My new foils have arrived - I went for the Team Set which includes the following ( all packaged nicely in a large soft case);

Wings: Front - Large 800cm2, Medium 550cm2, Stabiliser - Large 330cm2, Medium 255cm2
Fuselages : Race 115cm, Slalom 75cm
Mast : Carbon 95cm

The beauty of the Starboard kit is that all wings fit all fuselages and all fuselages fit all masts, so there are a lot of combinations to try!
However, Starboard recommend certain combinations and my first test was with the Race combo - Large front wing + Medium Stab + Race fuselage.




My first thought was that the fuselage is huge! Certainly a lot longer than all the foils I have seen. The quality of the wing mouldings, mast and the aluminium fuselage is first class. There are certainly a lot of Torx bolts to tighten up but in the end the construction is very stiff, which is important.
For the first test the conditions were quite patchy with the wind 5 - 12 knots, so I rigged the 8.6m sail and that got me flying for about 75% of the time. Takeoff is very progressive with no sudden lurching out of the water and once flying the foil is very stable both longitudinally and laterally. The balance position is a lot further forward than what I was used to on the Manta and that took me a while to get comfortable with. A few obvious things;-

- speed : wow, this thing goes! Probably about 5 knots faster than the Manta.
- glide : goes through the lulls very well.
- tilt : it is easy to tilt the board over to windward and feel comfortable when going up wind - it was always a fight on the Manta.
- noise : very quiet - there is a noise, not really a hum but not annoying.
- stiffness: the oscillations I was used to on the Manta are not present, although I did feel the occasional side slipping.

I didn't get a good idea of height, depth or gybing ability because of the patchy wind.
Overall first impressions are very positive. I'll report back more when I do more testing.

And the board? 147?
Whats the price like?
It sounds great because it has all the wings included.
And it looks great too

Beautiful piece of kit Bushy!!! Keep the reports coming.

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ka43 said..
Beautiful piece of kit Bushy!!! Keep the reports coming.

Should be one soon. The wind picked right up as I packed up. The slalom fuselage will get a good test.
(All this new terminology to come to grips with )

Second time out this arvo, this time with the slalom configuration - small front wing, large stab and short fuselage. The wind was up and very gusty making for difficult conditions. This foil requires quite a bit more board speed to get flying but it still has a nice take off. Speed is once again impressive, as is lateral stability. Longitudinal stability was more of a challenge, not helped by the choppy water and gusty wind. This foil is very lively, seems to be able to gybe tightly, accelerate quickly, and becomes more stable the faster it goes.
I was running a 6.2m sail, and some gusts were near 25 knots. Downwind speed was thrilling
Quite a different foil compared to the Race combo, but one that promises heaps of fun when the wind is up (although 25 knots is a bit of a battle at the moment!)

I have now done a couple of sessions on the same foil. Only tested the race set up i.e. large foils and long fuselage.

I used an only Formula Board (Starboard 160).

It powered up & down-wind smoothly and most importantly safely. Clearly this is a high quality racing product.

Looking forward to doing some serious hours on the water. Hopefully I will get to participate in the NSW Formula/Foils series so I can test it in a competitive situation.

I tried out the "GT" foil combo yesterday - large wing, large stab and short fuse. Starboard labels this combo (with an 85cm mast) as a freeride foil, good for light to medium winds and for just blasting around, having fun.


Well it certainly was light winds - 8 - 10 knots, with an occasional 12 knots, so I rigged the 8.6m R8 sail on the Foil 147 board. Mostly good pumping was required to get the board fast enough for the foil to start working, but once up the whole combo accelerated nicely and was able to glide through lighter patches very well. The big front wing certainly creates good lift , so I would concur with Starboard's lower wind range comment for this combo. At just-flying speeds the balance was quite back foot heavy, but in picking up speed you could feel the stab working better and creating a more balanced stance. In fact the faster the foil went the more pitch stable it became. I reckon the sweet spot wind range (at least with the 8.6m sail) is closer to 12 knots rather than 8 knots. The combo is more nimble around the corners than the racefoil, but not quite as happy to roll to windward going up wind. It likes to ride a bit flatter - not a problem, just different.

All in all I really liked this combo - a bit of an all round setup. It was certainly fast - an easy 20 knots in this wind.

I'm yet to try out the 4th combo - the Ultra - supposedly the fastest foil. I'll report back when I do.

I can agree with Bushfire and Brett. I have used the Race setup for about 100 km now and can definitely say it a huge improvement over my old Horue. The mast and fuselage stiffness takes away all the little shakes and bouncing giving a lot more control.
The Race setup is very powerful and just loves to point high up wind. It requires a lot more front foot pressure and can be a bit of a handful on the reaches. Only reached peaks of 24.5knts but that was with the weight well forward and sheeted out.
The speed is generally 2 - 5 knots quicker than the old horue on all angles and has incredible glide thru any lulls.
Can not wait to get this foil setup into a race situation.
Are we having a foil nationals next year??

Nice work Darryl! I have tried a 1mm spacer in the front of the Racefoil stabiliser and this balances out nose rise tendency.
Looking at conducting a Foil Nats sometime in Feb or March 2018, probably on Botany Bay - more about this soon.

I've just received some info that Starboard Australia have had some Team Foil kits arrive and are for sale. These kits are expensive but considering you get four different foil configurations then the price seems more reasonable. These team kits are not normally available through retail outlets but are generally special order.

I have used all 4 foil configurations in the team kit and can confirm that all have quite different feeling. I have mainly used the racefoil and this is great for upwind/downwind sailing. It is a front foot orientated foil, handles big sails well and obviously is best suited for racing. I have also used the GT foil configuration quite a bit and find this is better suited to across the wind sailing and just general cruising. It is more backfoot orientated and is closer to "normal" slalom type windsurfing stance. It is an all round, good fun foil! I have used the Slalom configuration a few times and is similar to the GT, a bit faster, quicker round the corners, but requires more wind to hit its sweet spot. I have only used the Ultra configuration twice and found it quite hard to get stable. I suspect the required skill level is higher than mine at the moment , but the top speed will be exhilarating in strong winds.

PM me if you want some more info and availability on the team foils.

I also hear that the Alu GT foils are available in Oz. These are the same as the GT foil in the Team kit with a slightly shorter aluminium mast instead of the carbon mast and therefore cheaper. These should be available through the normal retail outlets.

I have the Starboard GT foil with the alu 75cm mast set up plus as an extra the 550cm2 slalom wing for higher winds. So it's the GT and Slalom foils on the alu mast.

I heard from a dealer in NZ that Starboard are/might be going to produce a 95cm alu mast? - just wondering if anyone else has heard this?

It would be great to get a alu 95cm mast in a cheaper option than carbon!

should be 85

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seanhogan said..
should be 85

Thanks for sharing that info! Good to get confirmation - is there a link I can go to?
I see there is a new 85cm Alu mast and 95cm fuselage and 110cm carbon mast coming out! More bits to get and learn how they work... Might look at the 85cm Alu mast and 95cm fuselage and try a 'Race Slalom Min' using the 550 wing.

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seanhogan said..
should be 85

Thanks for sharing that info! Good to get confirmation - is there a link I can go to?
I see there is a new 85cm Alu mast and 95cm fuselage and 110cm carbon mast coming out! More bits to get and learn how they work... Might look at the 85cm Alu mast and 95cm fuselage and try a 'Race Slalom Min' using the 550 wing.

I took a friend of mine out for a spin using a GT setup, she got on really well for the first session. I used a borrowed ultrasonic.

Based on my positive experience with the normal race set she's gone with the new 85cm Alu mast and 95 fuselage. She's going to use it on a JP foil board. Hope it arrives soon as will be great to see it.

Hi guys, had my first session on my new GT foil and 147L foil board. Wow, fast, coming off the Fanatic120L gecko/slingshot foil, amazing. Stable at speed, smooth thru rough chop and swell, (a lot of that on Port Phillip Bay).
Only one issue, the foil is jammed in the board, did any one have this problem? It was tight when I put it in but now it won't budge, any ideas? Thanks

Hi Fordy007,
Just push on the mast towards the back of the board with your hand while your foot is on the bottom of the board well in front of the finbox.. Mine usually releases with a loud "crack". I assume you have a carbon mast? If it is alu then this method might not be right.

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bushfire said..
Hi Fordy007,
Just push on the mast towards the back of the board with your hand while your foot is on the bottom of the board well in front of the finbox.. Mine usually releases with a loud "crack". I assume you have a carbon mast? If it is alu then this method might not be right.

Hi Bushfire,
You are a legend! Just tried it and the crack was loud! Does it get easier each time?
Thanks mate

A friends first session using the GT setup, did much better than my first go!!

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fordy007 said..
Hi guys, had my first session on my new GT foil and 147L foil board. Wow, fast, coming off the Fanatic120L gecko/slingshot foil, amazing. Stable at speed, smooth thru rough chop and swell, (a lot of that on Port Phillip Bay).
Only one issue, the foil is jammed in the board, did any one have this problem? It was tight when I put it in but now it won't budge, any ideas? Thanks

had the same issue. Push and pull until it comes out. Sand down the foil a little.

2020 foil board for the big boys !!! 169 L Reshaped formula board

I too have the SB Foil 147 and the GT foil. Here's a video of a light wind morning.

I like that board Sean!

Anyone else having issues with alu mast and those adjustable thread inserts inside the foil moving and the tuttle box bolts not engaging when screwing the foil into the box? This has been doing my head in - I put the foil in the box the turn the board over to screw in the bolts and they don't engage so pull out the foil and those adjustable threads have moved a few mm as they slop around. I resorted to silicon to hold them in place which is a bit better but still not solved the problem. This is becoming a design flaw now as what should take seconds is turning into a frustrating mission!

Anyone else experiencing this or have a solution?...

I don't have a starboard foil and have not tried the following but this may work ; did you get spare inserts with your foil ? if so try this.

remove the insert and make a few light light taps to the inserts with a centre punch or a light squeeze with vice grips to knurl the inserts to make them grip in the tuttle head.

do this with a screw in the insert so you don't make the holes out of round and limit it to the edges away from the threaded holes.

use a light tap / squeeze ; don't distort the insert but instead the idea is to raise a bit of material at the knurl for grip.
it shouldn't take much to make a difference.

hi StevO , I just realised that the inserts on your foil are likely stainless steel .
Knurling the stainless would not be ideal as the stainless insert would be a fair bit harder than the aluminium tuttle head that it presses into and you would risk scarring the head with the knurl .
what I wrote would be better suited to softer brass inserts.
Doug.

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Stev0 said..
Anyone else having issues with alu mast and those adjustable thread inserts inside the foil moving and the tuttle box bolts not engaging when screwing the foil into the box? This has been doing my head in - I put the foil in the box the turn the board over to screw in the bolts and they don't engage so pull out the foil and those adjustable threads have moved a few mm as they slop around. I resorted to silicon to hold them in place which is a bit better but still not solved the problem. This is becoming a design flaw now as what should take seconds is turning into a frustrating mission!

Anyone else experiencing this or have a solution?...

I had the exact same issue. I found longer bolts in an Allen key vs. the philips screw, much better. Once I got it closer to the end of the box, I changed back to the smaller bolts, but still kept with the Allen/hex type.

I sanded my foil down a little, which helped. I'm planning on sanding more of it down so it's even easier to remove.

Hope this helps.