Comments on: Patrik Diethelm announces his own boardbrand

By: aldo

aldo — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:18:04 +0000

To all the windsurfers out there who are commenting on PD boards. I believe the graphics are pratical. I have heard alot of complaints of people getting their boards repaired and how the repairer cannot match the graphics. This is what happens when you buy a board with lots of pretty colours and graphics. So stop your whinging and put more concentration on performance on the board and not the graphics. Keep up the good work Patrik..

By: Marko

Marko — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 06:21:01 +0000

And..if you compared the design with 80′s, 90′s B-socks, etc, well, fine-i have to say then, there were a better days in design!Same about music, adverts, movies, you name it:) The World going down:D

By: Marko

Marko — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 06:17:13 +0000

Haven’t seen such a beautiful boards for a long time. Clean, cool,tasty design. What a colors! Don’t listen to the youngsters who are a big critics but not as good buyers:)

By: RobertP

RobertP — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:14:04 +0000

I have not problem with the graphics.
In fact, I would gladly take them over the light-sanded (unfinished) look a lot of high-end boards come with.
BTW, my Rebel 86 was one of my fav. all-around boards.

By: Scott c

Scott c — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:57:50 +0000

hello Patrik,

May I suggest that when choosing your final designs, contact an industry designer. Well thought out new designs can be very interesting with lasting qualities. This is not easy to achive though and I would highly recommend using designers that are well versed in lasting graphics or can apply classic design style with a slight twist of flare.

As Kirri is probably aware, presentation of a brand is VERY important and I agree with and applaud your vision for creating a board that will not look old next year. A good designer will work with you to reduce paint costs and hopefully achieve a brand image the will spar major interest in your new venture.

Look forward to seeing testing the product line here in North America someday.

Scott (Industrial and Environmental Graphic designer)

By: Juan

Juan — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:04:07 +0000

Also comparing windsurf equipment market to skiing eqp market i s kinda awkward. A pair of good skis cost about 300-500 euros so in a price of one windsurf bord you can have 3-5 pairs of skis. If You’re a fashion victim You can have a pair for every set of fancy skiing clothes in a price of one windsurf board

By: Juan

Juan — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:55 +0000

I prefer the best shape even with the ugliest design to anything else…
Morover sometimes those 300 grams can make the difference about planning or not planning. With those 300 grams less I will be smiling and planning and You Stefan would probably be sad looking down on Your board’s fancy graphics. What would You choose then?

By: Stefan

Stefan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:03:15 +0000

I totally agree with Patrick that a flash design won’t age very well and that sudden design changes from one season to the next are sure to disappoint the buyer.

However, I really don’t see wherein the beauty of this “pinpoint” design lies. Man, these boards just look like the Burlington socks we used to wear in the 80′s! Thank God that these days are over

Selling is not only about a sound and good board shape (which will undoubtedly be tremendous) but also about an attractive design. It’s just a shame that all your efforts are flawed by this insipid, uninspired look.

You buy a board not only for its riding qualities, but also for its overall design. An ugly board won’t attract me, how great the ride may be. I’ll always favour a brand with great riding characteristics and a nice design!

Anyway, I will.

By: Markus Pöltenstein

Markus Pöltenstein — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:04:03 +0000

Hi Patrick Hi Karin

I wish you all the best on this adventure and I know that you guys will achieve all what you are dreaming from.

Looking forward to the surprices and news you guys will present to the windsurfmarket.

Big huge to you both …see you soon on the water

Markus

By: Neira

Neira — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:04:39 +0000

Good work Patrick.

I personally like those pinline and basic colors combination.

I usually build my own surfboards using tinted resin and seems that that technique is going tu push hard. RRD and C2sailboards are 2 of the brands that finish their boards showing tinted resin+decals.

Keep on shaping!

By: barthi

barthi — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:54:57 +0000

here I am – the one who created last year`s rebel & this year`s f2 range –
“sex sells” – this is for sure *** – but who wants to make me believe , that you that you do not ride “smooth” on an “old style ” cycle ?? )
good luck to patrick, .. – & “cool down” to those, who do not like my style )

cheers

By: Thomas GR88

Thomas GR88 — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:06:35 +0000

Hi all,
i cant help but agree that saving 300grams without loss of strength is more important than a flashy sticker on my race /slalom board.
Having followed Patricks career both as a shaper and as a racer so far i cant help but wonder how many people will have sleepless nights after the first boards hit the water ……
count me in Patrick would love to sell your boards in Greece but most importantly would be thrilled to ride them…\

Regards
Thomas

By: colin

colin — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 08:03:02 +0000

i think they look awesome, really stylee, glamour and so far i think they will work like hell because Patrick is one of the best and innovative shaper

By: DUX

DUX — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:44:53 +0000

Hey Patrik

It’s great that you start your own brand!!!
And hey, can you do a race-jibe smoother, an air-jibe better or a spock more stylish just because of the design??? NO!!!!
The shape is what makes the difference!!!!

So, I’m already very excited and can’t wait to get your new boards.

Cu soon and “gib alles”

Dani

By: Rein

Rein — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:27:42 +0000

Why not leave the boards white, completely unpainted, with only a very small logo somewhere. The footstraps & pads and fin are then like jewels/only ornaments.
Save weight and also very important it’s chic and functional.

By: lava

lava — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:51:12 +0000

bravo Patrik…
bravo,bravo,…
dove posso comprare la mia nuova tavola?

salve Joelle

By: Felix

Felix — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:24:55 +0000

that will not be the design for the production boards. These boards on the pics are just customs.
as I heard, the design should be a little bit different, as the nose is complete white and will flow smoothly to the design on these boards

By: gu

gu — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:24:29 +0000

Patrik, do something with graphics. Don’t follow F2 way with their old fashioned style.

I have Rebel. Fantastic board and graphics.

RRD also is top selling brand because of graphics style.

If you invented new style without sprayed paint – ask designer to make that style shine.

Good luck!

By: Poolshark

Poolshark — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:10:26 +0000

Hey Patrik!

NIce to see that you finally made the right decision to raise your own board brand! I’m sure the shapes will be awesome and I’m looking forward to try one of your new designs.

Sick one!

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:47:36 +0000

Einfach genial!!!
Als einer der weltbesten shaper setzt er seine Arbeit fort:-)
Da werden sich wohl einige freuen:-)

Auch in Punkto design (wenn auch noch nicht ganz definitv), setzt
er offensichtlich klar neue Akzente.

Wir dürfen uns also weiterhin auf neue inovationen im Windsurfsport freuen.
meine zukünftige Marke steht jetzt schon fest.
Patrick

By: Al

Al — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:41:04 +0000

i completely agree a board should all be about performance, but why shouldn’t it be possible to have both?? I also agree that having only a thin layer of paint is good to save weight and cost but there is usually still a sticker graphic placed on top of it- why cant this have a decent design?

i’m guessing its also to do with the cost to hire a professional designer. like peter said it is unfortunate but good graphics can sell boards, i think it also drives people to buy new equipment if it looks kick ass too.

everyone has their own opinion but I think something like armada do on their skis would look pimp!
http://armadaskis.com/product/skis/index.php

By: Peter

Peter — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:24:12 +0000

cool to see that one of the hot-shots answers direct to the responses here.
i bet that everyone – including me – have been expecting rad, insane and outrageous graphics for pd range like rebel had before 2010, for example.
judging the boards only by their looks is stupid. but we just have seen the pics and thought “man! what’s this? does our time machine working and are we back in the mid90s?” or something like that.
even the ugliest board are going to become your favourite if you pull a new move or have a nice session, no doubt about it. but! graphics sells. sad but true. (i’m not talking about the hardcore windsurfers, but about the mass, about the likely target group for pd.)

fyi: got a custom rebel from patrik – guess what? with an evil and super-rad design, of course – and have never had such an awesome, asskicking and light waveboard.

By: patrik diethelm

patrik diethelm — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:39:17 +0000

Hi Everybody,

just sitting here in the surfers launge in Sylt and reading the comments on the forum.

Just to give a quick update what is happening here on Sylt:
It is super windy and raining and Alex Mussolini just won the waves. Class Voget in second had an absolutely great performance all afternoon. In third is Josh Angulo with some bad luck having chosen a too big sail in this strong conditions.

On the comments on the forum, I would like to give some explanation about the graphic. Actually it should be mentioned that the boards on the pictures are custom boards with graphic colour samples – I am sorry for this misunderstanding.

I had the boards in the van for testing but everyone asked me to show them and so I put them on the beach to get the first breath on our new born brand.

The choice of the name „patrik diethelm“ is simply as I want to stand up for the product quality on the todays market. An other brand name would just be a name where people can hide behind.

The graphic samples you see on the picture are test boards. I am testing to not use any spray colour and mix pigment direct in the resin and laminate the fibre. The available pigment for the resin we had were basic colours green, yellow, orange, red, ect. With this concept we can save up to 300g paint and less working hours which is just great. Sure we now need to test the lamination strength and looks.
At the moment we are also testing some different pinlines, example in chrome like on the green custom freestyle board or some reflective lines which are shining against the light on the yellow fish wave board. Some updated pictures I will send tomorrow where you can see the effect against the light.

In general our basic graphic idea is to keep them simple as possible and the pin lines will be our brand identification. Over the years we experienced that graphic styles are coming and going and every year graphics are changing and most the times without changing the shape. If someone spends 1500.-€ on a board and a couple months later there is a complete new graphic, I believe the customer is not very happy to show up with an „old“ board. We are trying to keep our style over the years and keep the resale value up.

By the way, the nice graphics on the 2010 F2 Range was my breefing to the designer Günther Bart from Custom Sports last September 2008. You see that it always depends on the situation and the needs of a brand and sure for F2 it was the right way to do. For our brand I decided to keep it simple and clean. Who knows, maybe one day we will come up with a pimp crazy youngster line…- all possible…!

For now in final production is only the Formula board as I had to have 10 boards ready for the registration on 30.September.
Our next step is to have 3 Slalom boards to be able to take part on PWA and ISAF competitions next year.

All other board types will be developed during the winter to have a clean range ready for next year.

Hope you got a little closer idea on what we are up to and don’t forget that it is all about “having fun”!

Cheers,

Patrik

By: madsurfer

madsurfer — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 09:27:09 +0000

@pump, That is the correct answer . It should all be about the performance of the board and not the looks.

By: pump

pump — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 08:39:21 +0000

I would be embarrassed to judge a board by its graphics – I use a couple of Patrick’s customs that i picked up from a pro sailor and they are light years ahead of the other boards i’ve tried and that includes mark nelson customs. stop thinking about how it looks and start thinking about how you sail