myiW Current Conditions and Forecasts Community Forums Buy and Sell Services
 
Hi guest · myAccount · Log in
 SearchSearch   ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   RegisterRegister 
Upgrade from an old Formula board
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    iWindsurf Community Forum Index -> Windsurfing Discussion
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
gvogelsang



Joined: 09 Nov 1988
Posts: 435

PostPosted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 10:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

d0uglass wrote:
Passive planing style, 8.5 max sail, and 210 lbs put a limit on your light-wind planing threshold that a new slalom board probably won't raise. In fact, the shortness of the new slalom/formula boards (~240 cm compared to ~270 cm for your old formula board) actually makes them less compatible with a passive planing style.

That's not to say that a new slalom board won't have a faster and friskier ride once planing.

But I'd say if your goal is to plane earlier, a 9.5 and a more active style will make more difference than a new board.


That is probably very good advice. I like to tack my old-man Formula broad, which I can because it is 270 long.

I guess the only upgrade that would make sense would be the larger of the two JP Super Lightwind boards.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
coachg



Joined: 10 Sep 2000
Posts: 3549

PostPosted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 10:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://www.calema.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=608

Another option to consider for big guys with passive sailing styles.

Coachg
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
sl55



Joined: 03 Aug 2007
Posts: 112

PostPosted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 11:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I can attest for JPSLW 154. Great early planing board. I am a bit lighter at 190lbs and found that 11m sail was too big and heavy, and did not give me noticeably earlier planing vs. 9.5m sail reaching. I found that with a 10m Titan GS I plane in 10-12 mph wind, and the board goes 18-20 mph. In stronger wind I can go into mid to high twenties on it with 8.4m sail. People in Australia report max speeds of 30 knots on SLW! Comparing to formula SLW is way more user friendly, does not need any crazy pumping to get going, easier to get into foot straps, very easy to jibe, and does not kill your ankles reaching. The bigger version is a bit longer and has even more relaxed foot straps plugs. Ultrasonic has a narrower tail and is more suitable for lighter riders.
Going upwind on Lake Winnebago
[/img] Very Happy



July 2014 Winnie.jpg
 Description:
 Filesize:  610.85 KB
 Viewed:  5891 Time(s)

July 2014 Winnie.jpg


Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 12:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Aren't Formula boards very demanding of technical skills? Is that the kind of sailing you want in a spontaneous evening session?

We watched a guy in the Gorge rig a TEN METER SAIL yesterday and hook it to some kind of board about 4 feet wide and not much longer with a comparably arrow-straight vertical fin more than half my height. The dang board was, relative to the usual Gorge board, a three-dimensional rectangle, one of the weirdest watercraft I've ever seen. During the hour it took him to drag all that crap out, rig it, schlep the parts down to the water's edge separately, plug them together, and walk out to chest-deep water so the fin would clear while he climbed aboard and uphauled as he drifted into shallow rocks, the wind had picked up enough that other guys were sailing 5.0s to 6.0s. He tried for a long time to get it to plane, but never did. Dang; we were hoping to see an UPSIDE to all this hard work, such as infinite speed, flying on just the fin, pointing straight upwind ... SOMETHING. His skills just weren't up to the challenge, and as far as I could tell he missed out on the next 4 hours of marvelous, classic, Gorge 4.2 to 4.7 swell/B&J sailing.

I think all he got out of all that was literally a BALE of weeds, which our 22 cm wave fins were snagging all afternoon, some of them like hitting mattresses as we flew over the handlebars if we didn't spot them in time. And spotting them didn't help in the weed growth zone at the chest-deep level; we must walk through or power-slog through a 50-foot-wide, completely choked, swath of them, slog to clear water, jump in, and remove softball- to football-sized clumps of weeds from our feet, tiny wave fins, booms, hooks, etc. I can't imagine the weeds his 80(?) cm vertical reaper picked up.

Here's where this gets relevant to this thread. I found out later this board was made by some fast dude named Zwieback or something, out of the Bay area, so I Googled it. I was stunned to realize what you guys have already surmised: THIS IS THE FAMOUS MIKE'S LAB BOARD(S) you coasties keep raving about. Here I thought those were small B&J/wave boards. I can't imagine a board like that fulfilling the stated "easy to ride, passive planing, rarely pumped" criteria, but stranger things have happened.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
dllee



Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 5328
Location: East Bay

PostPosted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 1:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Formula can be any kind of sailing you want.
Use a 6.5 meter sail, cruise around in 15-22mph winds no stress.
Use a 11 meter sail, stress around in 15-22 mph winds, lotsa stress
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    iWindsurf Community Forum Index -> Windsurfing Discussion All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3
Page 3 of 3

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You can attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum

myiW | Weather | Community | Membership | Support | Log in
like us on facebook
© Copyright 1999-2007 WeatherFlow, Inc Contact Us Ad Marketplace

Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group