Minimum board weights – are they too low?

Those of you that have read my other Journal entries on LBWS know that I am an avid raceboard sailor.  Over the years I have had many different boards some more successful than others.  In recent times I have owned the last F2 lightning and Mistral Pan am that came out of the Cobra Factory in Thailand as well as the recent Starboard Phantom also from the Cobra factory.

Generally speaking all of these boards have been great boards in their own right.  They have pointed and railed well, been quick and a pleasure to sail.  However, they also share a common and similar construction that delivers a board to a set weight.  That is as light as possible.

“Great” I hear you saying, “light is king”, it makes boards faster.  Yes this is true, but at what cost?  More on this later…….

Like most raceboard sailors I sail at a local sailing club and race against other Raceboards, Windsurfer One Designs and dinghy classes such as Lasers.   Those of you that know Windsurfer One Designs (WOD) no that if you have an incident on the water, such as a port and starboard challenge, that the raceboard will come of second best to the WOD.  This board is a solid construction that is very durable.  Yes I know, it weighs more.  Equally, running into a Laser will not do your raceboard any good and little to no damage to the Laser.

I am sure that you can see where I am heading with this one.  Modern Raceboards are fantastically light but very fragile.  The manufactures have traded long term durability for weight savings.   This is great if you are going to get a new raceboard each year.  But if like most of us you do not have that much cash you provably would expect to get at least 5 years out of your new raceboard.

Some of the old Raceboards in the fleet that I sail in are late 80’s and early 90’s models.  These boards have lasted well beyond 5 years and are still going strong.  Interestingly they are not that much heavier if at all.  I suspect that when these boards where made more reinforcing (carbon) was used.  This of course has a price.

So, I see a situation where we have pushed the manufactures to make boards as light as possible and as cheap as possible.  Surely this is a recipe for a 1 year life span boards that are fragile but quick.  Is this what the majority of us want?  Perhaps I have oversimplifies the situation here?

I do not blame the manufactures for this situation.  I am sure that you have seen in our sport this never ending diatribe of drivel about board weights.  Check out the starboard forum for many examples.  I recall when the RSX first came out there was a huge outcry that it was too heavy and that people could not lift it off their car.  Really, what a load of shit.    Yes the board may weight more than your slalom board…but its not a slalom board and is built for a different purpose.

I presume that the bulk of longboard sailors out there, weather they be raceboard or other will agree with me on this one?  So how do we rectify this situation?  Firstly as the people who use these boards we need to tell the manufactuers that we want our boards to last longer and that we are happy for the boards to weigh a little more.  So this universally affects everyone we could raise the minimum board weight in the Raceboard Class rules.  Yes, I said rise the minimum weight.  Perhaps a little controversial but maybe the boards will last longer.

Boards that last longer will ensure that there is a greater supply of second hand boards on the market.  This is essential for our sport as a “entry platform” for new sailors who are not ready to make the financial commitment associated with buying a new board.

Perhaps another solution is for manufactures to make two models of their new boards.  So for example you could get the “Standard” Phantom and the “Race” Phantom.  The Standard has more carbon and reinforcing and will consequently last longer.  The race Phantom is stripped back, weighs less and will consequently not last as long?  The Standard may weigh a little more, but in the scheme of things that weight is irrelevant for most of us weekend warriors.   One less beer and meat pie before the race would also achieve a weight saving, but I am not willing to give that up.

So what do the rest of you think on this topic?  Please let us know…

09 Phantoms hit Aussie shores

At last the 09 replacement Phantoms have arrived in Australia.  In accordance with the warranty instructions my friend and I took our 08 model Phantoms to our local Starboard retailer to pick up our new boards.  With much excitement we swapped over centreboards, foot straps and mast tracks from the old board to the new.

Ok so I have not used the new board yet but it looks good.  I really appreciated the new shape and lines that appear to be more subtle than the previous.  In particular, I liked the ridges on the deck that travel for a good portion of the length.  While these were perhaps a weight saving and strengthening feature I think that they will be great for light wind railing as a foot hold.

On first inspection the reduced rocker appears interesting as does the increased vee that runs through the board.  It is quite pronounced particularly when you compare it to the original phantom. No doubt this will be advantageous for railing and reducing wetted surface area up wind?

Starboard claims a completing new construction method for this years board….

The new 2009 Phantom Race 380 is built deck and bottom in full PVC sandwich and unidirectional 80g carbon. Flat-weaved and unidirectional, the UD80 carbon iber is the most eficient iber ever used in the construction of a windsurf board, weighing a mere 80g per square meter and providing extremely high stiffness. A new oversized side-plate holds the 78cm daggerboard, spreading the load evenly and ensuring total reliability, durability and functionality.

I hope that all of this means that the boards will be more robust and last for many seasons as Raceboard sailors generally tend to keep their boards for many years.  All of the old Equips out there is evidence of this.

While it is winter in Australia at the moment my local club has a winter race this weekend.  So I will get some better photos of the board in action and give you my feedback.  I would love to hear from others who may have used the new board.  What do you think?

Starboard’s website is www.star-board.com

Australian Longboard Festival

The Australia Day Weekend, 23rd-26th January, will see the inaugural Longboard Windsurfing Festival happening on the East Coast of Australia.  This event includes the Raceboard Oceanic Championships, which will be held at Illawarra Yacht club and the National Windsurfer One Design Championships which will be held at Port Stephens Sailing and Aquatic Club.   On the East Coast of Australia seabreezes prevail from the North East consistently and a cool Southerly change usually once a week in the month of January. It’s a fairly safe bet that we will see a daily average of 12-15knots at both locations, however this summer the ‘Black’ Nor-easter (25-30 knots) has reared it’s head on a number of occasions which could make things interesting. Both of these events will cater for all levels from elite to beginners and will be a heap of fun. If your local, make sure you grab your longboard and get down for a sail and join in the fun. If you can’t make it, enjoy an online experience through LBWS.com.au, showcasing results, photos & video. Further information on the Festival and the two locations can be also found at LBWS.com.au.

[Read more]

Raceboard and Mistral OD World Championships 2009

2009 will see the Raceboard and Mistral One Design World championships held in Germany on the Baltic Sea at the seaside resort town of Warnemünde. The World Championships are scheduled to run from July 7 – 11 with the German Raceboard and RS:X Championships occurring just prior between the 4 and 6 July.

Event organisers have informed LBWS that there will be the following divisions.
• Raceboard 9.5 m2
• Raceboard 7.5 m2
• Mistral One Design
• RSX
• Woman
• Youth
• 35+
• 45+55+
• 65+

While this is a World championships, event organisers [Read more]

Phantoms Recalled

Starboard announced today that they are recalling all Phantoms with a serial number above 40. See the comments from there designer, Tiesda which appeared on the Starboard forum today.

To owners of the Phantom Race 380 serial numbers #040 and above,

Our manufacturer has advised us that a number of boards have been produced without the specified layer of PVC reinforcement around the critical area in the daggerboard box. This may result in cracks and water intake. We feel that it is the correct action for the World’s number one Windsurfing board brand to make a full recall on this model, to be replaced with the new 2009 version of the Phantom Race 380, scheduled for release this coming spring.

On a positive note, this new 2009 Phantom Race 380 shape has been tested to be quite a bit faster both upwind and on the reach compared to current, World Champion, Phantom 380 of 2007/2008. Racers will get even better kit, and Starboard will thus bring into the market a board that otherwise would not have seen the race scene before 2010.

We apologize for all the incident and we hope that by offering to replace the board with the new and faster model in spring, we would continue to keep all Starboard raceboarders happy and ahead of the game.

For those of you who are not currently on the Starboard Phantom Race 380 and considering to purchase one, production has been discontinued of the current model and the new 2009 model is available from Spring onwards.

Tiesda, on behalf of team Starboard

LBWS has asked Tiesda a few questions about the recall and the design of the new board. As soon as we hear anything further we will let you know.

Phantom Review – Part 2

This short “Part 2” article follows my previous review of the Starboard Phantom titled “Phantom Early Thoughts”.  Since writing this article, I have had further opportunities to use the board in light, moderate and big breezes and have grown more comfortable with the board and its capabilities.  I have also made some modifications to the gaskets to get them working.

In my previous article my only concern was that the centreboard gaskets where too tight and required that I stop sailing to adjust the centreboard.  In response to this I have undertaken two things which now mean that the centreboard now works relatively well.  [Read more]

Phantom – Early Thoughts

Regular readers of LBWS would have seen that the first shipment of Starboard Exocet Phantom 380 to Australia in the middle of our winter.  As a consequence there has only been limited sailing of these new boards in typical Sydney Winter conditions (read light winds).  While the board generally performed well I have been reluctant to put pen to paper to write a review of the board given the limited sailing that I and the other new Phantom owners in Australia have had on this new Raceboard.

[Read more]

Grassroots Longboard Event

When can an event be fun for all? I was alerted to a video on the Kona website which demonstrated how far longboards and Kona has come since the return on the longboard. The Kona has without a doubt restored to windsurfing a spirit which was really only a memory a few years ago. In July in the northern hemisphere summer season the 18th Aber Wind Cup 2008 was held. While I did not go to the event I saw a link to some great [Read more]

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