Windsurfing Raceboards 2015
A month ago I had a very good windsurfing session together with my brother Wouter. It wasn’t very windy that day, but that was no problem. Wouter used a starboard F-Type and me on a starboard Freeformula. I was having a good time, didn’t know big board can be such fun. I was wondering if even bigger (raceboards) would be even better for light winds (non-planning conditions).But who does make such a board in 2015??? the French! Starboard and Neilpryde:
AHD Tactik (320 x 76 cm, 250 liters, 13kg)
A board without footstraps, not very heavy and made for fun surfing. No adjustable masttrack. Tuttlebox and with dagger.
BIC Hybrid One-Design (308 x 82 cm, 240 liters, 15.5kg)
A board with footstraps, dagger and adjustable masttrack. Made for one-design surfing in france. Wind 5-30 kn, very popular design.
Exocet RS 380 ELITE (380 x 65 cm, 295 liters, 13.5 kg)
A complete raceboard. RS Elite 380 has a totally different shape, a lot quicker on reaching legs than the previous version. A very competitive board.
Exocet RS D2 ELITE (380 x 70 cm, 428 liters, 14.5kg)
Something like the older starboard Z-class, a competitive board from 2- 20kn. Complete with everything.
Kona One (250 x 70 cm, 220 liters, 15.5 kg)
Another big fun class from France, without adjustable masttrack. However with powerbox.
Neilpryde RS:One (300 x 80 cm, 209 liters, 14 kg)
A board that looks similar to the popular BIC board. With powerbox..
Neilpryde RS:X ( 286 x 93 cm, 220 liters, 15.5 kg)
The olympic board. Tuttlebox.
Starboard Phantom 295 (294 x 72.5 cm, 192 liters, 13.5kg)
A complete board and rather light, the successor of the 320 phantom series. Also built as reasonable priced one-design fun board.
Starboard Phantom 377 (377 x 67 cm, 265 liter, 13 kg)
Favorite in world championship raceboarding.
Surfersgroup SG-R380 (380×65 cm, 290 liters, 12.5kg)
A dutch brand raceboard. Ecofriendly built, less energy and less polution during construction.
Summary and conclusion
- There are 6 “fun” one-design class boards from different brands, where starboard, neilpryde and bic are alike (more competitive). AHD and Kona seem to be a bit more highwind shaped;
- There are 4 “hardcore” raceboards, where Exocet offers two models and does cover the widest range. The other two are Starboard and Surfersgroup.
- There are two price classes, the hardcore raceboards tend to be +-€ 3000,– till € 4500,– and the fun boards about half (start at low € 1200,– till € 2000,–).
Is there a board you would like to get?
I actually don’t know which is my favorite.. I am interested which one is your favorite and why, respond below.
