www.tillo-international.com/?page_id=474

Any one used it? Looks like the cutouts are meant to make it gybe like a slalom board when one fin.

I am considering adding a wider tailed board so I can get some leverage over bigger sails for foil raids. Might also be usable as a large slalom board for my but my biggest sail is 7.8 which works fine on my medium slalomboard.

Mentioned below

Yes, I have one, although mine is a custom all-carbon with Innegra reinforcements which predates the introduction of the wood-decked production board by six months or so. Mine's also slightly longer at 232 and slightly more voluminous at 163 liter, but the tail shape, footstrap setup, cutouts and 91cm width are all exactly the same. I think mine's a little heavier than the production board because I asked Alex (Morales, who is Tillo. Cool guy who escaped from Cuba on an IMCO!) to reinforce the nose and rails against crashes. This has worked well - it's two years old, has spent some time banging around in the rocks in small surf and is still tight and solid.

Starting with use on a fin, it performs like any other super-light wind slalom board - JP SL, Falcon, Starboard 147 etc, except it's heavier than some so it may plane up a little later. On the flipside, the chamfered rails and pronounced vee make it worth using in much more wind than some of those would be. I've sailed it well lit-up on a 5.7 and while it wasn't ideal it wasn't ridiculous either. It's happiest on big sails of course and I have had it up to 28 mph on an 8.6 and felt it could have gone faster. Works best with a Kashy 62 but it's content to fly around on a big weed fin too. I often use it with a 10.0 and that's just fine. Also plenty big enough to teach beginners windsurf basics with a fin installed.

For foiling, I use it with a Taaroa 95cm fuse and either their 2000 or 1250 front wing, both sorta mid-aspect, and an 80cm mast (which I wish were longer.) I just love it with an 8.5 Flyer FR or the older Flyer 7.0, like it pretty well on a 5.7 Revo, and have had it out in legit 3.7 conditions, by which time it feels pretty big. The cutouts are no doubt mostly to reduce wetted area when on fin but on a foil they also allow me to sink the tail a bit more when pumping so it'll foil up well before it starts to plane. Manners in the air are very nice - I usually ride with my front foot in the straps but it's blazing fast with both feet in and driving hard. The photo below is without rear straps but I now use them all the time since top speed is much higher when fully locked out. It's amenable to strapless upright free-foil style but really likes you to get out away from the board on a big sail and drive it hard. Not surprising since in terms of geometry it's much the same as most foil-slalom racers. There are a string of five footstrap locations but adjust only fore and aft - all are pretty far out on the rail. It has good manners jibing (likes a race-style jibe) and is super-easy to tack. I'm not the best pumper by any means but in a solid 9kt I can pump an 8.5 up to foil with the 2000 wing, and in 11-12 I can get the 1250 flying, with which I have had it up to 24mph. On a real high-aspect race foil I'm sure it would go as fast as you dare.

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Awalkspoiled said..
Yes, I have one, although mine is a custom all-carbon with Innegra reinforcements which predates the introduction of the wood-decked production board by six months or so. Mine's also slightly longer at 232 and slightly more voluminous at 163 liter, but the tail shape, footstrap setup, cutouts and 91cm width are all exactly the same. I think mine's a little heavier than the production board because I asked Alex (Morales, who is Tillo. Cool guy who escaped from Cuba on an IMCO!) to reinforce the nose and rails against crashes. This has worked well - it's two years old, has spent some time banging around in the rocks in small surf and is still tight and solid.

Starting with use on a fin, it performs like any other super-light wind slalom board - JP SL, Falcon, Starboard 147 etc, except it's heavier than some so it may plane up a little later. On the flipside, the chamfered rails and pronounced vee make it worth using in much more wind than some of those would be. I've sailed it well lit-up on a 5.7 and while it wasn't ideal it wasn't ridiculous either. It's happiest on big sails of course and I have had it up to 28 mph on an 8.6 and felt it could have gone faster. Works best with a Kashy 62 but it's content to fly around on a big weed fin too. I often use it with a 10.0 and that's just fine. Also plenty big enough to teach beginners windsurf basics with a fin installed.

For foiling, I use it with a Taaroa 95cm fuse and either their 2000 or 1250 front wing, both sorta mid-aspect, and an 80cm mast (which I wish were longer.) I just love it with an 8.5 Flyer FR or the older Flyer 7.0, like it pretty well on a 5.7 Revo, and have had it out in legit 3.7 conditions, by which time it feels pretty big. The cutouts are no doubt mostly to reduce wetted area when on fin but on a foil they also allow me to sink the tail a bit more when pumping so it'll foil up well before it starts to plane. Manners in the air are very nice - I usually ride with my front foot in the straps but it's blazing fast with both feet in and driving hard. The photo below is without rear straps but I now use them all the time since top speed is much higher when fully locked out. It's amenable to strapless upright free-foil style but really likes you to get out away from the board on a big sail and drive it hard. Not surprising since in terms of geometry it's much the same as most foil-slalom racers. There are a string of five footstrap locations but adjust only fore and aft - all are pretty far out on the rail. It has good manners jibing (likes a race-style jibe) and is super-easy to tack. I'm not the best pumper by any means but in a solid 9kt I can pump an 8.5 up to foil with the 2000 wing, and in 11-12 I can get the 1250 flying, with which I have had it up to 24mph. On a real high-aspect race foil I'm sure it would go as fast as you dare.

Very cool. He definitely is doing great things building interest in windsurfing.

Late reply as I'm "out and about". Own a custom version, too. Can't comment on the fin aspect because once upon a time I thought I'd use the Convertibles with fins but ... why?Nice foil board, though with good geometry for foiling - ie tail width, nose shape, etc. It's big enough for larger sails although a heavy weight might consider his formula or foil race boards instead for the added volume. Works nicely with race style foils - I have various Starboard wings. My only nitpick with the shape is that the bottom cutouts could be more aggressive for foiling, imho, to get it off the water super early but that would likely sacrifice some fin performance.

I also have his smaller Freefoil (125l 195x75 iirc) and the production quality seems solid.

fwiw, the original convertible developed out of a desire of mine to have a foil board but I could still fin in the shallows of OBX. I was so impressed with its fin performance that I got a smaller foil-ready slalom board from him that doubled as my higher wind foil board until the Freefoil became available. The tail is a bit narrow by modern standards but even with my beating the crap out of it for four years, it's still a fun ride.

I will say the guy works hard. Glad to see he's getting some recognition.

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Paducah said..
Late reply as I'm "out and about". Own a custom version, too. Can't comment on the fin aspect because once upon a time I thought I'd use the Convertibles with fins but ... why?Nice foil board, though with good geometry for foiling - ie tail width, nose shape, etc. It's big enough for larger sails although a heavy weight might consider his formula or foil race boards instead for the added volume. Works nicely with race style foils - I have various Starboard wings. My only nitpick with the shape is that the bottom cutouts could be more aggressive for foiling, imho, to get it off the water super early but that would likely sacrifice some fin performance.

I also have his smaller Freefoil (125l 195x75 iirc) and the production quality seems solid.

fwiw, the original convertible developed out of a desire of mine to have a foil board but I could still fin in the shallows of OBX. I was so impressed with its fin performance that I got a smaller foil-ready slalom board from him that doubled as my higher wind foil board until the Freefoil became available. The tail is a bit narrow by modern standards but even with my beating the crap out of it for four years, it's still a fun ride.

I will say the guy works hard. Glad to see he's getting some recognition.

Good to hear. Thanks