Comments on: 09 Phantoms hit Aussie shores

By: Knut Loken

Knut Loken — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:05:04 +0000

I wonder if somebody can tell me something about the new Starboard raceboard sail 9,5. We are sailing in Oslo (Norway), and here are very often light winds. Is it very important to have a spesial mast or…
Can anybody give me some rig.tips. I have ordered the sail, and I will get it in mars/april.
We are sailing regatta from april to oktober here.

Knut Loken, 65 years old

By: Neil McKinlay

Neil McKinlay — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:20:25 +0000

My 2009 Phantom 380 . I am generally happy with the sailing performance of my Phantom 380. I admit that I don’t have the sailing skills to sail it to its potential but I am working on that ever so slowly. However, I have always had concerns about robustness and the design of the centreboard pivot on the 2007 and the 2009 Phantoms. On the 2007 Phantom the pivot holes in the 3 mm thick GRP shims on either side of the centreboard had elongated after 1 season of use. The shim material did not seem tough enough to withstand the contact pressure that the brass pivot pin would apply. To check the wear on the shims requires 8 self tapping screws to be removed so it is not a check that is done very often, if at all. If you launch from sandy beaches then abrasive sand is almost certainly going to work into the pivot point. I had hoped that the new 2009 Phantoms would have addressed this problem. Alas no! I would really like to hear from the designers what the design reasoning was in initially adopting this centreboard pivoting system and then choosing to continue with it. Perhaps it was that the shims are cheap usable parts that are easily replaced. Based on the wear that I can see occurring on my new 2009 shims, (the board has been used 8 times this season from a non sandy launching area) I think the shims will need to be replaced every 1-2 seasons. I hope Starboard are making lots of spare replacement shims. I will be very upset if replacement shims are not easily available from the retailers at a reasonable price.
As I see it the shim wear problem could be reduced if the brass pivot pin was made slightly longer. The centreboard slot in my board is 30 mm wide, the brass pivot pin is 28 mm long, so the pin can “float” across the slot by 2 mm. The current system does not allow any “control” of where the pin sits. In the worst situation the pivot pin would be seated fully in one shim (3mm) and be seated only 1 mm into the other shim. That is what I think has been happening with my board as one shim pivot hole is already showing elongation (after 8 races). I am thinking that if I make a new brass pin that is (say) 29.8 mm long, then the pin will only be able to “float” 0.2 mm and remain reasonably seated in each shim all the time. Is anyone else seeing the same sort of wear?

By: Woody

Woody — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:03:35 +0000

I have also received my new Phantom and like the new shape as well. I did notice my upwind beating straps do not fit the new board very well. The screw holes in the new Phantom are farther apart allowing only the longer of the two straps to fit, and even then, that strap is fairly tight and flat. I’m awaiting a new set of straps from my dealer.

Looking forwrad to try it out this weekend.

Woody – CAN757

By: BliniFin6

BliniFin6 — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:52:16 +0000

Here are results and photos from the Raceboard Worlds 2009:

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dwsv.net&langpair=de|en&hl=de&ie=UTF8

There you can see also what boards and sails the best one used.

In the first 10 best group were Mistral PanAm, Mistral Equipes, New and Old Phantoms, Mistral One Designs…

Sails in high winds were mostly Neil Pryde RS:X 9,5 sails and in light winds Aerolite.com, Starboard RB and LeFebre 9,5 and Slim 9,5.

I was first who used Starboard’s old Phantom and Starboard’s 9,5 RB sail in all winds. I was 10th in overall results.

Keep on surfing

Blini

By: allan whitham

allan whitham — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:17:22 +0000

I have also received my new board.
I hold grave fears as to the robustness for normal bumping around associated with windsurfing. I was fitting my new upwind straps when I dropped my screwdriver it fell no more than 2.5cms but that was enough to put a hole in the deck that required sealing .
So robust I think not !!