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.

Well time has moved on and the Australian season has just started and I have now sailed the board 6 times in a range of conditions from very light (less than 3 knots) to more rigorous breezes (up to 20 knots).  In addition, a number of LBWS readers have requested that I stop holding out and put my thoughts on the board in writing.  So here they are.  Below my comments are some thoughts of other Phantom users and observers.

First Impressions.
When the board arrived and I was checking it out my initial thoughts where, “yes, they have got this right”.  Good shape, good distribution of volume and that wider tail will be great for earlier planning.  That’s not to mention that great paint job and the attention to detail in the finish.  The board appeared to have an interesting pedigree with some (to my mind) of the best bits from the Equips and Mega Cats as well as drawing on some of the benefits of the later F2 Race 380 with its chunky rails.

Volume and Getting on to the Plane
As a larger chap (90kg) the extra volume over my old Pan-Am is appreciated.  There can be no doubt that this volume is beneficial for someone of my size in getting on to the plane as early as possible.  This was demonstrated in one of my recent sailing sessions in light winds when I was sailing against a mate who was on a Mistral Pan-Am and had an identical sail to me.  I was definitely able to get the board up and planning that little bit earlier.

The distribution of this volume appears to be about right.   I like the fuller and wider tail as well as the extra width overall.  Although I would not be too keen to go any wider than this as it is my view that this will reduce the light wind performance.  It will be interesting to see how the slightly wider and soon to be released Equip 3 with its extra width performs.

One of the differences with the older Raceboards is the rounder nose with its extra volume.  The Phantom shares this quality with the Exocet Warp X.  I guess the logic is that in moderate winds that it will help you to jump on to the plane early.  I had some initial concerns that in fresh winds and swell/chop that this wider nose could be a catch point.  However, my one sail to date in a 25 knot breeze with swell indicated that this was not an issue.  In short, hang on and she bounces over the top with little trouble.

Rails and railing
One of my other Raceboards is the F2 Race 380.  As I have stated in some of my previous comments on LBWS, this was a great board with chunky rails that dig in and drive well upwind.  The Phantom has some similar qualities with a chunky thickness to it as well as great square rails.  Combined this ensures that the board rails well and points high.

The Phantom like the F2, needs to be sailed and managed hard to be quick.  This is particularly the case in light winds where I found that I really needed to push the leeward rail down to get it railing and pointing.  But for my efforts the rewards where there and in light winds it really pointed high and in most cases above the other raceboards in the fleet.  One suspects that this is also a function of the big centreboard in the Phantom.  Unsurprisingly, in fresher breezes the Phantom also railed and pointed well.  However, this was no better or worse than the other Raceboards in the fleet.

Footstraps
In the times that I have used the Phantom to date I have found that the foot straps are in just the right position for both beating upwind with the track forward and reaching with the track to the back.  The lightweight foot straps are great and part of the Starboard attention to detail.

Track
It is clear that some thought has gone into the track and it operates well with a smooth movement and lock mechanism.  The pedal is also easy to operate.  The track appears to be in about the right position and a little longer than the tracks in older raceboards.  When we laid the Phantom and a Pan-Am together the longer track was evident.  They both started in about the same position but the Phantom track runs further toward the bow of the board.  In heavier winds with chop this appeared to be a good move as it kept the nose from jumping around.  However, in lighter winds going up hill I felt the need to pull the track back by about 10cm to get the best speed out of the board.

Gybing and tacking.
Like most windsurfers I love a good carve gybe.  In my time on the Phantom to date it has not let me down in this regard.  Straight away I was able to get a good clean carve gybe on it.  Once again, like the F2380 you need to put some muscle into it but the result is smooth and neat and easily repeatable.  The wider tail and volume at the rear seems to assist gybes in moderate conditions as I found that I have tended to more easily stay on the plane.  Moreover, it gives you a wider platform to put your feet and feel your way around.

Lets face it Raceboards are never going to tack like a Windsurfer One Design , Kona or Formula board.  It’s just not one of there strong points.  However, I was pleasantly surprised with the Phantoms tacking abilities.  It moved through the eye of the wind and the opposite tack with relative ease compared to a comparable board in the F2 Race 380.

Gaskets
Ok this is where I can not say anything positive and unfortunately it is not just my board and view.  The gaskets are just too tight and while good at stopping water from coming up the slot make it too hard to move the centreboard during a race.  I have seen all of the Phantoms that came into Australia and this is a common problem.  Yes the situation is improved with silicone spray, but not to an acceptable point.

To be fair to Starboard, I think that this is not a problem that they alone have.  In fact I seem to recall that the Warp-X and Konas when they first arrived had a similar problem?  Perhaps this is a Cobra Factory issue that needs to be addressed for all boards with centreboards that they produce.   While I strongly urge Starboard to investigate this issue, I understand that a number of sailors have “thinned down” the gaskets to improve moveability of the centreboard. I will be attempting this and will report back later.

Conclusion
Overall I am very impressed with the Phantom.  It has been built to a high level of quality, is relatively light and has a great shape and distribution of volume.  Most importantly it feels good to sail.  It jumps into the upwind railing position and onto the down wind plane easily.    Overall I give it big thumbs up and three cheers to Starboard for their commitment to Raceboards.

Importantly, the board appears to be competitive but not too competitive.  That is, it will be a good addition to the existing raceboard fleets around the world.  It will be quick but not so quick that all of the existing Raceboards will be blasted out of the water.

It is only the beginning of our Australian season and my time on the board relatively limited.  Notwithstanding I am comfortable with the board and my initial thoughts that I have outlined above.  However, these will need to be reviewed later in the season when I have had a chance to use the board in more competitive fleet racing situations.

Cheers
Pat
AUS456

THOUGHTS FROM OTHERS

Yagon – an LBWS regular.
I like the lines of the Phantom, particularly for a big bloke such as myself.  The chunky rails are similar to the F2 380.  The extra tail width should help in moderate winds.  The longer daggerboard should help light and moderate air performance.

I thought that the nose had more rocker than my Pan-Am (although we didn’t assess this particularly accurately).  If true, it will be interesting to see if this affects the board: will it rail upwind as well as a straighter board?  I didn’t notice any effect on the water, but it was difficult to judge.

The conditions were flat with the wind gusting from 5 to 10 knots.  At one point, Pat and I (on a Mistral Pan-Am) were on a broad reach in one of the bigger gusts – I think that Pat was quicker to get on the plane.  This is an area that the Phantom should have an advantage over the traditional narrow tail designs.

Some have a concern that the extra tail width will affect the Phantom in light winds.  Judging by yesterday’s experience, I doubt this – catching the right gust and pumping effort appeared to have a far greater impact on overall speed.  When we were side-by-side, I didn’t notice any significant difference in speed.

As a heavyweight, the Phantom is the board that I want.  I personally don’t like the design of the WarpX’s tail, although I like its overall lines for light air.  I will be very interested to see how the Phantom compares to the new Mistral Equipe III when it comes out.

Ohara19 – LBWS Forum Contribution
I’m interested to find out the thoughts of other new Phantom owners? I previously sailed Raceboards for over ten years and was originally enthusiastic about the new Starboard. I, like many had to wait an annoyingly long time to receive the board. I originally thought the wait would be worth it. I have now sailed the board solidly for three days in conditions varying from sub planning conditions to really wanting to be on a wave board and a 5.5. I am still awaiting the beating straps, these were short shipped two months ago. The slot flushers are awful, why does the Cobra Factory not opt for a system like the cat. The slot flushers on my wife’s Starboard Go are much better! The dagger is increasingly difficult to retract, mainly due to its small head size. The only time this did’nt seem a problem was in really light winds. F2, Mistral and fanatic had this pretty much sorted by the mid nineties. I also have issues with the Tuttle box, five different fins and still to find a fin that fits flush without having to sand it. I have also have a considerable amount of soft areas with bubbles on the base.

So considering its many problems the board is actually not to bad to sail. It tracks upwind very well holding steady on the rail. It’s surprisingly stable even in bumpy condition of 20 plus knots. The dagger still lacks cord and could be more powerful though. The board tracks well off wind and sustains planning in quite light winds for a big fella like me. Gybes relatively well in bumpy conditions and likes to be powered around the gybe. Hopefully when a few more manufacturers commit to making a true raceboard sail again then the upwind performance on this board may improve. The track position and performance is awesome, maybe this board will perform really well in good planning conditions upwind, however its flusher drag downwind and poor dagger workings will make it frustrating around a smaller course.