WA
171 posts
I love reading about all your experiments. I have a question for you to consider. If I remember correctly, you also have a windsurfing background. If so, do you remember the old assymetricals from the late 1980's? They had the same goal of creating bite and drive on the bottom turns but sharper turns on the cutbacks. We did this through three design features; a shorter rail line on the cutback side, the wide point pulled back on the cutback side so there was more curve in the rear part of the rail outline, and sometimes there was a side fin placed just on the cutback side to provide a further forward fin position. With your new setup, I am wondering what would happen if you kept the twin fin position on the bottom turn side, and used a fin in the old thruster box on the cutback side without the trailing fin you have behind that now. That might give you the results you are liking on the bottom turn, and even more looseness on the cutbacks. I can see the advantage of having the cutback side fin further forward, but I am not sure about the advantage of having the trailing fin behind that one which would seem to just make it harder to turn tight off that heel rail.
Just a thought from a fellow 'fin experimentor'.
WA
171 posts
At 75 y/o, I have found myself gradually moving to larger boards over the past 10 years. I have found that going to different fin setups, smaller surface areas and less rake, can loosen up my new larger boards so they can surf closer to my previous smaller boards. My limited experience with Starboard SUPs is that they ofen have fins with a lot of surface area, especially the rear fins. I think this works great on smaller boards like your 7'11" which may benefit from the extra drive, but can be too stiff on larger boards like the 8'7" you tried. Maybe try some fin experimentation as you demo different boards.
WA
171 posts
Great detailed post. A fun and thought provoking read. Thanks for posting this.
WA
171 posts
We have had a few friends who have gotten back into windsurfing after following your same journey, and they are loving it. Some did find it challenging at first and commented that it was a lot more work and they didn't realize how much they had gotten out of shape. My one concern would be if you got back on too big a board that would feel huge after all the smaller boards you have been riding. If you are still the same weight, I would consider not going too much bigger than the windsurf boards you have ridden in the past. I have a large quiver of windsurf boards, and find the JP Freestyle Waves to be the most versatile. The 94 liter you mentioned sounds like it might work well to get you back into it.
