AHD FREERACE 289 (1998) [REVIEW]

For me older gear is quite intresting since I am not that long into windsurfing, I’ll take any chance to try some ‘older gear‘ it might be intresting to see what older gear does. Gear older than 5 years will fall in this catagory.
To start my second board (first one was a custom extra heavy…):
Why would I review such an old board? Because I owned this weird colored board, maybe someone thinks this is valuable information. Please do take in mind I was just 50kg…

AHD Freerace 289

AHD vs Modern boardsActually this is the only intresting part, since this board is all about straight-out speed. The volume is 120 liters, you can compare it with current 100 liters freerace boards like the new fanatic ray. Probaly the ‘old’ AHD has a bit less range, but topspeed wouldn’t be to bad. However I don’t think I used 100% of the board’s potential. However I did learn powergybe, speedgybe, jumps and crosswind speedsailing on this board.
TailwalkThis is the only part I really remember, with my weight those days (50kg). A lot of suddenly-out-of-the-water moments… Yep a lot of fun. Good for technique, improves your subconsious!!
Sails & FinsFor beginners this board isn’t to bad. I used it with 8.0 or 6.0, both sails were really nice to sail with my weight those days. I used fins from 36cm till 40cm, quite good fins (brand Fin’s).
Should you buy one now?If you have a very limited budget, and you own old sails (before 2000). This board won’t dissapoint you. However, I had to fix my AHD once a month because the laminate around the board was a bit fragile for a beginner, so you might be a little bit handy. If you have newer race sails, this board will be hard to sail free. Also it does got a powerbox, not my favorite system (I lost a fin with this board).