In November 2016 Cesare Cantagalli introduced a windsurfing hybrid board with a hard tail and an inflatable nose. We wanted to know a bit more about this new concept and the idea behind so we caught up with Cesare for an interview.

Cesare Cantagalli jibing the Duowind - Photo: Squitieri/CANON

Cesare Cantagalli jibing the Duo board – Photo: Squitieri/CANON

Continentseven: During the 2016 NoveNove Aloha Classic you announced a new board concept, the Duo Boards – a hybrid board with a hard tail and an inflatable nose. That was in November 2016. What happened since then?
Cesare Cantagalli: After the Aloha Classic, I spent a lot of time on Maui with the NoveNove team and Mat Pendle to complete testing for every single detail of the collection and set all for production. I also dedicated a full period of shooting and post-production for an ad-hoc release of the definitive project with videos and a detailed website in order to best express the idea and the concept. In truth…at the end of my stay on Maui I managed to have a couple of wave sessions at Baby Beach to privately celebrate my 30th Cheese roll anniversary.

Continentseven: Who is the brain behind this concept? We remember Semperit inflatable boards, which were inflatable products with a wooden reinforcement.
Cesare Cantagalli: Mat Pendle has been developing a patent of combining a hard tail and inflatable for 3 years. He mainly focused on SUP boards until we met over a year ago when I immediately connected the high potential to extend it to windsurfing boards, which finally combines 100% performance with easy transportation. So we started developing a first windsurf collection consisting of 2 sizes 129 and 140 and the results are just phenomenal.

Continentseven: For how long did the R&D crew work and test to get the current result?
Cesare Cantagalli: Mat’s 3 years of development and testing experience helped to quickly come to the result, we aimed at with the windsurfing collection. We closely worked on the targets, I wanted to reach with the first launch of the 129 and 140 Free-ride boards, considering ideas to extend the range to a wider scale of targets, including bigger and shorter boards for future collections.

Cesare Cantagalli: “The sensation of putting your windsurfing board in your trunk and drive to the beach is simply inspiring and motivating.”

Continentseven: We guess and hope you tested the two Duo Boards. Honestly, how is the feeling when riding such a board?
Cesare Cantagalli: I have never enjoyed flat water sessions as much as I did with the I-99 Duo boards. Pure windsurfing!! Pure fun! And so simple to go sailing and go home! It is hard to describe, but the sensation of putting your windsurfing board in your trunk and drive to the beach is simply inspiring and motivating. Once you are on the board, you totally feel 100% fun and performance. The idea of the 129 and 140 is to have a free ride board, which provides full acceleration and fast planing, thanks to its hard tail designed with the specific and ad-hoc shape, as well as all the composite stiffness and rails configuration, which feature sharp rails on the tail to allow up-wind ability. This is the true difference you will recognize compared to any other full inflatable board and the advantages given by the Duo Hard Tail Inflatable Board.

Cesare Cantagalli jibing the Duowind - Photo: Squitieri/CANON

Cesare Cantagalli jibing the Duowind – Photo: Squitieri/CANON

Continentseven: And what’s about planing and speed? Does it need bigger sail sizes and bigger fins compared to hard boards in the same size? A Duo Board is around 2 -3 kg heavier compared to a hard board in a similar size.
Cesare Cantagalli: The category of 129 and 140 Duo Boards are to be compared with the Freeride range of boards. In that category the construction are normally heavier, therefore the weight difference is not as big, as you mentioned, the 129 lt board has +/- 8.7 kg. We are trying to also get away from the technical parameters, which sometimes have limited our sport to grow. No matter what and how …the most important thing is the feeling you get and how much fun you have riding your board. At some places we all know that windsurfing changed this approach and made it limited to extreme performance only. Obviously it’s all related to skills and personal level, but I can guarantee, that the DUO is very much about fun and comfort, combined to a 100% windsurfing performance feeling. Simply in the best way, you can achieve, combining the 2 needs together > Performance + Easy Transport.

Continentseven: Do you think, this concept is the new way how to build modern freeride boards and is this the end of hard boards? The size of a bag with 130 cm is pretty inviting?
Cesare Cantagalli: I sure do and this is the reason for us to have started on the free-ride 129/140 models, which reflect 100% balance between performance and practical transportation.

Duo board package - Photo: Squitieri/CANON

Duo board package – Photo: Squitieri/CANON

Continentseven: Does this concept simplify windsurfing?
Cesare Cantagalli: I definitely believe so. I am very proud and honored to be so inspired by this project and given the opportunity to develop a new approach to the sport with the aim to reduce the performance expectations and increase the number of people, who will practice windsurfing by inspiring new generations and attract new fans to our sport. The potential in my visions is endless and can reach yachting and travelers of a wide range. We are working on developments that will expand the collection with the goal to provide every skilled rider the performance, he expects with the combination of easy and comfortable transportation. We are also developing a surf board range.

Continentseven: How about the price. Is it cheaper compared to hard boards?
Cesare Cantagalli: It can’t be cheaper, because it is simply using more accessories like a pump and a nice bag to carry around, but an equal price, when the free-rider mind is connected to principals like fun and action. You can’t beat the feeling of putting your board in the back of your car.

Continentseven: Do you have any experiences on the durability?
Cesare Cantagalli: We have a period of 3 years from Mat + 1 year of intensive testing made on the DUO board collection, which I think is plenty safe and convincing.

Continentseven: Who is the target group for such a board?
Cesare Cantagalli: Anyone who wants to have fun on the water and take the advantage of easy traveling and storage.

Continentseven: Are the boards in production already?
Cesare Cantagalli: Yes and I suggest everybody, who’s interested in the I-99 DUO boards to approach their local dealer or visit our website to book their boards for the first arrivals.

 

 

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