Step up from Rio

[Nightriderxrs]

Just a question ?
I been sailing for two seasons on 08 Rio L. I'm 200 lbs 36 years old.
I'm feeling pretty comfortable on that board but I would like to get something smaller and faster. I sail in ontario (not much wind) so I use 7.0 and 9.5 sails.
Any Suggestions?

Thank You

[Screamer]

Nightriderxrs
Futura144 would probably be your best choice, similar width as your Rio, good for 9.5 and your weight. Faster (and more demanding) option would be iSonic133 or 144. You say there's not much wind where you sail. If you use daggerboard a lot (displacement mode), only then a shorboard won't be the best option. But since you also use a 7m sail and want something fast, I suppose there's enough wind to plane on a regular basis.

Good luck

[crazychemical]

I go with screamer on the futura thing. Definatly the superb freeride. But i don't think you should be considering Isonics. Much too difficult transit from the Rio and you'll start hating windsurfing.
You might also want to consider the larger Go's. They're wider so have earlier planning threshold, can bare smaller sails and in my experience have good speeds (if you use the external footstrapsettings). Though the futura probably is faster in the end.

Originally Posted by crazychemical

I go with screamer on the futura thing. Definatly the superb freeride. But i don't think you should be considering Isonics. Much too difficult transit from the Rio and you'll start hating windsurfing.
You might also want to consider the larger Go's. They're wider so have earlier planning threshold, can bare smaller sails and in my experience have good speeds (if you use the external footstrapsettings). Though the futura probably is faster in the end.

I'd say it's really depends on what you want out of your board/ and how much TOW
you want to invest to progress in sport...
At 36 you still very young ( in 'windsurfing' years').
if you break performance into categories, and rate it from 1-5, below is what I think :
GO/FUTURA/ISONIC/FORMULA
easy to use 5 5 4 3.75
planning 3.5 4 4.5 5
speed 3.5 4 5 4.5
upwind/downwind 3 3 4 5
wind range 4 4 4 5

[Nick F]

Originally Posted by Nightriderxrs

Just a question ?
I been sailing for two seasons on 08 Rio L. I'm 200 lbs 36 years old.
I'm feeling pretty comfortable on that board but I would like to get something smaller and faster. I sail in ontario (not much wind) so I use 7.0 and 9.5 sails.
Any Suggestions?

Thank You

Me the same weight as you and have had similar boards, Express and Starts and loved them, but wanted to go faster and get on the plane quicker.
I had the carve 161 and sold that and got the Futura 144 and sail that with my biggest sail 9.4. This is a great board and with that sail its fine. My biggest worry was that if I down size it would be to unstable and I would be falling in all the time, but no, I made a great choice of board, and would not sell it.
I got the 144 and glad I didnt get any smaller, the board is stable and you can go up to a 9.8? sail if you wish.
I would go for the futura, you can pick them up for £700 new, or 2nd had maybe £450.

Saying that I am now looking at Formula boards and wondering if its worth getting or not? Same again I dont know how hard they are to ride and its a lot of money to splash out on.

Cheers and good luck

Nick

[Screamer]

I agree with some of the Sergio's post and I don't agree with some of it too ;-)
For a sailor that's determined to improve in that particular direction, Formula is great no doubt.

On the other hand, that's not necessarily a recipe for progress. I happen to know several Formula sailors (recreational, not pros obviously) who stayed there forever (mega rigs, fickle winds, lots of TOW, etc). Even when they have the chance to improve in strong winds, they stay away, in their comfort zone. Some of them can't perform a waterstart (never need it), and they will never know what a sensation carve gybing is. I'm not dissing Formula (sailed it for a few seasons and enjoyed it), just stating my opinion from what I've seen.

For a Rio sailor, I'd say it's a bit early to decide whether he wants a high performance beast. Also, "performance points" doesn't mean much, as a total score doesn't reflect whether that particular board is SUITABLE for a particular sailor - or not. Formula has got the best score across the board, but that's not relevant to majority of recreational sailors. For example, I would add another extremely important category: gybing. And the score for Futura/iS/Formula would be imho: 5-4.5-2.5

So something else is more important here. It has been formulated long ago:
SMILES PER MILE - only thing that matters ;-)

Fair winds

[crazychemical]

Originally Posted by Screamer

So something else is more important here. It has been formulated long ago:
SMILES PER MILE - only thing that matters ;-)

Fair winds

totally. So given all we know, i think it's safe to say that in our wellcalculated opinion the Futura would be the best next option? Though i mildly dissagree on the early planning rate fo the GO .. it is wider at tail and in max width so it would plane earlier then a futura... but other then that i'm good with it all

but we forgot to ask the specific level of Nightriderxrs ...

[QUOTE=Screamer;29939]I agree with some of the Sergio's post and I don't agree with some of it too ;-)
For a sailor that's determined to improve in that particular direction, Formula is great no doubt.
On the other hand, that's not necessarily a recipe for progress. ]

Like any other board, FW is a tool and what you do with it is up to the 'user',
(BAF is very easy on it in light winds and that's were lots of people stop...)
FW has extrimelly large performance capacity but it's a LOT more techical to access SOME of it, tapping into it (including carving jibe) is up to you

[Nightriderxrs]

Thank you all for that info.

I will try to demo futura in the spring