Everything is pretty easy on the HWR in terms of setup. Put all your straps in the back holes and try to use your mast-track as FAR BACK as you can handle in all conditions (even covering the serial number with your plate). This board rides kind of flat (not quite as flat as the 162, but still) so you need to do what you can to get the nose to fly and help rail the board.

For fins… generally everything is working quite well on this board as it doesn’t need large amounts of lift. You want a fin that promotes railing quite well though so any of the current 70 fins out there like VMG, Kashy, Virus, Z, Boss etc will do the job (go for an XS in most of these brands). For super light winds with a 12m then a few of us are using bigger cutdowns in 72 or 74cm cut to 70…

Anymore questions … post them here :-)

btw; amazing website!

Regards
Erik

I will start growing white hair and a big fat belly and your updated artilcle still not posted….. LOL
Anxiosly waiting……

When I wrote this article I was in a lucky situation where I had access to nearly every board personally. This time around there are many new boards on the market that I have yet to actually see as not everything is sold in Australia and last year we had no international competitions per say…

I’ll see what I can come up with but it might take a little time…

Yes, I’d like to do that. Funnily enough I actually haven’t spent so much time on a HWR yet as I’m still waiting for mine to arrive in Europe … but when I get my hands on mine I’m going to put a guide together…

Maybe its time to put here Starboard HWR tuning guide?
I hope you had time to study this board since you became Starboard rider.

A.

I think the 75% carbon masts can be fine. I’m not completely sure on the Severne masts, but I know personally a ton of guys who use the Neilpryde X6 masts in their race sails instead of the X9 and lose no performance. I have seen a lot of 75% carbon masts break though, so it’s not always the answer to mast structural integrity, but for sure they are much cheaper to buy!

I wouldn’t consider a Deboichet R13 M a powerful fin by todays standards. Whilst the Debs are still good fins, they were developed nearly 10 years ago; the game has changed now – the boards are wider, sails more powerful…etc etc.

I often use the words ‘newer, softer’ when I talk about the new fins around on the market these days that have come about over the past 4-5 years. They include VMG Blades, Kashy, Ifju, Virus, Z fins to name a few (plenty other brands out there also). These fins are typically much, much softer than the Deb fins and have more swept back leading edge outlines and are generally more expensive to buy.

The good thing about these newer fins is that you don’t really need more than 1. So yes, they cost more, but you don’t have to buy 2-3 fins like we all used to when everybody used Deboichet fins in their hay day.

For general cruising and sailing, the R13 M will be fine in the 162 but if you are racing and want a bit more performance. I would highly recommend trying one of these newer fins.

In regards to the mast track… ALWAYS put it all the way in the back on the 162. That board sails really flat with the nose down! So don’t be afraid to have the track far back!

Thank you for the reply.

Your opinion was very helpful.