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- The Vision is the most noticeably 'teardrop' in shape of the widestyle
boards; extremely wide in the tail and mid section but one of the narrowest in the nose. This gives a very tail-orientated
volume distribution. The straps are set quite close to the tail and the mast track is also a long way back - it starts at
121cm from the tail and the furthest forward you can have your track is about 131cm, which is approximately where most on
the other start! Underwater, the board has the most tail rocker but the most nose rocker starts fairly late, and the vee is
minimal compared to the others
- On The Water: Mistral state that the board is designed to have
the "Planing abilities and acceleration of a raceboard and the manoeuvrability of a freestyle board...!" The first of these
claims is not far off the mark - we were genuinely impressed by the early planing, upwind and reaching speed of the Vision
with an 8.0m sail. We are not saying that you can expect to see an SLE version in the hands of thier world cup racers next
season, but the Vision is certainly a high performer. It even feels rather like a race board; it has a very smooth release
and easy planing feel but feels shorter and everything seems much further back than on the other recreational boards, giving
you the feeling of sailing from the very back of the board; great for performance-orientated sailing.
- The short distance from the track to straps is also meant to enable
"shortboard entry sailors to get in the straps". It certainly means that the board can be slightly less powered up - traditionally,
the sailor had to pretty well sheeted in and committed to the rig before being able to get back far enough on the board to
get in to the straps. However, it isn't quite as simple as that. The action of moving the body back as you go from non planing
to planing automatically rakes the rig back, bringing the boom down lower - doing away with this actually makes it harder
to get into the harness. Also, having the track so far back increases the pressure from the rig on to the fin which can cause
the board to rail. We don't want to overstate this as our intermediate tester found the Mistral very smooth when he hit its
sweet spot. However, he did find it considerably harder to get balanced on than the Bic Techno. Andone other aspect of the
rearward mast track is that the board must be used with a modern style of sail, otherwise the centre of effort will
simply be too far back.
- Consequently, the Vision is perphaps slightly less suited to the 'planer
trainer' aspect of widestyles. It is hugely buoyant and wide, stable and easy to power up and maybe sailors without preconceptions
will find it as or even more easy to plane with, but those accustomed to a more conventional geometry will find it taking
a bit of extra getting used to. It also becomes somewhat more technical in chop and/or stronger winds.
- However, our experienced sailors loved the short and manoeuvrable feel
of the board and the way that everything seems geared to getting you planing as early and as fast as possible. It has a surprisingly
loose feel but it is very big, and gybing with the extra volume, absence of Vee and rearward stance is no easier than on the
other widestyles.
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Overall: Orientated slightly more towards competent
sailors, the Vision is a very buoyant, loose and sprightly early planer with surprisingly wicked performance that will satisfy
even the most advanced sailor with sails up to and beyond 9.0m
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