Want to buy a 115l board

[mjamero]

Thanks Mark,

Yes, durability is my main concern when looking at Futuras. I believe yours is the top construction, would an older or more basic Futura be more durable? Because I’m not buying a new board, my choices are pretty limited. Some people have suggested getting a slalom board. I don’t know if it’s a good idea for an intermediate level.
But I would want to get something a bit more advanced than my previous board.

The challenge with slalom and especially formula is footstrap position. Some of these boards have the staps right on the rail and some of these boards are very wide. This make gybing (or at least learning to gybe) challenging. (Never sailed formula so speculating here). You are similar to me in that you have just learned to waterstart and likely the next thing in your progression are carve gybes. Before you try full out carve gybes you will work on gybe entries and also simply carving the board upwind and downwind (foot steering). Carve gybes (and especially gybe entries) require three things.1. SPEEEEEEEED. 2. Footstraps that promote comfortable carving. 3. A rail shape that promotes carving. I switched to my Futura because my old Carve was not getting enough regular planing time per session to consistently practice gybe entries. It was a good shape for gybing though and had good footstrap positions. It was also built like a tank.

To summarize. What you should be looking for is a FAST board (or quick to plane) likely in the 115-125 range, a rail shape that promotes easy carving, durable, flexible footstrap positions to allow for progression. This will get you well in to the next stage of your windsurfing development.

Futura. Fast: YES. Quick to plane: Moderate. Durable: NO. Footstraps: Several positions but favours back and outboard over inboard.

PS, I was able to fix that Severne Sail. The previous owner didn’t set the battens properly. Luckily none were broken.

Beauty. That's good news!

[Pavel]

Thanks Mark!

[grantmac]

Based on the last few posts I feel confident recommending against a freerace board and also recommend you keep the Rocket. Then maybe add a 105L FSW.

What's your biggest rig?

[Pavel]

I sold the Rocket. It felt too floaty. My biggest sail is a 7.5 Retro.

[imdmitry]

If you want be able to buy, you can join club locarno and sail all your favorite boards.
We have futura, carve, rockets and more fun boards including foil.

Check the boards here.
http://www.clublocarno.com/windsurfing/boards

[Pavel]

Thanks Dmitri,

I have considered it before. I like to sail at different locations, so I don’t think I can take the gear out whenever I want for as long as I want. Plus the set up has to be adjusted every time. It would be nice if Club Locarno rented these boards out.

[grantmac]

115L FSW could go down to 5.0 and an ~85L modern wave board would work below that.
I think you'd be bored on a Carve or similar low performance freeride. A FSW gives you the opportunity to do light wind wavesailing and they jump a lot better in my experience.
It would be fine with a 7.5m but that would be on the limit and probably best with the straps outboard/larger fin.

Keeping in mind that a single fin FSW has a very similar rocker to a freerace board but with less width, softer rails and inboard straps.

[Pavel]

Thanks Grantmac,

“Keeping in mind that a single fin FSW has a very similar rocker to a freerace board but with less width”

I didn’t know that they have similar shape to a freerace board. I thought they are tuned down wave boards. What would be the lowest wind range you could you a board like this with? In the previous post, you said it wouldn’t work well in English Bay, why not?

[grantmac]

My experience with English Bay has been on marginal days. Even my foil didn't want to work very well.

I'd say with a 7.5 and my 122L I'm happy with 15kts. It could handle a 8.5 with more fin but I don't know how much bottom end I'd gain, I'll probably just foil then.

Wave boards have quite a bit of rocker to get them turning. They also have either vee or concaves to smooth out the chop. Both these aspects make them slow to plane (although my 95L quad is fine on flat water with a 5.7).
Freestyle boards have almost no rocker and very little vee or concave in order to plane super early for their volume/sail size. Downside is they don't turn great (compared to wave boards) and tend to ride rough.

Slalom/freerace boards have very low rocker plus some bottom shape to let them ride soft at speed (no use going fast without control). They get the early planing with big fins and a wide tail. This unfortunately makes them poor turners and technical to gybe.

FSW can balance somewhere between a wave or freestyle board depending on what the shaper wanted. Usually larger single fins with be biased more towards a freestyle with enough rocker and bottom shape to have good manners. In short a board that does a bit of everything depending on how you have it setup.
My 122L with the straps inboard handles like a gigantic wave board and it feels smaller than it is, especially when turning or jumping. But even with my thick wetsuit I can easily uphaul it in chop so it's great for those iffy days or slogging out to the wind.
I've tried it with the straps outboard but at my weight I need more fin for that position to make sense. At your weight with a bigger fin for early planing/upwind they would likely work very well in that position.

[mjamero]

Thanks Grantmac,

“Keeping in mind that a single fin FSW has a very similar rocker to a freerace board but with less width”

I didn’t know that they have similar shape to a freerace board. I thought they are tuned down wave boards. What would be the lowest wind range you could you a board like this with? In the previous post, you said it wouldn’t work well in English Bay, why not?

My 94l Kode FSW w/single fin feels very much like a small Freeride board. That is how I use mine. It's basically a small version of a Carve. (Straps outboard and fin back). As far as Starboard goes, a FSW like the Kode has much more in common with their Freeride boards than it does a Freerace board. Can't speak for other brands.