Pavel wrote: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.
Pavel wrote: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!