The Salomon BBR has landed

Salomon have released their all new ski the BBR on the the UK market for winter 2011-12 and it is causing as much confusion as excitement amongst consumers. With it's radical new shape, which is very surf board inspired, and bright blue colour scheme we are already seeing people drawn to it in the ski racks at sail and ski in both our shops but more often than not the look of initial excitement at seeing such a wild looking ski then quickly turns to a look of confusion as to how the ski is for. Let me try an enlighten you from my own experiences with both the Salomon BBR 8.9 and the 7.9

Every March we take 10 of us away to Italy (Austria from 2012) to the SIGB ski test and get to ski everything on the market. Nice work if you can get it. The beauty of our test team is that it is not simply 10 awesome skiers but a complete mix of abilities for recreational to very advanced allowing us to get a great cross section of opinion on all of the skis. in the case of the BBR this test group was perfect

The Concept of the Salomon BBR

Actually quite simple really, A very wide nose gives float in powder, a normal 79mm or 89mm waist width keeps the ski versatile enough to ski all over the mountain, and the narrow tail allows the rear end of the ski to sink in deep snow giving the tip more lift but also allows the tail to be maneuverable under the snow as it is not pushing against a great amount resistance. Off-piste you have a ski that want to allow the tip to the surface and is very maneuverable in deep snow at lower speeds but it has allowed you to ski the groomers to get to your powder stash without being a really wide difficult to ski 110mm or more wide ski. The only other thing we noticed about the skis ability on piste is that as the tail is narrower than the tip by a big amount beginner to intermediates get on with it well as you can easily lean a bit further back and slide the tails of the ski around a bit more

The Salomon BBR 8.9 skis

My personal pick of the two but I am quite used to stiffer skis in the 90-100mm wide territory. Would suit all skiers from strong intermediate upwards and would be the one to go for if you are looking to a lot of off piste skiing

The Salomon BBR 7.9 skis

Officially the intermediate version of the BBR but we found that it really appealed to the women as well who don't need the same width as a bigger man or to the intermediate who wanted a ski with a "talking point" that is very forgiving and will allow for easy learning in the powder down the sides of the piste

If this doesn't set you straight then just give us a call at the office on 01743 363443 and we'll try an explain it a different way - but in conclusion the big question is would you buy a pair? For me the answer was yes, but it would be the 8.9 and half our test team agreed with this. A couple preferred the 7.9 for reasons explained above and a couple simply didn't like them. But hey, if we all liked the same stuff the world (and the mountain) would be a very boring place

2012 happenings and new stock arriving

Well, It has been a while since our last post, a sign of us all having to work hard in these uncertain economic times i suppose!!

So, whats been happening? A lot would be the appropriate answer. New warehouse, new jobs for people within the company, new stock control system and a new look for the website. The Warehouse is now our operating hub taking the stress out of the office and shops and certain staff now have defintive roles in the company such as Ben who is now our E-commerce Manger and Alex who takes over as head of Customer Service.

The website is starting to look really good with a lot of input from Zoe and the new stock control system telling you what's in stock and whats not added to this has brought us right up to speed with the competion

All of these things are now functioning really well and we are all starting to get a bit of a life back now. All of the 2012 winter products are already in the warehouse with a few brands still left to deliver and the shops are starting to get full of shiny new skis and snowboards and crisp new clothing for the season ahead. We'll start to bing you some reviews on products here on the blog over the next few weeks

2011 Scott ski wear 50% off already

Once again we have the entire range of 2011 Scott Ski clothing at 50% off!!! And once it is gone, it is gone.

Scott's Best range for years with savings on jackets of up to £200 for men and women is not to be missed. Utilising the very best fabrics from Gore-tex and Entrant with an amazing colour palette of bright oranges, blues, cerise and mandarine you could bag a bargain that will last you for years to come

These are first off the line production pieces so we only have them available in Men's Large (33-35" waist / 39-41" chest) and Women's Medium (UK dress size 10-12) but is this is you or your friends be sure not to miss out - FREE UK DELIVERY on all Scott items also applies

20/25% off all Da Kine wheeled Luggage

We have a large quantity of Da Kine luggage to shift so we have reduceed it all by up to 25%. This includes their best selling travel bag the Da Kine split Roller which is normally £120 but now reduced to £95.99

Another product of note is the Da kine Falline double ski bag at £59.99 from £80 which is our best selling ski bag in the winter

General happenings at Sail and Ski and Sailandski.co.uk

Well, spring time is upon us and as usual there is a lot happening around the company.

The shrewsbury shop has had a minor re-fit to accomodate some of the new product lines that we are doing for summer. Alex has been hard at work with a lot of very noisel tools fitting new wall fixtures etc and generally making a lot of mess around the place - but he is now finished at last and the place looks great! New products include Skateboards, more wetsuits than ever including suits from Billabong and O'Neill, Von zipper glasses and DC clothing

Both shops have gone heavy in to skateboarding for the summer with large ranges arriving from all of the major skatebrands

The Chester shop is now proudly boasting a huge range of Oakley Sunglasses with prices as low as £69.99, a great new skate display and more wetsuits than ever from Billabong and O'neill

Also, if you are a local to Shrewsbury then check out the Jobs page on our website as we have 2 positions available within the company from June

SNOWBOARD TEST

Fresh back from the Snowboard Test in Kaunertal, Austria. 2011 Snowboards are looking and riding as well as expected from Burton, Ride, K2, Salomon, Forum, Lib Tech and others!

Great testing conditions as we even got a powder day on Monday - All the board reviews will follow soon but some sleep is needed first after a night on the road home last night!!

WWW.THESNOWBOARDTEST.COM

Skate Range expands again!!!

We have expanded our range of skateboards and skate hardware again as the demand seems to be growing for it in both of our shops and on the website

We have new decks in from Creature, Alien Workshop, Bullet as well as more longboards from Lush

Below are a few of the newest products to hit the shops...........................

I nearly Drowned Surfing in Ireland.....

.....but it wasn't the ocean that nearly did this - it was the amount of Guiness we drank!!! Forgot to mention the other day that it was also a stag do we were on so as you can imagine it got a bit messy!!!

Above - Me on a tiddler - the next set that followed was a monster and cleaned us all up, hard to believe looking at this (it is now shown below with me paddling to get out of the way - I didn't make it)

Here are a few of the shots taken by jay on the trip. The swell didn't quite work out the way the forcast predicted it but we found some good waves none the less.

Above is the Stag - Multi

Surf Trip to Easky, County Sligo, Ireland

I have got bloody lucky with a little trip we have planned for this weekend to the Emerald Isle surfing, Golfing and Guiness-ing with seven other north Wales based surfers.

As you can tell from the image is forcast to be pumping, with good size swell, Light offshore winds and the sun is even going to be out. I have probably spoken to soon now!!!!

Keep an eye out on Wednesday as I'll post some of the best pics on here - you might think this is just a mid-week jolly but we like to call it research / board testing!!!

Phil - Shrewsbury

http://www.sailandski.co.uk/

O'neill wetsuits at sailandski.co.uk and in shrewsbury and chester stores

Like getting dressed up in full rubber suits??? So do we!!!


Not as kinky as it sounds unfortunatley, but our range of O'neill wetsuits has started to arrive for summer 2009. We are offereing mens wetsuits in 5/3 full, 3/2 full and 2mm shorties from as little as £49. Womens wetsuits 3/2 full and 2mm shorties from as little as £49 and kids from £39.





Whether it be for surfing, canoeing, windsurfing, sailing or just general summer splashing around we will have the right suit for you at internet competitive prices.





Make sure you check out http://www.sailandski.co.uk/ for all of our latest offers on summer goodies and winter bargains now the snow has melted