You can get a more aggressive bottom turn. But the problem with four fins is, is more drag and usually the tail is a bit thinner so you don't have as much volume. So like I sort of was recommending, a lot of people go for the Mamba or the Grip three when it came out. If they're like maybe a little bit heavier or their ability isn't quite there to get up and get planing in the in the onshore conditions that we have. But I think a lot of those problems, they're still there, but they're definitely like reduced. And I feel like people can buy what they want now. Like Nick, I don't know if you'd like me saying this, but he's not the lightest rider. He's quite powerful. He's got big legs, you know, he's very strong and he used to use the grip three and the member a fair bit when it was lighter winds but always wants to be on the grip for I haven't seen him on a grip three this year since the D lab came out. He's always on the 81 which in really quite like conditions with the SLR superheroes which I'm definitely got a video about and I've wanted to but the weather's been so rubbish I want to rake the sales up and show you what is good about them. But yeah, using the grip, the super Star SLS and the D labs like Nick being, I think he's between 80 and 90 or 90 kilos. He's using the 81 when I'm on like the 91 when I'm on my 85 slice and I'm only 70 kilos and because I'm on the SLS is a bit heavier. So that goes to show that like the D/LAB that are allowing people to use the boards they want to use and you know, obviously it's always pretty much repping in those conditions.
So yeah, where else to go with it? Really just interesting. Obviously the lab falcons here, not the best like best selling board, but there's a lot of you guys that do race. This is Simon parts of his board rides again these have been like hard to get hold of but I used to slalom race a slalom race for you know like seven years again using fanatic the whole way through the bull construction has changed quite a lot and the weight has changed a lot. But just taking it out the boxes, I had to nick the box for customers to sold a board. It's the lightest slalom ball I've ever picked up. And talking to Simon and Jenna, who are in where are they the moment they're in Tarifa and they've got a couple of these boards, I think they're sharing Jenny's boards and they're finding that like, yeah, the weight obviously in slalom, just the same in any other discipline makes a huge difference. You're trying to come out with a jibe. Mark. You know, maybe the wind's dropped a little bit or you've scuffed a little bit or you're, you know, you're not being perfect on your feet, having a light bit of equipment will help you get planing. If you've got weight, is going to sink, is going to be below the waterline. So like, yeah, if I was racing on these, I think like it would be like a big step up from the boards that they were using last year. Yeah, again, they're going to feel very sensitive, which is like in flat water for slalom racing, which most of the events are in the UK internationally is obviously a bit different right now with the super, I like to call it super expert slalom X and they're just going to be like super lively and super like on the edge, which is what you really want when you're trying to ride as fast as you possibly can. When you go into the bottom turn, start at bottom turn, you go into a jibe, you flick your rig and you try and get going. If there's no feeling of weight and there's no drag because the board is lighter, you're just going to go. And yeah, that's just how you win. It's usually the drive marks, like obviously keeping top speed. So being sensitive and being on the edge is really important.
Yeah. So I've been using the 76 again, like it was the day where it was, it was at Packham, it was pretty offshore, pretty gusty on the inside. I was really worried about using a board that small and to be honest, like last year, the year before, I used to, I used to love being on this board, but I've just always like cheated a little bit and used my 81 because I've been like, you know, you know, and like Scott being stuck on a really, really small board, but I want to try. I think what the people said at the demo. Yeah, that was quite a heavy guy using this 95. He absolutely loved it. And to be honest, he looked like he was ripping at the same point I've seen Nick, like I seen Nick say, like most times that we go out and about once or twice a week or once a fortnight, he like, just looks faster on this board, which Nick is always like very powerful in very light conditions or very like very not very powerful waves. It just seems to be snappier, sharper and more aggressive with this board, which like, yeah, is interesting because someone of that sort of level, you wouldn't think that the equipment would make that much of a difference, but it actually does. I think that would have the same impact. So that guy that came to the demo, like I've seen him ride a lot of times, but he was shredding this and pictures of him online actually from that demo. There's a guy down in Hove, Andrew, he's got an 85. He's been posting about it quite a bit. He's really happy and it seems to be the only board that he's using. He's jumping it. Like he said, it's just very light and yeah, you just need to try one basically. I think once you try one, you kind of understand what I'm talking about. Positives, obviously weight build quality, just like the finesse, like the way it's finished is like I haven't seen before. Really? From Duotone or Fanatec before that. But yeah, the negative, I'd say it just could get over boarded because they are light. I think the, the pros of having a lightweight high performance board definitely outweigh that possibility that occasionally you might be slightly over boarded and, you know, you'd rather get planing than never get planing. Yeah. And obviously, yeah, the price is the same as last year. But if price is a concern, then obviously go for the SLS.
Stock availability. These have been like gold dust. Everything that we've had pre ordered that sold, we the only one we have left is an 85 grip three team lab. That's the one we've got left here at the moment. Which I think for the UK is probably, I mean some people might want the 95 but I would say the grip three for like 90% of the conditions we get, especially it on the south coast. The grip three in the 85 or 95 lab is probably one of the best sports you could buy right now. From my perspective, I haven't sailed many of the brands, but in terms of the fantastic and Duotone range, that board is like phenomenal and I'm gutted that my other SLS is now. But like, you know, these need to go to customers rather than just to me.
So but yeah, I've got the video I'll do a super hero SLS video shortly. I can't do it today, but I'll try and do one. But just a quick snippet. Like again, like the deal up in the SSLS the Standard and the SLS superheroes like they are like 15% to 20% better. The negative is definitely the price on those. I do appreciate they are more expensive and quite a bit more expensive than the standards, but they are phenomenal. Like me and Nick have been using them and ever since I tried actually the E-pace SLS, that was the first SLS I used. I realized that they really were onto something. For me, it's the reflex panel is the carbon panel. It just like is forgiving, but it stops you from getting that yank when like a gust comes through. So if you've got and turning not the e-pace, but it's the same principle on the superhero when you're bottom turning, especially in onshore conditions, if you get like a massive gust, I used to find that I would get the superheroes powerful, used to rip out my hands or like you'd have to let go of you back count. I just find it doesn't happen anymore in a superhero SLS. They are just. Yeah, they're just amazing. And that reflex panel is great, and it just deforms when you want to. I mean, I used to fight it when we're in Tarifa, the first chance I got to use one. Nick Light forced me to go on to five mates and I was like, This is ridiculous. It's was 35 knots are never seven kilos. I would never go out on a five meter and 35 knots, but I sailed for like 20 minutes. Like it was really hard, but I managed to bottom out and do a couple of top turns and that definitely wouldn't have been possible in a standard superhero. So like, yeah, I wouldn't recommend doing that, but I'm just saying I definitely believe the wind range is bigger. I don't know whether you could drop a sail that people talking about, whether you could drop a sail in your range to get costs down. I think if you're not windsurfing and maybe you're winging, I think there's definitely the option that you could maybe go like three, seven, four or five five. Like I think you probably could cover windsurfing if you wing on top of that. But yeah, I'll do a separate video, do some close ups of the construction, but it's obviously fusion bonded instead of stitched, which saves a lot of weight, but it's also very strong. But the difference I found compared to other sails that are like trying to be super lightweight is it's like still reinforced and hems around the edges and still has three plus two. So five year warranty if you register it, which for like for a lightweight sail, you get a lot of people saying, I don't want to buy, you know, a lightweight, so it's not going to last as long. Like I think these are going to last longer. The glue is solid and that is what I've heard from the designers, but the glue is solid and they are just built to really high spec. And yeah, really impressive reading. Impressive.
But yeah, I'll do a separate video. Just give us a comment if there's anything you want me to do review on. I'm trying to think what else I've been using recently. I think next it's going to be foil drive. They should be here soon. We won't get into that downwind foiling.
Yeah, I think that's pretty much it.