Interested to hear some view on the differences between the Carve and the Futura. I own a 2011, 111 litre model Futura and reckon it's a pretty amazing board. Very versitile and shines burning across flat to semi flat water, and seems ok in the ocean jumping a few waves here and there too. I like to hear from those that have riden both the Futura and Carve and could give some comparison between the two. I know the Futura is the "free-race" model and the Carve the "free-ride", but how do they compare in gybing ability, ocean blasting and sheer top end speed etc? Judging by the specs on the newer models, the Carve appears to be becoming the new Futura....

Anyway, I already have a 100 litre FSW board for those windier days, but I just like having a versitile "big" board for bays, ocean and some flatwater stuff when it's not blowing 20 knots plus. Only mentioned Starboards as all my fins are tuttle, otherwise the Fanatic Hawk sounds like another great board.

Interested to hear your views.

Umm.. my guess would be gybing characteristics mostly. Free race boards tend to still react positively to forceful rail gybes executed by sailors of above intermediate ability. Free ride boards tend to react better to a softer touch in gybes but don't always respond well to power gybes. As for top end speed, I don't think there's a great deal in it. I have a tabou speedster 79 wide which is free race gear and I've hit 29 knots on it. MY JP slalom tops out (with me on it) in the high 29's and only breaks 30 occasionally. Not a lot of difference there speed wise. Through gybes however, different story. The speedster 79 will handle a power gybe well but full force laydowns not really. It sort of "gets confused" lol it's hard to explain but it just doesn't like it. The JP slalom however loves nothing better than a full on animal mother laydown gybe. It digs in the rail and rifles around like a bullet train ready for more on the other side.

To sum up, the type of gybes they are designed to do is one of the main differences.

I haven't been on a carve lately but I picked up a used 2013 Futura 93L last season to use as a high wind / rough water board.

The gybing ability of this board is superb, very forgiving of all sorts of gybe attempts.

Its quite smooth in chop but when I put the straps all the way back it lost some of its chop eating ability.

Speedwise it is good but not a match for my slalom boards ( despite SB's claims). Part of the limitation could be due to the back of the deck being very flat, so nothing to push against (except for the strap).

All of the above is with straps outboard and slalom fin, havent tried it with straps inboard as I have FSW's for that type of sailing.

both good boards have demo a 109 futura but not the carve l was using the stock fin but fin experts say strap a decent fin to either board & you will notice what potential these boards have also l am waiting on the new futura range to come out .

Phil, there are a lot of comparisons between the Futura and Carve on the Starboard Forums, so have a look there. Here's one
http://www.star-board-windsurfing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15981&highlight=carve

The 2011 Futura 111 had a narrower tail than the latter models, yours would be a little better in the chop compared to the current models IMHO.

One of the sailors here does have a Futura 111 and a Carve 111, he said that the Carve planes up a little slower, but is better in the chop, gybes better and probably as quick as the Futura off the wind. Pretty sure it wouldn't be quite as good upwind.

I have had a Futura 111 2012 model since new and love it, just keeps getting better and better. I am just looking at getting a FSW around 100 litres as well to bridge the gap to a smaller wave board. If there was a smaller carve, I'd certainly look at getting one, I thought I heard that they may be bringing out some smaller models. Hope that helps mate.

Thanks for the info. And great link to the Starboard forum post.

It would seem the Carve is more at home on the ocean than the Futura. Basically I'm on the ocean more than flatwater, so the Carve may be a better option. Love my Futura, amazing board, just a little too flatwater biased for my needs. And it sounds like the Carve can get up and hammer also.

Hey Phil,

my my two bobs worth - I had a 2010 futura 101 and it was the most amazing board for what I wanted, open ocean blasting, decent speed, great control, great jumps, gybes and great fun. Sold it on and got a 2014 Futura and was very disappointed, great board, but the Futura's have become a detuned slalom board - I did get the carbon, the wood might have been a bit 'softer' but I found the board too lively for rough water sailing, and I may as well have got a slalom board. Thankfully, I switched over to a Atom which has been great

basically the carve range has got quicker, the Atom has come back as a 'free-move' which is wider, thinner free-ride (so the free-ride category is well full) so to avoid a overlap the futura's have evolved to be more and more racier.

I reckon as a big board option the Carve would be lots of fun, as you say has become what the Futura was a few years ago. Atom's are great also, but power box which sucks for starboard faithful (with tuttle box quivers)

Something tells me Phil might be able to answer all his own questions soon Nice choice for SWR Phil.
Cheers
Marty

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MartinF2 said..
Something tells me Phil might be able to answer all his own questions soon Nice choice for SWR Phil.
Cheers
Marty

2013 Carve is on it's way She should be here next week-hanging to give it a blast on Tbay.

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PhilSWR said..

MartinF2 said..
Something tells me Phil might be able to answer all his own questions soon Nice choice for SWR Phil.
Cheers
Marty

2013 Carve is on it's way She should be here next week-hanging to give it a blast on Tbay.

Lucky bugger!