Nitwits are starting to make me a little concerned ...

[speedysailor]

Not much wind this season on the cape, but I put in a good session on my newly acquired Formula equipment, 11 meter sail and 100 cm wide board. The new 60 cm weeder made the day, though.

[GURGLETROUSERS]

In all seriousness, why a formula and huge 11 metre rig for recreational light wind use? If racing, fine, but for PLEASURE???

In my experience an ordinary narrow racing longboard with dagger down (railing) and a tight leeched 7.5 sail will way outperform a formula upwind in sub planing conditions, and be considerably less of a wrestling bout and strength contest to use. It's more fun too!

You can actually go places, and safely return, instead of just grim facedly trying to squirt up onto the plane once in a while - if you're lucky.

Isn't windsurfing supposed to be fun, not a chore?

[GURGLETROUSERS]

To add to the above - just returned from longboard cruise with 7.5 in very iffy/wafty cross off light breeze. (5m.p.h. to occasional 12.)

Teesport North East England is a major industrial complex (steel, petrochemicals, I.C.I etc) and huge bulk carriers and oil tankers anchor 2 or 3 miles out to sea, awaiting their docking turns.

With little better to do on light wind days a long board journey out and around them nicely passes the time. So it was today.

On the reach out, a formula board may have got onto the plane occasionally, though the lulls were so protracted that it could never have stayed there, regardless of sail size. On the beat back, just as the breeze, such as it was, was fading, no way would it have got back in this side of next week! The long board had no problem.

We often had heated arguments when formula was supposed to be sweeping all before it, and many locals thought huge fins could do what daggerboards could. Nobody was prepared to put it to the test though (out and back around the ships on a light offshore day) even though a bet of £100 was at stake!

[rationalnational]

[speedysailor]

Gurgle, let me address your serious inquiry. I had a lot of fun with the formula rig that day. In fact, I should be going out this afternoon with it. Have you ever tried sailing with one? Your long board probably weighs over 30 lbs, my Formula board is well under that. Because it is so wide, it isn't as easy to carry as my Naish Icon at 82 cm, but it is just as light. My most used sail for the past two seasons was a 9.6 so moving up to an 11 wasn't such an incredible jump as most think. What do you weigh? I weigh in now around 240 lbs and have plenty of balast for the sail. I doubt that the increased speed you obtain with an old long board makes much of a difference to a recreational sailor. Now that I'm used to the rig, it isn't all that different than sailing with a 7 meter sail. I was able to sail clew first, tack and gybe. It can beat your longboard upwind and downwind, no sweat. Often I have to sail upwind to avoid hazards. In Florida it was a bridge. This board beat my old 320 cm long Hi Fly hands down. The Exocet TurboII remains remarkably manoeuverable and stable in a straight line. Once I have planing winds, it's like blasting on a cloud because the water is so flat. As far as I see it, long board sailing is slogging plain and simple. If I wasn't having trouble with my shoulders due to my aging, I would definitely buy a 12 or 12.5 meter sail.

[pueno]

[DanWeiss]

[GURGLETROUSERS]

You misrepresented what I was saying Speedysailor.

All trials show that in SUB PLANING conditions, formula boards are unable to point as high, or beat a racing longboard upwind. The racing longboard with its daggerboard will ALWAYS get there first. Sail size or sailor weight is not relevant. A long board, with a tighter leech sail, points at a higher angle upwind, and will keep going. No fin at the rear of a formula board however massive can alter that fact! (As stated, I was sure enough to put my money where my mouth is and issue a round the ships challenge in light offshore winds. There were no takers!)

As for planing pleasure, a modern fast slalom board with an up to 8.0 metre rig will produce all the thrill of speed that anyone could wish for. Once you pass the 30 knot barrier, the smaller the board and rig to have to worry about, the better, especially if you hit chop!

A further factor in pleasure is retaining the ability to throw the board and rig about. It's generally agreed that once sails pass the 8.0 metre size you lose that ability.

Lastly, in trials to produce a new Olympic racing board some while back, all types and prototypes were entered by the manufacturers. Formula had to be rejected for the very reason that in sub planing conditions they simply couldn't match old long board which had been in use. The final choice was the hybrid R.S.X. (like the Prodigy which I hated) and we're now stuck with it! Few people seem to think they got it right, and the new breed of modern long racing boards seem clearly superior.

[speedysailor]

Once again you guys are splitting hairs and making mountains out of molehills in order to exaggerate your own importance. Sailing with a longboard and a 7.4 meter sail, you won't go as fast in any direction as you will with a Formula board and 11 meter sail. I can't put a sail bigger than a 7.4 on the 320 cm board so the reality would be I just can't get the purchase of a Formula board with larger sails.

[pueno]