Shaper's opinion
Lightwind kitesurfing is a part of kiteboarding often misjudged, the material on the market is slow and not the most exciting experience, the boards are heavy and need big fat kites to move them, Nomad has a board that changes all that !!!
It doesn't have to be fat and slow, innovation and tackling the problem with good design and not following the rest of the pack leads to creativity and a kiteboard which is fast and fun to use. The faster the board the smaller the kite you need to run it. In developing this board we needed simple concepts of board design, flat rockerlines that don't generate resistance, eliminate all drag and use a moderate flex system for comfort.
Using our well tested, famous carbon building techniques we created a 1,6 kilo chassis that has the fastest acceleration and holds the fastest top speed of any lightwind twintip in its class. The boards secret is speed, the high acceleration leads quickly to speed which in turn gives you high upwind, every kitesurfer knows a slow board is never going up wind. With speed comes all the other advantages, jumping, manouvability, gybing, carving quickly and getting up and down the beach with ease.
The Lightwind 3k and its more lighter weight brother the Lightwind-pro 3k have both been tested here in Germany by the local rag "kitelife". Both boards are best in test, not an easy task for a small company like Nomad against the big marketing giants like North and Carved, but lets face it in every sport its the small specialist companies that are innovating at the very top of a sport.
The Lightwind 3k
The 3k carbon is 3000 elements per strand , super strong with great flex charactisterics used on the top and bottom laminates, extra carbon is used under the pads to strengthen for landings. Both the Lightwind 3k and Lightwind-Pro 3k use the same shape and rocker system, each board also has the same flex dynamics but with the Lightwind-pro reacting quicker giving more efficiency. Concave is 10mm and uses the tunnel concave system from the centre to the tips of the board delivering maximum lift to get going and stay going.
The Lightwind-Pro 3k
The Lightwind Pro 3k is lighter in weight but the same strength as the Lightwind 3K. Extra carbon is used under the drive rail to deliver more pop and the board is hand laced with carbon 50mm bands to control torsional flex. The torsion x-system can be seen laid on the top of the 3k carbon. A specially developed lightweight core is used to further decrease the boards final weight.The Lightwind-Pro 3k uses the same shape and rocker system as the Lightwind 3k, each model also has the same flex dynamics but with the Lightwind-pro reacting quicker giving more efficiency. Concave is 10mm and uses the tunnel concave system from the centre to the tips of the board delivering maximum lift to get going and stay going.
Favourite setup
We love using the 142 with a 13m C-kite, this setup is possible in a constant 7 knot wind. A better upwind setup is the 144 with a 13m flat-kite like a Switchblade, the flat-kite flies further into the wind than a C-kite but will turn slower. The C-kite with a 142 is great for jumps and messing around and of course the C-kite has full power in the turns alowing the rider to be more aggressive with the whole setup. The 144 or 146 with a flat-kite is more easy going and great for cruising. You can also try fitting 10m line extensions which will give you better lightwind power from a smaller kite.