The new 2007 Starboard formula boards have arrived in Australia and with good winds the entire week Sean has had the opportunity to test the new board in a variety of conditions. Read the rest of this post for an Action Shots gallery from some days sailing at Australia’s Sunshine Coast.
| Comments from Sean: The new board is really flying in all conditions. So far I’ve sailed it in everything from 6 knots up to 25 knots with my 10.7m RS:6 sail. Its a really loose feel when sailing it. Even looser than the 160 felt (if that’s possible) making it ever so easy to rail both upwind and downwind even when the wind is super light. So far I’m running all my footstraps in the back holes but I haven’t played around with footstrap positions yet. I’ve tried my R19 S-, R17 S- and R13 73cutdown S- and all seem to be working; seems like you can put any fin in this board and its flying. The R19 is obviously the best in lighter winds, but I’m actually using it all the way up to 18 knots as the width of the 161’s tail makes the big fins easy to control even in stronger winds. Its a close tradeoff between my R17 and R13 in winds from 18-25knots but I’m leaning towards the R13 as I get a little more control when the wind is up. I’m suprised how easy it is to sail in +20knots with such big fins. I can’t imagine I’ll be using anything smaller than a cutdown 70 this year in (almost!) all conditions…
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