STD Version:

HHD Version:

Series constructions

Our constructions are another part of the revolution for production boards:

  • Inner strength. Buying a board is investing in a good time on the water, in the healthiest drug in the world, in stress-relieve and not to cause stress. We want your board to last. This is why we pay as much attention to making the inside of the board as strong as the outside to avoid invisible internal damage or fatigue
  • A board is only as strong as its weakest component. All of our constructions are very efficient by carefully choosing materials and lay-up with a similar elasticity so they all work together in harmony. We have developed and fine tuned our constructions over many years to try to avoid practically all damages as much as technically is possible.

All boards are semi custom build with overlaps on rails and single, double or triple sandwich depending on the area, all tapered into each other to avoid weak points. With the introduction of our new CNC CAD/CAM production system, we can prepare and produce all EPS and sandwich parts necesary to produce the boards, down to the 0.1mm exact for a perfect fit, ready to be assembled. Even all inserts are cut out by CNC.

There are 2 constructions available:

  • SDT. Single, Double, Triple sandwich.
    -H-glass (50%), Carbon (15%),Dyneema® (5%)-epoxy-Single-Double-Triple sandwich.
    1 year guarantee*. With full H-glass on top and bottom, overlapping on the rails.
    H-glass is a new fabric with patented hollow glass fibres. It´s 40% lighter and more impact and pressure resistant as normal E-glass. Witchcraft is the first brand to use this material in production boards. H-glass based composites are more efficient in shock absorbing as normal E-glass. After Dyneema we found this material has the best price/quality ratio for use in wave boards.
  • HDD. Heavy Duty Dyneema
    -Dyneema® (60%)-Carbon (15%)-glass-epoxy-single-double-triple sandwich,
    Our famous Heavy Duty Dyneema® construction with 18 months guarantee*. With full Dyneema on top and bottom, overlapping on the rails. Another first from Witchcraft, the specialists in full Dyneema boards since 1995.

When in doubt between these 2 constructions, in our 15 year experience, for about 40-60% of all wavesailors should choose the HDD right away and another 30-40% would certainly benefit from it´s strength, impact resistance, longevity, safety in off the water handling/transport and resale value. The SDT construction is roughly about as strong as any normal production board, which is, to be honest, under- engineered for most wave use. Like many of you will have experienced.......

Remember that a board does not break when there is no wind, each repair is a lost of time and money, and a slightly heavier board still sails a lot better than a light board that is damaged.

Also the boards are short and the centre of gravity of our boards lies much further back which on the water makes them feel some 400-800 grs lighter as conventional boards.

The SDT is available because there still is a small group who do not really need an HDD. But for those who buy an SDT for economic reasons but should really need an HDD to handle their sailing style, should handle it with more care and take a shorter lifespan into account. Or look for a used HDD.......

About Dyneema

Since 1994, under the tough demands of the conditions on Fuerte, Witchcraft started using Dyneema® fibre  as the main fibre in their boards. Dyneema* is the strongest fibre on the market. It is very light, even lighter than water but has a very high tenacity and energy absorption. Still it is stiffer than Kevlar and glass fibre, being slightly more flexible than carbon. It also has a long flex life and is not brittle as carbon or glass.

Comparison of technical properties of different fibres used in wind surfboards:

 

Density

strength

energy required for penetration

 

gr/cm³

N/Tex

Jm²/kg

Carbon

1.78

1.9

1

Glass

2.60

1.35

2

Aramid (kevlar)

1.45

2.05

6.5

Dyneema®*

0.97

3.1

12.5

*) DSM´s registered trademark for High Performance Polyethylene Fiber


Apart from the price, the problem with Dyneema is that it is hard to work with, hard to cut, to sand and to laminate. It requires high quality workmanship, since irregularities cannot be corrected afterwards.

With Dyneema it is practically impossible to puncture the board. On impact there may be a dent which can be heated out with a hairdryer or hot air gun, since the sandwich material we use has memory and returns to it´s original shape over 70° C. On heavy impacts, the thin layer of glass fibre covering the Dyneema for the finish, may crack, the Dyneema will usually still be intact to stop water penetrating the board.

We have also developed various secret construction "tricks" on the inside, to make boards stronger and to prevent fatigue, that are quite simple but very effective.

We don´t use T or Delta stringers, our solution is much more efficient and stronger.

Wood is in principle not a bad material for weight/strength/price ratio however it also has a few flaws which is why we don´t use it:

  • It is only strong in 1 direction so when pressure is applied it will just break along the weak line.
  • It is also a completely different material with a different elasticity than the other materials used therefore losing a lot of it´s efficiency.
  • It can´t be bend around the rails.
  • And it can absorb water, inch or start rotting.

But, as we don´t want to reveal too much here, you´ll have to take our word for it and let our guarantee conditions convince you. We are also the first company to actually reveal the amounts of different fibres we use in our boards, just like is common with masts for many years.
All this results in a superior board with the highest strength to weight ratio possible, truly ``Witchcraft``

*Functionality first: All boards are equipped with G10 Witchcraft Trifins, one colour ergonomic pads, Pro Limit ergonomic straps,  four screws per strap, sidefin boxcovers.