My wife sails a Starboard Start Small with the built in center board and I think she needs to move on to something with more go.I sail a Carve 145 that she finds too hard to sail.We were thinking of may be a Formula board as she likes the width of the Start.Is this a good transition or not?

How about a Starboard 'Go'?

Smaller than a 'start', sturdier than a formula board, easier than a carve, and designed as the next step after the 'Start'.

The start is modeled off a formula board, so if you lose the centreboard, stick a big fin and a big sail on it, you have formula with EVA deck, and a little more weight..

The Start has plenty of go - I have both, and the start will plane easily in 14 knots with only a 5.7m on it (52cm fin) while the Go takes a bit more effort to get going, but offers a bit more top end.

Not! Formula boards are race boards, fragile, designed to go hard up and down wind, straps on the rails etc etc. The 145 Carve sounds ideal. Perhaps something more like a 160-165 litre, WIDE (~80cm) freeride board or even Starboard Go might be the answer. Does the start have a retractable centre board or one of those removable centre fins If the latter, put a bigger fin in the start and take the centre fin out...

Formula boards are a pain in the arse to learn with.
It takes more skill than one thinks the get into the outboard straps and keep it trim
She needs the 145 carve but

YES SHE WILL FIND IT DIFFICULT TO START WITH....
THIS IS CALLED LEARNING.....

The Carve has been replaced with the Futura in 08. The Gos and Futuras are the same shapes, but the construction, and footstrap positions are different. So maybe the Go's the go. (or the Futura?)

What level of ability is your wife at?
What size rig is she currently using on the Start?

If she isn't at the stage of planing and/or using harness and footstraps and doesn't feel comfortable on your Carve145 then I'd doubt she's ready for a different board.

If she really needs something with a bit more go, perhaps you could get her to use a bigger sail?

Starboard "GO"

Thank you for all your replies.She will keep trying the 145 and I might be lucky and get a 121 in the future.She sails the Start with a 5.2m.I have sailed the Start with a 7.5m but not in the outboard straps.She is just geting use to the harness on the Start.We only use the supplied 40cm fin on this board.

I think a lot of fit strong men forget the power to weight aspects which make it harder for lighter females on big board. These big stable boards have a lot of drag due to their weight and they have a large resistance "hump" to climb before popping on the plane. For the smaller framed this can make it too hard to push through. Sometimes you see small children with good agility struggling to get a normal size board on the plane. You'd think with their light weight it would jump on the plane but instead with this lack of weight they are struggling to develope enough power to get over the hump between displacement and planing.

The carve sounds like a good step. Sure it wont be as stable but once she gets it going she wont look back and then soon she will be fighting you for the 122 before eventually moving on to an even smaller board.

The new Go/Futura has a flat "fast-tail" which should make it looser. The old one preferred wide radius gybes. Very forgiving


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