CAMPELLO’S QUIVER

Rutkowski questions Diethelm on Campello’s brand new wave quiver

With much speculation about Ricardo Campello’s (Patrik / Point-7 / MFC) brand new wave quiver, fellow teammate Maciek Rutkowski (Patrik / Point-7) was able to hunt down his boss, Patrick Diethelm (Patrik / Loft Sails), and ask him all the questions that everyone has been desperate to have the answers too. Carry on reading below to find out all the details of Campello’s latest setup.

MR: How was the process and working with Ricardo in terms of you having your ideas and him having his - how far off were you when you started and how would you rate yours and his influence on the boards?

PD: “I first tried to make boards which he likes to be sure he is motivated and ready for competition. I asked him to have a technical conversation about shape details but RC's mind is measurement free and he only goes for feel on the water. I made some videos of him sailing and also checked old videos on the internet to understand his style and to be able to find out what he wants/needs. Me personally I rather like short and compact boards around 225cm but RC likes longer shapes around 235cm. Also I like to travel with maximum 2 boards and be able to setup these ones with different fin setup depending on the conditions. RC travels with at least 6-8 boards and has one board for every condition.”

MR: You went to Maui to develop and build the boards there. That’s a pretty unconventional way these days as most of the boards of most of the brands, even the prototypes, are being built in Thailand at Cobra. What was the reasoning for your decision?

PD: “Many things came together. First we struggled to send boards to RC in El Yaque and it was important that he gets his boards ASAP. Then there was the Formula race at the Midwinters in Orlando (US) where I could bring and promote our new Formula board. At the same event I could meet Dave Kashy where I ordered some fins. But most importantly I needed to meet RC and see myself how he rides to be able to find out what kind of shapes he likes. So in a two weeks trip I was able to combine all of it.”

MR: The boards that Ricardo has now… are they all around boards? side shore boards? Hookipa boards in specific? How many different boards do you have to and you’re going to build in order for RC to have a complete quiver?

PD: “The boards I shaped in Maui are 100% side, side-off shore boards and really not possible to use in any other conditions. For RC's travel quiver we plan 4-5 boards side, side-off and 4-5 boards side-on to onshore boards. In the worst case where an event can have on- and sideshore conditions he will need to travel with 8-10 boards.”

MR: Take us into the technicalities a little bit. Outline? Rocker line? Railshape?

PD: “In general RC likes bigger boards with narrow tails. As I didn't have much time in Maui we decided to make two medium sized boards which he can use from 4.5-5.3 sails. The mid width is 57cm with a tail width of 32.5cm and a length of 228cm. I know he likes longer boards but I took the risk and made them a bit shorter - lucky he likes them - hehe! The main difference is that those boards have 2.5cm more tail rocker and about 1cm more scoop in the nose area. To have the most acceleration and reactive/radical turning board the tail has a single concave in the tail running into an almost complete flat under the front foot to the nose. I only made a very slight double concave of 0.5-1mm to be sure the board doesn't get convex and it adds a bit more bite on the rail. The rails are super soft almost all the way and only in the last 20cm they have a sharper edge to make sure the water releases nicely. The thickness of the boards is 12.7cm something I actually do on all my wave boards. It allows the maximum volume compare to the max width in order to keep the board narrow as wide boards don't feel nice in the transition from rail to rail. The quite doomed deck also gives structural strength to have stronger shapes.”

MR: Why quad and is quad the only setting Ricardo is gonna use in all conditions?

PD: “The fin setup is a crucial topic and needs to be setup individually. For RC a fin setup which across the axle is in one line only (such as Single- or Twinzer fin) the pivot point is very sensitive and and the board has not enough directional control in the turns RC likes to do which means the tail could break/slide out too easily. Center fin positions are also difficult for him because when he digs the rail hard and cants the board vertical the fin comes out of the water and he looses grip again. So basically he needs directional and sideways grip in the tail. The simple way to get this grip is to fit a quad fin setup but there are several shape features you can add to get this too but it is more difficult and more time consuming to test and find the right shape. For example you can add a double concave in the tail as the sharper center line and rails will help to get this grip but then the question is how it will influence the rest of the performance. So the only way is to shape and test a lot and I love challenges.”

MR: And finally - are you planning to put that model into production? When and what’s gonna be the name? RC Wave as it stands on the current prototypes?

PD: “Which one? All 8 of them? How will the customer choose the right board - or does he buy all of them and travel with 8 boards like RC? I really don't know how this could work but for now we still need to do a lot of R&D work to see what will come out at the end.

About the graphics it was always RC's dream to do something he likes as for the past decade he was always forced to do what the boss wanted. We would like to give him the freedom and let him live his dreams. The colors on the boards are his national flag colors and I am not sure how many other customers would want to ride them and sure I can not make an individual graphic for every customer national colors. We have something on our sketches but nothing final now and it will be out on the new prototypes from RC in about 1-2 month.”

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