Raceboard
Phantom Hits Aussie Shores
July 9, 2008 ·
While it is the middle of our winter, the first batch of the long awaited Starboard Phantom 380 raceboard has arrived in Australia. An eager bunch of Australian raceboarders joined the NSW distributor, Sam Parker from Wind Surf n Snow, for a small Phantom arrival celebration at his shop. The lucky three who had their name down for the first boards enjoyed a beer in the festive atmosphere as foot straps and centreboards were installed and the new board was inspected and discussed. It seems an eternity since Starboard announced these boards and... [Read more]
Raceboarding & light wind technique
May 10, 2008 ·
While the Northern Hemisphere gears up for their racing season, winter is upon us down here in Australia. After a long season of racing, it’s a time to finally get those board and sail repairs done, and abit of fine tuning. The winter traditionally on the East Coast of Australia (NSW) is alot of the time blowing a 30 knot freezing southerly but mostly it puts on a sun filled, light 2-8 knots. So if you wish to brush up on your light wind technique & tactics it’s a good time. The photos of AUS 053, Russell Jones from Illawarra... [Read more]
European Youth and Masters Raceboard Championships
April 1, 2008 ·
Not that I was there but I thought that it was worth noting that the European Youth and Masters Raceboard Championships are over for another year. They were held between the 20th to 24th March in Civitavecchia, which is a busy commercial port near Rome. Thanks should go to the International Raceboard Class website for this report. This year’s championship fleet may have been small - but it was a very competitive fleet. Three of the top 4 finishers from the 2007 Worlds will be battling it out for the European Masters title including World... [Read more]
F2 Race 380 Review
March 19, 2008 ·
In the last few years the windsurfing industry seems to have come back to the joy of longboard windsurfing. There is a whole crop of new longboards including two new Raceboards. The Exocet Warp X and the soon to be available Starboard Phantom 380. The decision to design and market these boards seems to come from a clear recognition that while the experiment with hybrid boards was interesting, and perhaps essential for the industry, that they are not all that they were made out to be. F2 Race 380, Exocet Warp-X 380 behind The arrival of the Warp... [Read more]
Starboard Phantom 380 update
December 18, 2007 ·
After all the initial excitement it has been a while since we heard anything from the Starboard crew about the proposed Phantom 380 Raceboard. With the prototype of the board having such a successfull outing at the Raceboard world championships earlier in 2007 everyone in Australia was hoping that the board would be ready for our season 07/08. Several people placed orders but were later told by the supplier that the board would be delayed a while as some design refinements were made. Starboard Phantom 380. Photo by Juha Blinnikka of Hyvinkään... [Read more]
Loft Sails ‘Blade CR 9.5′ Review
December 17, 2007 ·
Most of us are interested in new gear that may be suitable for longboards, especially when this gear is hard to find. When I heard that Loft sails were producing a Raceboard sail in their 2008 line up I was keen to see what it was like. However, I need to go back a few months to when this story started… Blade CR 9.5 Midway through the southern hemisphere winter 07, I suggested via email, to Monty Spindler from Loft sails, that he should produce a raceboard sail in his line up of sails for 2008. I pointed out, that with the resurgence of racing... [Read more]
Australian Raceboard Championships
December 15, 2007 ·
The startline The recent Australian Raceboard National Championships 07/08, at Sanctuary Point NSW, delivered two spectacular days of sailing with a mix of light and high winds that tested the endurance and skill of the fleet. As event organiser it was pleasing to see a fleet of approximately 40 sailors battling it out. As a sailor in the fleet it was awesome fun to sail on this great patch of water amongst this skilled fleet. On Saturday morning the forecast for the day was not looking spectacular with light easterlies predicted. As event... [Read more]
The Word from the Worlds
November 3, 2007 ·
Photo curtesy - www.mundial-potrerillos.com.arThe worlds showed a close contest between the Equipe, Starboard Phantom Race and Exocet Warp X 380. It’s a good situation for the class, because we now have new boards that are highly competitive but don’t outclass the old boards. Martin Berardo, ARG 5, missed out on second place because of a crash in Race 1, but still finished 5th overall. He was sailing an old Mistral Equipe, with a 48cm fin; he feels that if he could have found a 51cm fin it may have been even faster. After many days’ training... [Read more]
Railing a raceboard
October 10, 2007 ·
I am a self confessed windsurfing tragic who has a passion for all areas of windsurfing particularly longboard . However, at the top of my list of preferred longboards are raceboards both old and new. While I appreciate the Windsurfer One Design for its robustness and simplicity and I love my Lechner. There is nothing like a - they have the best all round performance, love a breeze and will also shine in light winds. But for me, it’s nothing quite as practical as this. It is the sheer joy, verging on spirituality of sailing your raceboard... [Read more]
2007 Raceboard Worlds Commentary
October 9, 2007 ·
Photo from http://www.mundial-potrerillos.com.ar/ingles/Longboard Windsurfing (LBWS), has been following the just completed Raceboard Worlds which were held in Mendoza, Argentina. While not attending the event, we followed it on the event web site and thought we should make some comments here on LBWS. Congratulations to the winners, Mariano Reuteman and Patricia Castro, as well as to the event organisers who seemed to put on a great event. The venue appeared to be a fantastic place to sail with beautiful water and consistent moderate to fresh... [Read more]
The Olympic circus
September 21, 2007 ·
The move to dump the Mistral One Design from the Olympic games can be seen as a straight hatchet job on longboards. Many of the sailors, coaches and countries in the sport were happy with the MOD. The push came from others within the industry and sport, and from ISAF head Paul Henderson. He hadn’t seen many MODs being sailed just for fun, and he had a major issue with pumping (and Mistral as a company, according to some). He demanded a new “state of the art” board that fulfilled criteria like representing “current windsurfing” and which... [Read more]
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