As we discovered in the previous article:

In a fleet of 50 boats, roughly 4-5 sailors will get a great start, another 10 will get an OK start and the rest of the fleet will get a bad start. There is usually not enough “clean air” for everyone to have room to get a great start.

Knowing the theory of how great starts are set up is important and consists of 4 factors. Great starts involve mastering these factors:

1. Knowing the possible places to start on a line
2. Working out which end is favoured
3. Getting a transit
4. Timing and anticipating the gun

1. Knowing the Possible Places to Start On A Line

For simplicity, a startline can be divided in to 5 areas.

• Boat end Starboard start
• Middle of the line Starboard start
• Pin end Starboard start
• Pin end Port start
• Boat end Port start

Typically, when starting on port tack sailors look for a pin-end start to travel to the right side of the course and/or reduce the number of upwind tacks. Starting in the middle of the line on port is usually a result of having to dip behind Starboard sailors, and thus for simplicity, the line can be just divided in to pin-end and boat-end for port starting.

2. Working Out Which End is Favoured

The most crucial part of the start is being able to quickly and accurately work out which area of the line is the best to start on. A line can be favoured in different areas for more than one reason:

• The wind direction favours a particular end of the line
• The position of the first mark favours a particular end of the line
• A geographical feature or other change effects the wind on a particular side of the course

HOW DO WE QUICKLY TEST THE LINE FOR STARBOARD/PORT FAVOUR?

When testing a startline, keep it simple. Look for ‘major’ advantages; you are not able to pick 1-2 degree changes by eye.

Boat or Pin End?

A quick and easy way to test whether the line is boat, middle or pin end favoured is to sail to a spot about 2-3m directly downwind of the starboard and on Starboard tack, begin a short upwind run from that mark. Look at the angle you are sailing out of the line. If you are able to cross the startline within 10-15m of the starboard you can ‘generally’ say the line is boat favoured. If you take nearly 20-30m to cross the startline from 2-3m downwind of the boat then the line is more favoured towards the pin of the line. Figure 2A shows this drill being performed.

Remember you are only looking for ‘major’ differences between the favoured ends of the line. The distances shown in blue in Figure 2A should be measured by eye ‘roughly’. On a planing windsurfer you travel too fast to be able to measure individual degrees or metres on the water, so your aim here is to just be able to tell whether the line is boat or pin-end favoured.

Repeat this same drill on port tack from the pin end of the line. Assuming the wind hasn’t changed dramatically since your test at the boat-end, using deduction you should be able to get a better idea of which end of the line is favoured.

*NB. If a line can be crossed easily on Port tack, then the PIN-END will be favoured if you decide to start on Starboard.

Position of the Marks:

A good race director will set the top mark directly upwind of the startline. As we know, courses are not always perfect and marks can sometimes drift, so it’s important you always check upwind from the centre of the startline how the first mark sits in relation to the startline. If the mark is placed dramatically to the left or right side of the course, you may wish to change your start position to get toward the particular side of the course the mark is placed in quicker.

Favoured Side of the Course:

Every location is different and often times there can be a favoured side of the course because of a:

• A geographical feature (ie, a mountain, shore or river entrance along one side of the course)
• A tidal feature(ie, a deep channel on one side of the course); or
• A general wind phenomenon (ie, a seabreeze with less wind out to sea)

If there is a majorly favoured side of the course due to one of the above factors you should investigate whether to change your start position to take advantage and sail to the favoured side of the course quickest.

In Figure 3A a windward/leeward course with a reach mark is being used. The line is slightly port favoured (notice the direction of the wind) and Sailor 2 has started at the pin end on starboard tack. The first mark has been placed dramatically to the right side of the course, and Sailor 1 has seen this and tacked on to Port for a boat-end port start taking him to the right side of the course quicker and taking advantage of the better angle on Port tack.

This is an example of when a startline may have been Pin-End, Port favoured, but getting to the right side of the course may have been more important, so a boat-end Port start could be utilised.

Relative Abilities:

Something that is often overlooked but is still a crucial factor is understanding and knowing your abilities against other sailors in the fleet. It might not be possible to line-up against every sailor before a race start or you may have never sailed against this fleet before, but where possible, note your pointing angle and speed relative to the sailors you consider your main rivals in the fleet.

It is not always a good idea to start in a position which may give you a direct disadvantage against a rival sailor. An example of this is someone who sails very fast upwind but at a low angle. If that sailor was to start above the line on starboard against a sailor who sailed slower, but pointed much higher, he may not be able to clear the higher pointing sailor and have to dip below them, thus negating the extra speed.

In this instance a better tactic would have been to start just below this high-pointing, slower sailor to blast with extra speed off the startline and be in clear air even with the lower angle upwind.

One of the secrets to a great start is to not have better sailors in close proximity to you who can take your clean air and/or force you to tack early. If you sail in a regular fleet you should have a good idea who the better sailors are and know their strongpoints.

By knowing who the stronger sailors are, you can also identify the WEAKER sailors. When jostling for positions on the startline, you can often find gaps on the line to accelerate in to where the weaker sailors are positioned.

3. Getting A Transit

Once you’ve ascertained where you think you will be starting on the line, it is now important to get a TRANSIT of the startline. A transit is an imaginery line that runs through the startline to a marker on the shore so that at any point you can work out where you are on the startline relative to this marker.

To get your transit, park yourself at the startboat (either on the inside of it if it is a big boat, or on the upwind, outside of it if you can see through the boat to the pin-end buoy standing on your board) and line yourself up with the pin-end buoy and the flagpole on the boat. Imagine a piece of string between each end of the line then extend this mental string all the way to a clearly visible landmark on the horizon. Now that you have that marker on the shore, drift upwind/downwind a few metres and get an idea of how that marker changes in relation to the line.

Getting a reference to your shore marker above and below the line will help if you need to sail over/under someone on the line during the pre-start.

The transit becomes very important in larger fleets with longer startlines. The larger the fleet, generally the ‘transit-sag’ becomes bigger.

The transit-sag effect is that the sailors in the middle of the line will drop 3-4m below the level of the line because they believe they are over the line. This is what makes a ‘middle of the line, starboard start’ quite famous as in planing conditions you can sail over the top of these sailors taking their clean air and creating a gap for you to accelerate in to.

4. Timing & Anticipating the Gun

Syncing your watch correctly with the starter is extremely important. A planing board travels at 8m per second, so if you sync your watch 1 second out you are throwing away 8m at the start which is a huge margin.

The windier it gets, the slower and more distorted sound travels as well as the more difficult it is for the starters on the boat to put the flag up and down. There can always be discrepancies between the sounding of the gun and the flag hitting the top of the flagpole. To make it easier on yourself, stay as close to the starboat as practical for the first warning signal and check the sync on the next signal to make any corrections. If you are downwind 100m from the starboat, by the time the sound of the horn reaches you, you are 1-2 seconds out of sync!

Anticipate the Gun.

Having your watched synced is extremely important for the final step in the ‘great start’. As mentioned earlier, in planing conditions, boards travel at 8m/sec, which makes major changes in direction very difficult. Formula boards are particularly unresponsive when you going from a broad reach to a tight upwind angle as you do when you are running the startline on Starboard tack. It might take you as long as 3 seconds to get up to a good upwind angle out of the start and as long as 8 seconds to reach full speed and angle.

For this reason, in planing conditions (only!) if you are running down the startline you should ‘anticipate’ the starting gun and go on -1 seconds.

Yes, go on -1 seconds.

Why? Firstly because on the formula boards you require the extra second to begin rounding up in to the wind and secondly, because that extra second could give you the extra advantage to the sailors around you on the line, getting your nose in front of them and giving them dirty air instead of them doing it to you!

Before we start with Jesper’s comments, let’s go through a few things about the boards for those who don’t already know; starting with the names.

HWR = stands for Heavy Weight Racing
LWR = stands for Light Weight Racing

With the below specs of each board, you can quickly see that the LWR has a larger volume and a smaller tail width. Having a larger board for ‘lighter’ sailors essentially started the confusion as you would think, that a lighter sailor would need a smaller board right?

Some other things to note about the boards is their development pathways. Essentially, the previous 160 and 161 have been very popular boards with many top riders last season, even more so than the later 162 model. Starboard noted this and took the path of developing two very different boards which each show some important characteristics of their predecessors. Despite the new cutouts and tailshape and slightly different rockerline, it’s fair to say that the LWR is a development of the 160, with it’s ‘looser’ feel and smaller tail for blasting off the wind. As the 160 was popular in windier, choppier conditions, so too will the LWR be. The HWR, is a development of the 161 and 162, capturing a few great features of each board whilst making some certain improvements as Jesper will discuss.

So now to Jesper’s comments …

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

After some training in Sydney I may have some insight in to what board would be best for you to choose…

We have all seen that all the boards developed over the last four years are working really well even now. It’s really up to the racer to get the best out of it on the course. Many sailors quickly blame their gear for being slow, but hey, if you are stuck in the 2nd row on the startline – everything is pretty slow right?

I have been testing the HWR and LWR quite a lot in a variety of conditions. Mainly in flat to choppy water – which is pretty much like what the worlds in Argentina will be held in and also what we race in on the international circuit.

The HWR and LWR are two totally different boards, no question about that. The most fun board to ride is the LWR – it reminds me of a slalom board with a narrow tail, round nose and is really just easy to sail. Despite this, I am still choosing the HWR for racing at most events this season!

To put things in perspective I am 189cm tall and 89kg.

The LWR is as I said before, a great board. It will work really well for smaller guys 60-78kg. It rides a lot different than the HWR and depending on the size of the rider you probably want to look in to riding bigger fins in light winds. If the board get’s clear wind it really goes fast and keeps accelerating whilst still being easy. Downwind the board sits high and there is no chance that the nose will ever catch the chop, one can go super deep and fast. If I come to an event where it’s going to be windy each day, I would not make any doubt to register the LWR. The Grand-Prix in Fortaleza, Brazil for example would be the perfect place for that kind of board. Or Łeba, Poland with side/on shore 15-25 knots.

In bigger fleets however, lighter winds and being a bigger rider you definitely want to go for the HWR. Why?! Because this board you can really push to the max. When saying push I mean it really points upwind and you can push on the back leg and it just goes for more angle. If you are stuck in bad air/water there is always a chance where it will become a lot harder on the LWR as you need to go more for speed, especially being a bigger guy. Since everything is settled on the first upwind in most races – you don’t wanna be losing angle and going for speed. I have tried experimenting by getting myself into the worst situation and I can always comeback on the HWR. On the LWR I can too, but to a lesser extent as I need to go for more speed and I lose too much angle.

The HWR takes smaller fins. The tail is powerful compared to the LWR and I am still using 70cm fins on the board at all times. Being a lot wider the board planes really early and you don’t have to bear away too much when pumping onto the plane after tacking or starting.

To summarise:

• If you are +80kg go for the HWR.
• If you are <80kg and you usually sail in light winds, go for the HWR.
• If you live in a place where there is consistent medium winds, like in Sydney where the wind varies from 12-20 knots, go for the HWR.
• If you live in a windier place with swell and chop (like Fortaleza) go for the LWR.
• If you live in a light super wind place, like Florida, go for the HWR, regardless of your weight.

I will be using the HWR mostly this season, but for the windy events, I will be on the LWR.

Any questions, you can drop me a mail; find me on www.vesterstrom.com.

This article is adapted from a great article in the latest Australian Sailing Magazine (June/July 2009). The article was written by 1992 America’s Cup winning tactician David Dellenbaugh and originally published in Speed & Smarts, a newsletter by David on tactics, rules and boathandling. We have adapted it for Formula Windsurfers.

When your position on the race course suddenly goes pear-shaped, it’s time to change gears and re-adjust your game plan. It’s important not to throwaway your original race strategy, but consider making a few adjustments:

Take A Moment

Before you start punching holes in your sail or sailing back to the beach without so much as even attempting one upwind beat, take a moment to assess your current situation.

• Is this early or late in the race series?
• Do you already have a discard?
• How good is your boardspeed in relation to others on the course?
• How confident are you in your pre-race strategic plan?

Why you should ask yourself these questions is to do with how much “risk” you would want to be applying when you get back on the comeback trail in the race. If you already have a few bad discards, it’s probably not worth risking everything to get back the bullet in this race.

Evaluate Your Risk

In any moment in a race, especially when you’ve had a terrible start, you must decide how much risk to take. Are you willing to go out on a limb and take a flyer out to one far corner of the course? Sure, it might be a winner and you’re back with the leading pack at the top mark, but it could just as easily be a loser, and you’ve wasted a chance to get a solid recovery score which will help consolidate your regatta results sheet. As a rule of thumb, when it’s early in the event (depending on how many races will be run at this regatta), you should generally take fewer risks. If you are recovering from a bad start, try to sail to your strengths; if you have good boardspeed, use that with one-on-one tactics to pass each board in front of you at a time. Taking large risks early on in the race can sometimes be a disaster. When you get closer to the finish line (eg, Lap 2) it’s time to start taking more risks to get the points you need.

A good example of this is if after your bad start, you see most of the fleet heading left on starboard tack. There is a one in three chance (33%) the right side could pay off. These odds are probably not high enough to take the right side on the first beat, however, if you are still doing poorly on the second lap, it might be worth giving the right side a try.

Minimise The Damage

Not making simple tactical mistakes is always good, but it’s even more important when you are behind in a race. Usually, the leaders in a race are further spread apart, so taking risks to get from 3rd to 1st doesn’t have much damage associated with failing. When you are down the back of the fleet, there is much more traffic and dirty air; the boards are usually closer together so small mistakes can result in larger damages.

When you get behind in a start, resist the urge to get frustrated and go for impulsive tactics. Sure, a bit of frustration is great for getting your adrenaline up, but don’t let it put blinkers on your race strategy. When you are behind, be patient and always pay attention to the boards in front of you to see the mistakes they are making and avoid them. It’s very easy to pick the best areas of the course for wind when you are watching the boards in front of you sail in to a big hole or a gust. Avoid making mistakes by sticking to your strengths and pass the boards in front of you when they make mistakes.

Strategy or Tactics?

When you are playing catch up, another decision you will have to make is whether to focus on strategy (wind shifts) or tactics (other boards). Both are important, but which to favour depends mostly on whereabouts you are in the race. Immediately after a bad start, don’t worry about other boards, get as quickly as you can to the favoured side of the course and close the distance on the rest of the fleet.

As you get closer to the finish line, the boards are spread out and you begin to run out of time to make large strategic plans. The second lap is when you should switch into tactical mode and start racing the boards immediately around you.

Don’t Throw Your Plan Away!

Many sailors often spend a long time before the start of the day’s racing collecting information out on the course about the wind, current, startline etc to find out which side of the first beat is favoured. But if they get a bad start they often seem very willing to forget about this information and head to the other side of the course. This often doesn’t make sense. Unless something changed in the start, the side that was favoured before, should still be just as favoured afterwards; if you decide to go to the other side of the course – you might be putting yourself even further behind!

A common example of this is getting buried on starboard tack on the startline and then tacking on to port to get clear air – the sailor then usually sails to the right side of the course instead of tacking back on to starboard when he’s clear of the starting boards (see Figure 1a for a diagram of this). If the right side isn’t favoured – why sail to it? One tack should take you roughly 8 seconds, at 8m/sec speed (average planing speed for a FW board) you would only lose 64m. Be aware that on a normal 1200m windward/leeward course (taking 15-20 mins) you would lose MORE than 64m by sailing to the non-favoured side of the course.

If your pre-start race plan said to go left, you might consider changing your mind after a bad start and going right when:

• You only had a slight preference for the left;
• Going right is the only way to get clear air (but it’s usually a bad sign and a risky strategy, if everyone else is going left); or,
• Conditions changed after the pre-start.

End Note

Racing windsurfers is a very mental game. Very few sports place such a high value on sharp analytical thnking, so it is suprising that sailors don’t focus more on psychological training (we hope to get some more articles about ‘psychology’ on here in the future). A sailor can have the fastest gear and the best fin on the planet, but this doesn’t help you if you are ‘psyched out’ of the starts. It is difficult enough to remain focused when things are going right on the race course, let alone when they go wrong. Take a moment to read through this article again and hopefully having some more informed ideas about ‘what to do’ when it all goes pear-shaped, will give you that confidence boost you need to get back in to the race.

Photos by AllegroCup.pl & WindBrasil.com

There were 8 boards registered with ISAF for use on the FW circuit. These included, the F2 FX-Z/FX-VI, Mike’s Lab L8, Starboard F162/Apollo, Gaastra Vapor, Lorch Thunderbird Formula F1 and the Exocet Warp Formula 100. We haven’t had access to all of these boards as some of them weren’t available in the countries we tested in or weren’t properly represented on the FW Pro Circuit during 2008, so for the purpose of this tuning guide we’ve only reviewed the more mainstream and widely available of the boards which included, Starboard F162, Gaastra Vapor, F2 FX-Z/FX-VI, Exocet Warp Formula 100.

The riders interviewed for this tuning guide include:

* right now, we haven’t been able to get access to any of the new F2 boards for measurement. If someone would like to supply these measurements, that would be great! Email them to Sean.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

We’ve supplied fin suggestions based on the fins the riders have previously tried with the boards. Its possibly that many different styles of fins will work with each board. We’re not suggesting you need have one of the suggested fins or you are wasting your time, merely that if you had already decided to buy a fin, here’s some helpful suggestions on model. We’ve tried to suggest a model from each brand but obviously not every fin was available to every rider. Consult your fin maker for more specifics before making a decision.

Mast-track settings and boom-height will change dramatically based on the fin you are using. We have given the settings as a ‘guide’ only. Start with our settings and then make adjustments to your own preferences and sailing styles.

Starboard F162 / FWOD

Starboard released two versions of their F162 board. The second version, released mid way through 2008, was an identical board given the graphics of FWOD (Formula Windsurfing One-Design, pictured left) as Starboard made a bid to create the new Olympic Windsurfing equipment for the 2012 Olympics. Although Starboard always maintained the shapes were identical, there was some speculation that the rocker lines were changed on the newer FWOD versions (weweren’t able to find this on the boards we measured however) to give them less flat towards the tail however, the main feature riders will notice is that the new F162’s or FWOD versions, sport a thicker grey paint and logo on the bottom of the board, either to stay with ISAF’s policies on Olympic equipment being difficult to modify by sanding or to help with early problems they had with the board with the veneer of the bottom of the boards weeping.

The F162 came under early criticism from the general public on the windsurfing forums that the board wasn’t performing well compared to its competitor’s boards, however, after a 12 months on the market it would appear now that it was just a case of sailors not realising how different this board was to its predecessors and not tuning the board correctly.

BOARD DESIGN / CHARACTERISTICS:

Compared to the F160/F161 Starboards, the new F162 is considerably wider in the tail and has a wider and thinner nose, with considerably less nose-rocker leading up to the front of the board. The concept behind the thinner and flatter nose, was to aid with the ’sticking’ problems that the 160 and to some extent the 161 had downwind, whereby the big and bulky noses of these boards would catch each wave and slow the board down. This new nose has been quite successful in improving downwind speed on the F162 even with the wider tail, which although helps immensely with upwind ability, the wider the tail, the more wetted surface-area you are dragging downwind.

This board sails incredibly ‘flat’, meaning that the nose sticks to the water and the board feels very rigid and stiff under your feet.  Because of the flat nose-rocker, you need to be mindful of always trying to set up your gear to keep the nose clear of the water. Even with good rail pressure, without the nose lifting you can produce too much leeward rail engagement, which slows the board down. As a result, the best tuning settings are ones that free the nose and help to rail the board.

FINS:

No doubt, with the ‘flat’ characteristics this board has when it sails makes fin choice a lot more critical then previous Starboard boards. The F162 requires an extremely powerful fin to help rail the board and lift the nose to get the board to ‘free up’ and stop sticking to the water. Don’t mistake a powerful fin for simply just an ‘upright’ fin; these are two different things. What the board requires is a powerful fin and the best way to do this is to try fins with little to no ‘geometric twist’ and torsionally stiff. The best fins showing these characteristics are the Kashy XS/XXS, VMG Blades ‘K’ model and Hurricane FRB6 with ‘0′ twist. During testing this board we found the Deboichet R20 not powerful enough to keep the nose of the board lifting.

The fins we recommended for this board are currently:
{column1}
Light Winds:

- Kashy 72/70 XS
- Ifju LWXS 70*
- VMG Blades K76/70
- Hurricane FRB6 ‘680′ S- 72/70
{/column1}

{column2}
Strong Winds:

- Kashy 70cm XS
- Ifju LWXS 70
- VMG Blades K70
- Hurricane FRB6 ‘680′ S- 70

{/column2}

*We hadn’t tried a cutdown Ifju at the time of testing. But presumably they would be as good as the 70.

In lightwinds, the tail width of this board will allow cutdown fins up to 72/76cm however most of the riders using this board used 72/74cm fins. The board requires a lot of power both from your fin and also from your sail, so it is recommended in light/medium winds to always use the biggest sail possible. Pro rider Jesper Vesterstrøm suggested he used his 11.8m sail up to 18 knots which is higher than other riders on other boards.  The extra power from your sail will help generate the lift the board needs to rail and also help power the bigger cutdown fins you are using.

MAST-TRACK and STRAP POSITIONS:

This board sails very flat, so to counteract this characteristic you need to get all the power and leverage towards the back of the board. Start with the mast-track all the way in the back (with your plate covering the serial number even) and straps in the back holes (front and back straps). Your boom height will depend on your style, however it is recommended to use as higher boom height as possible to help lift the nose of the board. Using larger cutdown fins, may cause the nose to sit lower in the water due to the amount of vertical-lift they produce; having a high boom, straps and mast-track back will help to counteract the fin and the boards insitence to keep sailing flat.

In stronger winds, the mast-track can be moved forward to aid with control, however it is not recommended to go much further than the middle of the track, even in hurricane conditions.

Overall, this is a very comfortable board to sail and the specified weights of the boards we measured were all within tolerances. It may require a little bit more tuning than other boards if you have been riding the previous Starboard FW boards as the F162 is a very different animal to its predecessors.

Gaastra Vapor Racing

Gaastra entered the Formula Board market quite late, with the Vapor Racing 2008 board their first ever FW board. Shaped by Tabou shaper Fabien Vollenweider and developed by Steve Allen (AUS-0) and Hubert Mokrzycki (POL-25), Gaastra were pretty quick to snag a good market share of the FW boards sold in 2008, even if it took them 10 months to acknowledge the board even existed on their website!

BOARD DESIGN / CHARACTERISTICS:

We’ve written a more in depth review of the Gaastra board which you can read here, however, the fins have changed immensely since that article was published and we recommend using the settings mentioned below rather than in the previous review.

The general characteristics of the Vapor board are that its got a nice amount of scoop-rocker, a very wide tail, similar (which we like!) cutouts to the F162 and a very well designed nose which has just the right amount of vee/concave and thin outline built in to it to make this board a real performer downwind, even in strong winds.

The board arguably feels similar under the feet to a Starboard F160, however, with the wider tail, the board feels much more ‘free’ even in light winds. It is a very ‘aggressive’ board, meaning that the nose rides high in the water and the board feels very twitchy and responsive under your feet. Although, there will be no problems with control, even in high winds, with this board, the general ride characteristics are that the board is extremely loose and ‘flighty’ with the nose being lifted easily and fin/rail pressure being generated easily. All the tuning settings for this board are to keep the nose tracking straight without bobbing up and down which is can do with the wrong mast-track position. This is one of the few boards that is not very fin specific, almost any fin will work and feel comfortable with the board, which is a great attribut to its design.

FINS:

As we mentioned, this board works well with almost any from an old Deboichet R13 up to the latest Kashy/VMG etc super soft fins. With the very forgiving feeling this board has in high winds and the safety the nose of this board creates when sailing downwind in big swell, it will be possible to use much larger fins in higher winds with the Vapor board. We found the best fins suited to this board are the newer, much softer, swept-back fins such as Kashy, VMG Blades, Deboichet R20 and Hurricane FRB6 as these fins create a bit of vertical lift under the board which helps to keep the nose down a little and under control.

Different to the Starboard F162, you don’t need as much power from the fin to generate rail pressure with this board, so we recommend getting fins with maximum amount of twist in the tip which will help depower and settle the board down when the fin loads up in high winds and will also allow a much more comfortable and smooth ride downwind at deeper angles.

The fins we recommended for this board are currently:
{column1}
Light Winds:

- Kashy 74/70 XS
- Ifju LWXS
- VMG Blades K76/70 (Gaastra model)
- Hurricane FRB6 ‘682′ S- 72/70
- Deboichet R20
{/column1}

{column2}

Strong Winds:

- Kashy 70cm XS
- Ifju LWXS
- VMG Blades K73 or K70 (Gaastra model)
- Hurricane FRB6 ‘682′ S- 70
- Deboichet R20
{/column2}

MAST-TRACK and STRAP POSITIONS:

With a 12m sail, the mast-track should sit in the middle of the track. Any further back and you begin to stall the board as it does not require the track so far back to lift the nose, the shape of the board does this automatically. As it is quite an aggressive board, when the wind gets up you need to move the track forward to keep control of the nose. With the track 2-3cm further forward than centre, the board comes in to its own in strong winds, with a very comfortable and easy ride, despite how responsive the board feels under your feet. It might be possible to stay in the outside straps in strong winds much longer on this board compared with any other, due to its nose shape and wide tail. Straps should always be in the back holes on this board and boom height needs to be as high as comfortable.

We recommend running a higher boom and mast-track further forward to keep the nose at the optimum control level. If you were to move your mast-track further back than middle (to help lift the nose) and then run your boom lower to compensate, the board seems to ’stall’ a little and be slower to get planing.

Overall, Gaastra have done a very good job providing one of the few boards this season that is as fast as it is easy to sail and tune. Any fin, any sail and any sized rider will suit this board.

Exocet Warp Formula 100

It was said that Exocet’s Patrice Belbeoch developed the Warp Formula 100 entirely on his own without testing against another rider or another board brand. Whether that is true or not, Patrice certainly came up with a very different board for the 2008 season, turning away from trends or copying other designs and creating one of the most talked about boards in 2008. With its slick carbon look and black paint, the new Exocet, aka the “Black Machine” turned a few heads this year when Argentinian rider Gonzalo Costa-Hoevel ended his long-term deal with F2 to ride the new Exocet.

BOARD DESIGN / CHARACTERISTICS:

The first thing to notice about this board is the weight. At its ISAF registered weight, the Warp Formula is nearly 1kg lighter than than any other board on the market and we’ve found by weighing a number of different boards the gap could even be more than 1kg.

Much like the F162, the Exocet sails extremely flat, with the nose sticking to the water, however this characteristic is due much more to the underside of the board’s shape. There is very little rocker and concave in this board and very little nose-rocker towards the front. Exocet have widened the tail of this board immensely and the Exocet has become the widest tailed board behind the new F2’s, with an extra 1cm over the F162 and 2cm over the Vapor at the 30cm off mark.

The board has a similar sailing feeling to the F162 upwind in that the board sails incredibly ‘flat’ with the nose sticking to the water, however it feels a lot more stiff and rigid under your feet than the F162, probably due to the wider tail and flatter rockerline. With the super light weight, the board planes up considerably earlier than other boards with an 11m sail and has extremely good upwind angles in lightwind with its flat bottom shape. The nose appears to stick a little downwind in stronger breezes however this can be fine-tuned with the right fins and setup.

FINS:

Much like the Vapor board, the Exocet’s strengths are that it appears to suit a variety of fins. Everything from older R13 fins up to the latest Kashy/VMG etc super soft fins. The extra width in the tail allows the rider to use a big fin in stronger breezes however the fin must be working to help lift the nose of the board otherwise it could be counter-productive. Different fins give this board a different riding style. Using more traditional fins such as the R13, the board feels incredibly stiff under your feet and generates a lot of lift and speed upwind. As the R13 is a fin that generates a lot of ‘railing’ very easily downwind, we found this fin to give almost the best performance downwind in a variety of windstrengths as it helped rail the board which could clear the ’sucking’ nose of swells and also reduce the wetted surface area of the board downwind; decreasing drag.

Despite what fin you decide to use, the fin needs to have considerably less rake than other board models. A fin that is less upright will help to lift the nose of the board and may also generate a little more geometric twist in the fin which can help with speed downwind and giving the board a more comfortable ride downwind.

The fins we recommended for this board are currently:
{column1}
Light Winds:

- Kashy 72/70 XS (rake 4.5 deg)
- VMG Blades K73/70 (rake 5 deg)
- Deboichet R13 S– 70 (rake +4)
- Deboichet R20 70 (rake +4)
{/column1}

{column2}

Strong Winds:

- Kashy 72/70 XS (rake 4.5 deg)
- VMG Blades K70 or K68 (rake 5 deg)
- Deboichet R13 S– 70 (rake +4)
- Deboichet R20 70 (rake +4)
{/column2}

MAST-TRACK and STRAP POSITIONS:

The mast-track on this board needs to be run as far back as possible at all times; even in strong winds. The same goes for the footstraps. The reason being, upwind you need to release the nose of the board and having your setup all in the back with maximum pressure on your fin will help to generate the rail pressure needed to lift the nose of the board. Downwind, this board is susceptible to the nose catching waves and slowing down. To counteract this you must get your weight centralised over the back of the board and aggresively rail the board with your feet. Hitting the swell at an angle, whilst the board is extremely railed, will help reduce drag and improve your speed downwind. Fin choice will help with this and one of the main reasons we’ve included the R13 fin with this board is that it is arguably the best fin to generate the rail pressure needed to rail this board downwind and ‘fly the fin’.

On another note, there has been mixed responses as to whether this smaller, lighter board can handle a 12m. The Exocet feels lower on volume than other boards on the market (even though on paper, it is even bigger than some of the other baords) because the overall thickness of the board is less at the the tail and the flatter rockline makes the board appear to sit lower in the water. Although, Gonzalo has been using 12m successfully in light winds in the early part of this season, some heavier riders might find this board a little harder to get planing with the bigger rigs because the board will stall when the nose is pushed down during pumping.

Overall, Exocet have done a great job with this board and provided an interesting competitor to the F162, Vapor and F2 boards. This board, might have more advantages for lighter riders as it ‘may’ have more potential for early planing used with an 11m sail in lighter winds. It is a very easy board to sail/trim upwind however might require a bit more tuning downwind to get the best speed out of the board.

F2 FX-Z

F2 did something unusual in response to the IFWC’s two-year board design lock; they registered two boards, with the FX-VI being produced early on for the 2008 season and the FX-Z only being made available to the ‘general’ consumer much later in the 2008 season. Although the boards share some common characteristics, they are two different boards, with F2 shaper Patrik Diethelm working with Gonzalo Costa-Hoevel on the boards before Gonzalo switched to the Exocet team halfway through 2008. The boards appear to have followed two completely different development paths, each following on from the 2006 and the 2007 F2 boards, which were very different in concept.

For the purpose of describing the general characteristics, we will describe both the FX-Z and FX-VI at once.

BOARD DESIGN / CHARACTERISTICS:

Compared to the other boards on the market, the major design feature of the F2’s is their incredibly wide tails, with the Z being slightly wider than the VI and both being almost 5cm wider than any other board at the one foot off mark. Both boards sport a very rounded outline in their tail and a lower overall scoop-rocker than previous F2 boards which allows them to have good early planing ability despite the drag of the extra tail width.

Looking at both the boards, they appear very square as the tail is almost the width of the nose, but on the water is where they show their abilities. Both boards have a very ‘aggressive’ sailing style which is a little bit more technical to sail comfortably than other boards on the market. The F2 boards are easily railed with their flat vee section in the tail and very sharp rails in the middle however this can also make the boards feel very ‘flighty’ in stronger winds and chop and more mast-track forward pressure is needed to keep the nose down.

It is probably a fair comment that these are both ‘lightwind’ specialist boards. With the added tail width, it’s possible to run fins bigger than ever before (Pro Rider Dennis Littel used an 83cm cutdown Kashy fin in light winds with the FX-Z in 2008) as the added leverage from the board’s tail width allows greater control. The majority of riders will be using much larger cutdown fins in 2009 as large (+76cm) cutdowns are still relatively new on the market. To some extent, the F2 boards have helped drive the need for bigger cutdown fins in other boards on the market.

In stronger winds these boards can become a little more difficult to sail as they require a taller and heavier rider who can use their height to leverage over the board to keep control and stop the board from flying the nose; especially downwind. Of course, the wider the tail the more leverage you get against the fin but also more drag you get whilst sailing. It is a tough comprimise with these F2 boards as they definitely have the best lightwind abilities of any board on the market this year but at the expense of being more difficult in stronger winds and a little more technical to keep the speed up downwind as the tail seems to suck a little on the downwind legs.

F2 recommends the VI as the choice for lighter sailors and the Z for heavier/taller sailors. This is a good recommendation as generally speaking, most of the taller, heavier riders on the tour used the Z versus the smaller guys using the VI when they had both to choose from.

BOOSTER PIPES / CUTOUT PLATES:

As usual, the F2’s sport the booster pipes and adjustable cutout plates to help with the tuning difficulties downwind. The concept behind the booster pipes and cutout plates have always generated a lot of discussion in the FW world and many theories are out there as to their effectiveness. Originally, when the pipes were brought in to their FW and slalom range in 2006, F2 stated that the pipes were to eliminate the vacuum created in the large tail cutouts while travelling at speed. From testing the boards in the past seasons that have used the pipes, its been more apparent that the pipes play a better role in reducing the vacuum at low speeds especially when trying to pump on to the plane. The same can be said for the current boards, as the tail width does have the propencity to ’suck’ to the water whilst trying to initiate planing.

The cutout plates, give the rider four options (with plastic ringed spacers allowing the adjustments) by either using no plates, or putting 1-3 rings in between them to make the cutout depth smaller. All of our test riders found the board performed best with 2 rings in on both boards; in either strong or light winds, upwind or downwind.

FINS:

No doubt, with the insane tail width of these boards, it’s possible to use bigger fins than ever before. We had tested a smaller amount of fins out with these boards so there may be many more options available, but for tuning purposes, fins that work with the VI will work in the Z. Softer tipped and fins with a little bit more ‘geometric twist’ are a must with these boards to help release the board a little bit from the water and help it to rail. The fins need to be fast to generate the best lift but also to be powerful to help rail the board downwind. The best fins showing these characteristics are the Kashy XS/XXS, VMG Blades ‘K’ and ‘B’ models, the R20 and Ifju LW models.

The fins we recommended for this board are currently:
{column1}
Light Winds:

- Kashy 78-80/70 XS
- Ifju LWXS 70*
- VMG Blades K78/70, B78/70
- Deboichet R20
{/column1}

{column2}
Strong Winds:

- Kashy 70cm XS
- Ifju LWXS 70
- VMG Blades K70
- Deboichet R20

{/column2}

F2 FX-Z

F2 FX-VI

We hope you are able to use this guide to better tune your boards in 2009. CarbonSugar would like to stress that it is actually a ‘guide’ and not a definitive tuning methodology. Everyone is different and we only sampled a small number of fins, so please our recommendations as a basis to begin tuning and try your own settings to see if they are faster.

Feel free to post your comments/suggestions and personal experiences about the boards in the comments so the discussion can be built on.

Q >> How did you get into the fin game?

I’ve always been active in sailing; both racing competitively and building equipment. I’ve built my own windsurfers (everything from Formula to Speed) and even a state of the art Sports Yachts back in 1993, which was featured on the cover of September 1998 “Australian Sailing Magazine” (see below).

Anyhow, I guess it was no surprise that I started talking with Boogie at C3 Fins back in 2002. C3 Fins had just won the FW World’s with Kevin Pritchard (USA-3). I became a bit more involved, by providing feedback and occasionally inputting into the development. When Boogie retired from making FW fins in 2006, he offered to sell us his IP and tooling.

In the early days we dedicated a lot of time working closely with Boogie, to make sure we re-produced C3’s extremely high standards. From there we started an ongoing development program. We still keep in touch with Boogie to bounce ideas around. (Actually I was just speaking to him yesterday!) I hope we can live up to Boogie’s hard earned reputation.

Q >> How do your fins differ from other fins currently on the market?

Originally, C3 molds started with A, B, C, etc, so we have continued along that line. The latest evolution is the ‘K’. We commissioned Boogie to develop the ‘K’ fin using his latest foil design. We then got down to the detail of developing the best layups to meet our performance requirements.

Looking at the current trends on the FW fin market, other designers have moved toward swept-back outlines with very torsionally stiff layups. We decided to go our own way with an outline with almost neutral twist. This gave us better ability to control the twist characteristics of the fin by the layup; without having to combat or trade-off against the ‘geometric twist’ built into a swept-back outline of other fins.

Q >> Your fins appear to be ‘lighter’ than other fins on the market? How so?

Yes, that’s usually the first thing a lot of people notice when they pick up one of our fins. We use 100% carbon in the laminate and because of our outline we only have to put the carbon in specifically to control the bend and the twist, not to counteract the twist produced by swept-back outlines. We also cure our fins under extremely high pressure and heat which allows us to get very good fibre to resin ratios which results in a minimal void laminate. We have a few secret ingredients which also help keep the weight of the fin down; developed by C3 Fins. Any weight saving on your rig is a good thing. Have you ever seen a winning skiff with heavy foils these days?

Q >> Do you have a range of fins?

We’ve pretty much finalised our range of fins. We already have specific bends of the ‘K’ model for different sailing styles and equipment. We’re developing cutdowns, which help extra light-wind performance and balance the super-wide tails of current boards. For the serious racers, we are continuing to build fins to their personal specifications.
We have just finished testing our latest prototypes and are very pleased with the results. The current fin is extremely competitive. The fins have been described as very easy to sail, with an automatic trim and a feeling of hydro foiling.

Q >> Who Is Behind VMG Blades?

Anthony Woodrow, Brett Morris & I.

Q >> But Who Are You????

I (Chris Ting, AUS-5) am the actual guy who builds the fins. I’ve been actively racing FW since it began in Australia and I headed over to Portugal for the FW Worlds last September. (I hope I can make it to Spain this year!) I am also the President of the Storm-Riders (www.storm-riders.com.au) Windsurfing Club in Sydney which organises the big and growing fleet of regular FW racing on the east coast of Australia. VMG Blades is based in Sydney, Australia, testing in Botany Bay. I hope we can see a lot more sailors head over this way and enjoy our windy summers down under.

Q >> So when can we order a fin?

Production is limited at the moment. When the doors are fully open and ready for business, I promise CarbonSugar will be the first to know!

In the meantime, if you’d like to enquire about our fins you can get in contact with us at vmgblades@gmail.com.