Translated from the recent Windmag …
Construction is one of strongest claims made by CA, the boards designed by Phil Mcgain on Maui.
All boards are hand built and passed through much more demanding precision check points than boards design at Cobra (respect of original design).
It looks very serious (pro). There is only one foot straps setting, the recommended one by Phil Mcgain
We’ve mainly tried the board with a C3 44 and it works also perfect with a 42 SL2 Deboichet.
The board feels very secure and easy to sail. There is volume under feet and some extra board length which gives it competitive early planning. As soon as you get planning, you feel the board wants to lift on the fin to accelerate. The nose stays down and has a lot of stability.
The CA has no control problems. You can be super overpowered or go full speed through gusts. You have to do a lot before some wheeling problems… As soon as you ride on the fin, you have very good speed feelings and the best part is that you don’t have to fight with the board.
Top end speed or speed sensations are not the most amazing things. It’s more about a super quick acceleration to a very high cruising speed, and on average the speed is way over other boards from the same category.
On this super stable board, you go fast without fighting with it, which makes the difference, sooner or later on long reaches. You have enough power to go upwind anytime or to keep a good speed on a tight reach.
On a broad reach, you can ride on the fin, with a small wetted surface and the nose down. So you go fast.
In bumps (chop), control is also excellent. For jibing, the board could have been more direct, but the board is very stable and keeps its speed at the end of the turn to accelerate at full speed on the other tack.
End of the day, this board gave us a strong impression because of its performances, control and easiness. Despite a very “quiet or low profile” look and old style rounded shape, this CA is a true fire fighter! Few runs above 35 knots with 8.0 and 44 as a fin !
We would recommend it for sails from 7.2 up to 8.0.
A very good test indeed !
