Fluorinated Waxes eBlast 8 February 2011 Alpine

Information on Fluorinated Waxes

There are three main types of glide waxes used in ski racing. They are hydrocarbon waxes, fluorinated hydrocarbon waxes, and fluorocarbon overlays. Hydrocarbon waxes (System3) are simple paraffin waxes that have varying amounts of oils and synthetic hardeners in them which determine their hardness and what conditions they might be best suited for. Fluorocarbon overlays (JetStream and HelX) are the most expensive sprays, powders, and blocks. These products do not penetrate the base the way hydrocarbon waxes do and are also more challenging to work with. One quirk about Fluorocarbon waxes is that they do not "like" hydrocarbon waxes (think oil and water). Fluorinated hydrocarbons (Dibloc LF and HF) are the link between them. They are a hybrid between the two types (hence the name Toko Dibloc). A fluorinated hydrocarbon is not simply a block of wax containing a mix of a hydrocarbon and a fluorocarbon wax. The combination is actually at the molecular level.

Fluorinated Hydrocarbon

The chart on the left shows a hydrocarbon mo lecule on the left and a fluorocarbon molecule on the right. The molecules can be combined forming a fluorinated hydrocarbon molecule which is shown at the bottom.

Additionally, the respective lengths of the hydrocarbon part and the fluorocarbon part can be varied which changes the properties of the resulting fluorinated hydrocarbon wax. Fluorinated hydrocarbons with longer fluorocarbon parts are more expensive and also more "potent" than those with shorter fluorocarbon parts. This is illustrated in the graphic below on the left. The upper type shown has a long fluorocarbon chain on the left coupled with a shorter hydrocarbon chain on the right forming a fluorinated hydrocarbon molecule that would be more expensive and also more potent. The lower one has shorter fluorocarbon and Good vs Bad longer hydrocarbon parts resulting in a less expensive and less potent fluorinated hydrocarbon molecule. What can you learn from this? When a wax company representative tries to fill your head with stories about what a "high percentage of fluorine" his brand contains, you can probably assume that they are using the cheap and less potent type of fluorinated hydrocarbon. How to cut through the rhetoric? I recommend skiing on the products that seem to perform well and not to base decisions on talk.

Here are some other noteworthy characteristics of fluorinated hydrocarbon waxes:

1. They are generally more resistant to dirt than hydrocarbons. Of course any soft wax contains more oil than a harder wax and would thus be worse against dirt, but given a similar hardness, the HF waxes are far more dirt resistant than hydrocarbon waxes.

2. They are also more durable than hydrocarbon waxes. Given the same hardness, an HF wax is more durable than a hydrocarbon wax.

3. They are more hydrophobic. Given the same hardness (soft waxes are generally more hydrophobic than hard waxes), an HF wax is better in wet conditions than a hydrocarbon wax.

4. Generally speaking, the harder fluorinated waxes such as HF Blue contain less fluorine in them than the softer ones such as HF Yellow. The harder waxes also contain synthetic additives which make them better in the cold which the softer waxes do not contain. Despite it containing fluorine, HF Blue is not close to as fast when the snow is wet as HF Yellow. HF Blue is specifically formulated to perform in the cold.

5. In the Toko line, given the proper "color" for the condition, the HF wax is generally faster than the hydrocarbon wax. One thing that people seem to overlook is that fluorine is not just good in wet conditions. Fluorinated hydrocarbon waxes are simply very slippery far so more than hydrocarbon waxes. Hold one of each in your hand (of similar hardness, let's say Red) and rub your thumb over them. The HF wax feels more like soap (and slipperier) and the hydrocarbon wax feels more like wax. One factor in determining whether a wax is fast or not is simply "slipperiness". The HF waxes are slipperier than the hydrocarbon waxes.

6. There is another reason that we use HF waxes constantly besides them being faster in general. HF waxes are the idea platform to put a fluorocarbon overlay on. Pure fluorocarbons (overlays such as HelX and JetStream) do not "like" hydrocarbons. They try to get "away" from them in any way that they can in a fashion similar to when two positive sides of a magnet come together or when oil and water Alignment are attempted to be mixed. However, the HF wax bonds well to a base (and to hydrocarbon waxes) and fluorocarbons bond far better to HF waxes. It is also worthwhile to note that when a ski is waxed with an HF wax, the molecules align them selves such that the hydrocarbon part angles down toward the ski and the fluorinated part angles up away from the ski. For this reason, when a fluorocarbon overlay is applied over an HF wax, it is almost entirely on the fluorocarbon part of the molecule. The picture to the left illustrates this. The squares represent the hydrocarbon part of the HF molecule and the small circles the fluorinated part of the HF molecule. The big circles represent the fluorocarbon overlay that is being applied. The ski base is represented by the entire big rectangle. Hopefully this chart helps illustrate this truth. The bottom line is that when a fluorocarbon is applied over an HF wax, the fluorocarbon wax job will last far longer than when it is applied over a hydrocarbon. Obviously when using an LF wax, the durability is somewhere between the two extremes.

So, we use HF waxes because they are faster in general and also so our fluorocarbon overlay performs for us for a longer period of time.

Seth Wescott (USA) in black, Luca Metteoti in purple (ITA), and Chumpy Pulling in front (AUS) right before Luca went down

Jonathan Cheever Checks in from the FIS Snowboard World Championship, La Molina Spain.

Four American Men were invited to the SBX World Champs along with three women; as our quota only allows max four per discipline, per gender. Seth Wescott and Nate Holland were pre-qualified after a strong 2009-2010 season. The other two were myself and Alex Deibold because of our results at the World Cup in Telluride. Rounding off the ladies were Faye Gulini, Callan Chythlook-Sifsof and Lindsey Jacobellis.

World Champs happens once every two years. So being mentally and physically prepared is a must. That was a struggle for some athletes as the 61 degree blue bird weather and the rolling grassy piste was much more suitable for a mountain bike opposed to a snowboard. If this event wasn't so important, it would have been cancelled due to the lack of snow. However, David Ny, the course builder, scraped up enough snow, hay, and plywood, to put together a fifty-five second long course that was awesome, given what he had to work with.

Since January in the Piraneze was like May for rest of the northern hemisphere, rocks, grass and dirt were encountered if a rider wasn't on course. This brings me to the tech tip. Take care of your equipment, invest in a sleeve for your snowboard or skis. Also put your board in a thermal bag if possible, and wax often. Your base has pores like a sponge. The more wax you get in your base, the denser it becomes. The denser your base, the tougher it is when you hit a rock kicked up by the tiller of a snowcat.

Time trial action:

This course in La Molina was about execution. There were no secret lines that only a few riders knew about, there were no features that separated the men from the boys. Qualifiers didn't surprise anyone. The normal World Cup athletes qualified.

Heat racing:

Going into the heats, we all knew that this was going to be more of a bar fight than a boardercross. Everyone was going to get hit, but you were not going to know where it was coming from. This course was not wide enough for four riders.

The start was not too technical and had some flat landings that were taking years off athletes walking life. After airing to flat we would be in a drag race to turn two; which was a left-handed, 90 degree, bullet proof turn. After that we stepped down into a 180 degree right hander that had the same consistency as mashed potatoes. Coming out of turn three we had an 80 meter straight away with rollers, jumps and opportunity to pass. Turn four was another icy left hander into a loopy 60 foot jump. Turn five was a slushy right hander that proved tough for many competitors. After the lat turn, there was a 50 foot jump, some rollers and a small finish jump.

Heat 1 included myself, Russian rider Andrey Boldykov, Austrian Gino Hammerle and defending World Champion Markus Schairer. The Austrians made it tough, but I was in the second advancing position at the finish line and saw Schairer giving me the thumbs up as we both had a comfortable lead and were looking ahead to quarter finals.

The next heat with Americans was the third one with Seth Wescott and Alex Deibold. Alex killed the start and 90% of the course. With about a five-board lead over Wescott exiting the final turn, Alex went down. In those slushy conditions, body position is key. Alex was too heavy on his front foot and hooked up leaving the door open for Seth and Joachim Havikhagen of Norway to qualify. Not many people can say they were winning World Champs, but Alex got to say that.

Nate Holland was the last American male left and would advance into the quarters with Michael Novotny of Czech.

Ladies racing:

Lindsey was the only American girl to qualify. Few girls were riding well enough to give Lindsey a run for gold. Maelle Ricker went down hard in the finals trying to avoid Lindsey in turn three and finished fourth with a broken hand. French rider Nelly Loccoz capitalized on the mistake and won Silver. Undefeated in World Cup this year, Dom Maltais of Quebec won Bronze.

Back to the men's quarters:

Quarter number one was insane. Canadian Kevin Hill, Italian Alberto Schiavon , Austrian Maxi Schairer and myself were set to battle. Alberto had a killer start and would stay in-front the whole race. Schairer and Hill were swapping paint half the course and I was a half board length behind waiting for an opportunity to pass. A lippy jump halfway down the course made for some good (bad?) carnage as Hill lost his legs with some contact from Schairer just before take off. I was directly behind Hill seeing him swim in the air trying to get his feet underneath him. I knew he was going down hard and narrowly avoided him. Entering the final turn I trusted my high line and watched Schairer try to discourage a pass by riding the banked turn in the middle. My line paid off and I passed Schairer two features before the finish advancing to semi finals.

Seth easily advanced out of his quarter-final heat. It wasn't a surprise that Chumpy Pulling of Australia would be joining him with Alberto in myself in the first semi-final. Nate easily advanced out of his quarter final heat and would be joined by current number one in World Cup standings Pierre Vaultierre of France, Frank Boivin of Quebec and Luca Matteotti of Italy.

Semi final one:

I had a hole shot and tried to pinch Alberto off the first jump. That was not too smart as Alberto went down and landed with his board between my bindings but I managed to stay on my feet and in second place. Wescott had a comfortable lead and I could feel Chumpy breathing down my neck. Entering turn three I was more concerned with Chumpy's shadow in my vision than running my line. I butchered turn three and Chumpy capitalized advancing to the finals with Seth. Semi two took down the hopes for the French as Pierre took himself out when he was in front by over shooting the jump that Hill went down on. Luca Matteoti and Nate Holland were in the finals.

Final racing. Chumpy just rode better than everyone else and won World Champs. Luca Matteoti of Italy simply did not have the size to try and battle. He was trying to bully Wescott off the jump that proved trouble for Pierre and learned a lesson as Seth stiff armed him for trying to get in his line. (see photo)

Gold Chumpy, Silver Seth, Bronze Holland

Next report will be from X Games in Aspen, CO

Cheever

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