Slingshot Boards & Boots now available
Sunday, April 1st, 2007
There are quite a lot of people who don’t know very much about Singshot which has developed a cult-like following in kitesurfing culture and has released a much anticipated wakeboard specific line for 2007. A little bit about the company:
Tony Logosz, founder and chief designer at Slingshot loves designing all things related to water, air, power and performance. Logosz’s design legacy is over 27 years in the making. When Logosz decides he wants to build wakeboards, and you already have a successful kiteboarding business…the obvious decision is to build wakeboards. Logosz’s proven signature wakeboard innovations have been woven in and out of the wakeboard industry since its inception. Logosz’s innovations include designing the first Shapiro Pro and Neptune wakeboards to developing revolutionary and modern wakeboard DNA.
Headquartered in the state of Washington, SS are building their base from an already successful kiteboarding business position as a global leader. They currently distribute their products in over 56 countries worldwide and are passionate about rider progression and style. SS is not about boards for the masses, they make boards from quality materials and give the boards flex so they don’t lock out and ride heavy. They set out to create bindings that improve our riding stance and are comfortable enough to ride all day long in.
Logosz envisions the need for board and boot to be integrated. Both need to work together to accomplish a superior feel and ride. Now that we have this focus we combine it with high end materials and work on flex, rebound and weight. This opens the door to a sensation not felt in wakeboarding before but a feeling that you already understand if you surf, skate or snowboard.”
Both of the 2007 Slingshot Wakeboard models, the Response and the Recoil feature SS’s Future Response Technology (FRT):
Step down side wall construction with a hybrid PVC core, vertical grain wood, and advance composites create long lasting rapid flex control, that allows the board to rebound in and out of turns, off the wake, and butter for softer landings. It’s best known for its superior performance and eye opening experience. Slingshot Wakeboards are 25 years in the making. Years of R&D in our kiteboards, and over a year of intense wakeboard testing result in the development of these unique hybrid cores with advanced composite technology. This new technology eliminates traditional performance trade offs like swing weight and a locked out feel of the old PU technology of years past.
SS’s boards are designed by Tony Logosz and John Doyle: Tony is a master shaper that is passionate about wakeboarding. His 27 years of shaping distills performance down to three key ingredients. Refined rockers, clean outlines, and flex control. John Doyle is a master composites engineer getting his start at Lear Jet. His passion turned from jets to advanced composites and alternative materials in sporting goods equipment. John’s 25 years experience offers better performance through advanced composites and has been changing sports for years. Future Response Technology is the combined brilliance of Tony and John. A passion of shapes and technology that is now available today in wakeboarding.
Slingshot wakeboard boots are lightweight performance wakeboard specific boots. They incorporate advanced snowboard boot construction and technology to deliver unmatched comfort and performance. They are made of durable waterproof materials designed from the top down to be ridden by advanced riders and professionals.
The Driver and the women’s Dragonfly boot were developed to put riders in a more natural athletic position and to take wakeboarding to another level. For Slingshot’s design team it meant finding the starting place for all the input. Like every sport this starting place puts your weight on the balls of your feet. From that point you initiate heel pressure or toe pressure. As simple and as natural as it sounds wakeboarding has drifted away from this concept. The reason for the divergence is the heel hold, the use of compromising materials and inferior design. The reality is nothing’s going to work if your heel isn’t locked down. Binding developers of the past thought they had solved this problem and the problem of squirting out of the toes by building toe ramps. This in effect lowered your heel below the ball of your foot resulting in the most non athletic and unnatural position imaginable. Don’t take our word for it; try surfing, skating or snowboarding in this position. It’s very difficult, uncomfortable and unnatural. Slingshot shares the same functional holy grail of heel hold but the key is to put the rider into a more athletic and aggressive riding position. The ultimate solution was the closed toe boot. The new Driver and women’s Dragonfly boot deliver ease of entry, comfort, balance and heel hold.
