I finally after all these years got myself a new longboard! I always wanted an Equipe II but it never happened, so I have made do with an old IMCO and Equipe 92 year. So the opportunity came to finally purchase a Starboard Phantom 377L. For me I don't race and here no one races anyhow. So I'm basically the only slalom sailor and now only longboard sailor pretty much.

As I'm going to be racing a Kona One overseas in the summer, the board will double as a great training board. It's definely more technical, but also more rewarding to sail through the challenge. I'd say I'm a fairly competent slalom sailor, but as a longboard sailor, I have to say I never had any formal training in the craft! I've just sailed them based on what seems to work, whether it's correct technically who knows!

Deciding on the board choice was a difficult one, there isn't much info on them. I'm about 160 - 165 lbs so based on that I should be on the regular version. But I only have interest to sail the board in the light summer winds 6 - 14 knots and the impression given by the board designer on the Starboard forum was even as a lightweight the larger format Phantom would be better for light wind use. So I went with this decision and do hope it was the right one. The board is certainly thick railed and very powerful!

I've just uploaded a vid of my second session on the board, wind was probably gusting to 15 knots, maybe more. I have also ordered a new Serverne 9.5 raceboard sail and hope to have it soon. My current sail is a beat up IMCO 7.4 with a missing cam. So the board is a real treat for me! I'll take some photos and write my impressions in the coming weeks, but for now here's the vid!

Where do you sail?

That looks like a hoot. I would love to have one

Sail in Bermuda islands. Summer time the wind gets much lighter so planning boards don't work unless its a formula. For small island exploring the longboards work best. Today got the new 9.5 Serverne raceboard sail so maybe tonight can test it out.

Looks really nice, I am envious. Long board sailing is very different, lots of time to think and trim the board, no worries about wind dropping. I love the feeling of saiing broad on a long board, with 3.5m of board out of the water ahead of you

I always forget how awesome they are to sail, the feeling is very different for sure. The way they just lock in and track upwind is the best bit, there is less banging at speed like a formula or slalom board going into the wind. The way the "bow" just spears the waves and carries through is great!

My first session was much harder, I had forgotten how to sail a longboard so took a couple times for the board to roll on me to remember to move the track forward as the wind came up. Also on the second session I figured out to swing the hips into the gybe which made a huge difference, so no shortboard style gybes it seems.

One thing this board does well because of the super thick rails is the straps never drag when railing upwind. It seems very efficient so glides very well even with the small sail I had.

This is the vid from the first session, a bit of swearing at times!

very cool !!Scottydog!! ,

i love longboard sailing

i learnt on an IMCO and managed to snap up a pretty mint Equipe here on Seabreeze recently STOKED!!

Thanks Jamie,

Yeah longboard windsurfing is awesome I think, they can be more relaxing for cruising and maneuvering though inlets and islands. Doing that on shortboard is pretty hard. Summer time I take my old Equipe, fit a 5.6 wave sail and cruise between friends boats rafted up. (sometimes you even have to rescue damsels in distress!.... see pic from last summer)

Won't abuse the Phantom that way though, can't have it covered in sunscreen and rick banging her up after a few too many sunsoaked beers! lol

I was out last night again, rigged up the spanky new Severne 9.5 but I was way overpowered and couldn't downhaul more so pack it up and went back out on the IMCO rig. I even caught some swell on it and got a wave ride!

I'll post the vid.

My first Phantom 377 surf session!

Here is a photo of the board being prepped and the new 9.5 Serverne Raceboard sail which seems huge! gulp!

Will for sure have to set up an adjustable downhaul, be overpowered when the wind is 5 knots gusting to 8 knots! lol

HAHA classic i do the same near thing!!

Great vids, good story. Looks like a great location for longboard sailing.

I get what you mean about the boxy rails stopping the straps dragging when railed up. I've always wondered how much difference that makes (ie the drag of the water going over obstructions on the deck).

A couple of questions

how do the wide railing straps go- I suppose they give a lot of options for feet location, but are they very locked in?
is the sloped mast track a good thing, or a bit of a gimmick?
how does it gybe compared to the equipe (for example)?
have you tried it with a shorter fin?

Clarence

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scottydog said..

I've just uploaded a vid of my second session on the board, wind was probably gusting to 15 knots, maybe more. I have also ordered a new Serverne 9.5 raceboard sail and hope to have it soon. My current sail is a beat up IMCO 7.4 with a missing cam. So the board is a real treat for me! I'll take some photos and write my impressions in the coming weeks, but for now here's the vid!

Has this sail got the sail number FRA 272 on it? Pretty sure I recognize the stickers Would be a circa 1997 model by the colours of it...

GREAT to hear a slalom sailor cheering about the merits of a longboard like the Phantom 377
obviously all of us with old Equipes will chime in

hey guys sorry not looked at this post recently. So a lot has happened since my first trials.

I started using the 9.5 Severne sail and setup and adjustable downhaul. It's pretty tough downhauling that way so a bit of grunting involved when cranking it on.

It's my favourite board at the moment, summer light winds and being sure I can make good ground upwind are important. So yesterday in a 14- 16 knot breeze headed out in at noon for a 3 hour session with my Starboard free formula and a 10m NP RSS. It was a fun session as I crossed paths with a young fellow from the Artemis team on a A class Cat so filmed him with my GoPro on a few runs. I was feeling well powered up on the 10m so looking directly backwards for 30 seconds at a time towards a pointy ended cat was probably not most sensible.

So went in got some lunch then met up with my buddy for some longboard practice. We went out for a two and half hour session with a bunch of upwind and downwind races. The wind had dropped to 10 - 13ish I'd say. He was on a Kona with a 10.6m V8 and in previous sessions I'd tend to loose out to him. He is a good longboard sailor so I started to watch what he did. One thing I noticed was he had his sail less bagged with finer entry so yesterday set the sail that way.

On the first downwind race I didn't think I'd keep up, the Kona got planning and he was going well. I set my mast track 1/3 from the front and used the rear beating strap/rearing strap combo to coax her on a semi plane at a deeper angle, surfing the small waves. It really worked and by the time we got to the lower mark I was ahead. We then raced upwind and now with the better sail trim the board ripped making huge ground. We ended up doing 3 - 4 upwind downwind races and each time the Phantom left it for dead. One downwind I was 3 minutes waiting after finishing.

So that's really nice to know as till yesterday I wasn't doing the board justice and was sometimes getting hammered by the much lower spec Kona. After we cruised through some nice quiet areas and bumped into other friends on raftups. Would have been nice to stay for a beer but the sun was setting so headed back to the boat club. I have lots of GoPro footage so will have to make a new vid of it all.

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jusavina said..

scottydog said..

I've just uploaded a vid of my second session on the board, wind was probably gusting to 15 knots, maybe more. I have also ordered a new Serverne 9.5 raceboard sail and hope to have it soon. My current sail is a beat up IMCO 7.4 with a missing cam. So the board is a real treat for me! I'll take some photos and write my impressions in the coming weeks, but for now here's the vid!

Has this sail got the sail number FRA 272 on it? Pretty sure I recognize the stickers Would be a circa 1997 model by the colours of it...

The IMCO sail is one I bought from a friend years ago with the board. Got it for a steal at $500! He said he got it from a female Olympic sailor called Lanee Butler I believe. It has a diamond in black marker drawn on it.

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clarence said..
Great vids, good story. Looks like a great location for longboard sailing.

I get what you mean about the boxy rails stopping the straps dragging when railed up. I've always wondered how much difference that makes (ie the drag of the water going over obstructions on the deck).

A couple of questions

how do the wide railing straps go- I suppose they give a lot of options for feet location, but are they very locked in?
is the sloped mast track a good thing, or a bit of a gimmick?
how does it gybe compared to the equipe (for example)?
have you tried it with a shorter fin?

Clarence

So I'm not a longboard racer, except for one Kona event (which is kind of a shortboardish longboard) I don't have anyone to learn from. I've always liked them and learned on an Equipe. So a lot of how I sail it is based on what feels right to do, whether it's technically correct who knows? One area that I'm not sure on is whether you should always run the track to the back on reaching legs, or are there times to run it 6 inches off the rear and stand forward a bit. I sometimes notice it planes nicer that way.

So compared to the Equipe she is a beast! I've not used the Equipe this year so will have to back to back some evening. I don't have the Equipe in working order so will use the IMCO. (Someone borrowed the Equipe last year not to my knowledge and rammed the centreboard backwards damaging the mechanism so it's not working so well now!)

I do have an Equipe 2 XR tucked away which I have never used but hope to repair and test it out!

In the light 7 knot downwind stuff I do wonder if the Equipe being narrower would be faster?

When I first saw the board and saw the rails I felt unsure. I wondered if I should have got the regular version being only 160lbs. But I notice for sure the board hardly ever drags the railing straps. So upwind in 8+ knots feels really perfect. I think in 6 knots though the board is harder to rail than the narrower IMCO type boards.

The railing straps seem to be fine placement wise, the only issue is they are not all the same hole spacing so one is a tad tighter despite me cutting a new hole in it. I find the windier it gets to more I just move my feet around till it's just my toe tips in the straps. Could go upwind all day in that position!

I can't say one way or another about the sloping mast track to be honest. Was the idea to improve railing? Gybing I feel is not as good as the Equipe which for me was always impressive for a board that size. I think if you think about the Equipes history being a Naish design and probably raced off beaches before shortboards took over it was probably designed to be versatile. I'm getting the hang of it now and you can feel it wanting to trip over so it's a fine balance of constant tweaking the carving on the gybe. I have got quite a few planning gybes in so happy about that though.

Not tried a smaller fin, but was thinking to try my bigger fins! lol

I have a 337l which I race fairly regular but rarely at the front of the fleet so take my comments on board with caution.

I think the idea behind the raised track at the front is to assist with railing the board upwind, ie a higher position allows the mast foot pressure to assist tilting the board to leeward.

As for mast track position I had the same question and the advice I have been given on reaching and down wind is to commit to either fully forward or fully back. Therefore in non planing run it forward and planing run it back.

I find the phantom much easier to gybe than my old equipe, but if I rush them I always end up swimming.

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cammd said..
I have a 337l which I race fairly regular but rarely at the front of the fleet so take my comments on board with caution.

I think the idea behind the raised track at the front is to assist with railing the board upwind, ie a higher position allows the mast foot pressure to assist tilting the board to leeward.

As for mast track position I had the same question and the advice I have been given on reaching and down wind is to commit to either fully forward or fully back. Therefore in non planing run it forward and planing run it back.

I find the phantom much easier to gybe than my old equipe, but if I rush them I always end up swimming.

Interesting the bit about fully forward or back. In subplaning conditions find all the way forward nose is easy to stuff with weight so forward. All the way back easy to drag tail so never planes off without enough sail power. I should msg a few other phantom racers around the world and see what they do.

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scottydog said..

jusavina said..

scottydog said..

I've just uploaded a vid of my second session on the board, wind was probably gusting to 15 knots, maybe more. I have also ordered a new Serverne 9.5 raceboard sail and hope to have it soon. My current sail is a beat up IMCO 7.4 with a missing cam. So the board is a real treat for me! I'll take some photos and write my impressions in the coming weeks, but for now here's the vid!

Has this sail got the sail number FRA 272 on it? Pretty sure I recognize the stickers Would be a circa 1997 model by the colours of it...

The IMCO sail is one I bought from a friend years ago with the board. Got it for a steal at $500! He said he got it from a female Olympic sailor called Lanee Butler I believe. It has a diamond in black marker drawn on it.

I have a friend (French girl called Synthia Gros) who had exactly the same sponsors then :)
The balck diamond at the top was to recognize the girls from the boys as there was only one rig for both at that time (girls were also allowed to use 6.6m but I've never seen any doing that).

I'm going back to my parents' place soon and will be forced to clean up their garage from all my old stuffs. I can see if I can found a spare cams if you want .

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cammd said..
I have a 337l which I race fairly regular but rarely at the front of the fleet so take my comments on board with caution.

I think the idea behind the raised track at the front is to assist with railing the board upwind, ie a higher position allows the mast foot pressure to assist tilting the board to leeward.

As for mast track position I had the same question and the advice I have been given on reaching and down wind is to commit to either fully forward or fully back. Therefore in non planing run it forward and planing run it back.

I find the phantom much easier to gybe than my old equipe, but if I rush them I always end up swimming.

Agree :)

Found this quote from LBWS forum, suggests a grey area. Longboarding sure gets complicated!



"Might be simpler to describe like this: in-between points of sail in marginal conditions require some 'best' compromise of track/centerboard position. If the blade is down, the track must be forward. If reaching, retract the centerboard before pulling the track back and usually then only if a plane is sustainable with the blade all the way up.

BEST sub-planing/all-around setting is generally with the mast track back about 1/4-1/3 from the front. Always better the track is a little too far farward than too far back and the board flat and fast on the water than dragging the tail.

UPWIND: When the blade is fully down, the center of lateral resistance (the centerboard!) is forward which requires a forward mast track position to balance the board and prevent rounding up. The center of effort stays forward, the board flat and fast but the rig raked back for power and control. As the wind increases to the point of being over-powered, over-railing or rounding up then the track can be moved all the way forward for better control. You may find that in marginal conditions the board will point better upwind and rail easier if the track is at that sub-planing/all-around setting suggested above.

REACHING (in PLANING conditions): When the blade is fully retracted, the center of lateral resistance (the fin!) is aft and if you are in the reaching straps then the track can be pulled WAY back but only far as needed to reduce surface area and balance the board. Again, you need to be fully powered-up and on a plane in the straps for this to work at the most aft position(s). Visualize that you are sailing a big slalom board that happens to have a lot of unused length in front of the mast and you'll go just as fast as one! Work towards this position as skills progress and conditions allow. Start out by keeping the mast forward enough to drive the board off the wind and stay flat and fast. Assuming good technique and rig tuning, rule of thumb is have the track far enough forward to keep the foot of the sail along the deck and not drag the tail but far enough back to keep the weather rail up and not drag the clew. Keep your front hand back on the boom and arm straight so the rig is upright and powerful but sheeted in and raked aft over the fin.

Think of the centerboard/track interaction as shifting gears from 'upwind' mode to 'reaching' mode. In marginal conditions, it's always better to be spinning a lower gear then lugging a higher gear and keep everything a bit forward. In powered-up conditions you might just skip the middle gears altogether going from upwind mode directly to overdrive as you bear off on a reach.

It's this dynamic versatility and rewarding of good technique that makes raceboards so interesting"

Agree with that if you are not pumping with the sail. Otherwise, Pumping allows to skip that "middle gear" and get to the planning earlier than without pumping )usually with the mastbase all the way back but with your feet slightly forward of the footstraps (obviously out of them ).

Love videos! It looks like fun. Boy you must have gone close to him!. Makes me remember how much fun it is to sail with others like that.

Thanks sboardcrazy, I just uploaded a new short clip sailing with an A Class cat on my free formula. When I get the time will put together some newer footage with the Phantom, got light wind and high wind sailing with it.

we want MORE vids

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scottydog said...
Thanks sboardcrazy, I just uploaded a new short clip sailing with an A Class cat on my free formula. When I get the time will put together some newer footage with the Phantom, got light wind and high wind sailing with it.

Scottydog, yeah keep the vids of your awesome water playground coming. What formula board do you have and what size sail in the vid? Which do you prefer formula or phantom?
Cheers Dave

Just worked out the sail & board.

Hey guys been sailing a fair bit, only a few weeks before I fly off for the windsurf event on the Kona's. I have a lot of footage but boy it's overwhelming an I downloaded a better trial version of Corel videostudio to test but it's requiring more learning on my part and my laptop struggles to process it some. I've just finished another vid, it's a mix of the slalom, free formula and longboards.

On the bummer side I had two more masts snap, but on the plus side I am now out of the X9 masts! I've had 4 snap over the years, 3 of them with less than a total of 9 uses combined and all 4 broke rigged ready to get in the water! The irony is I'm borrowing an X6 520 and I swear it feels way nicer than the X9, perhaps it's softer?

Anyway really hope the FX100 masts are better, when the 460 broke the other day I didn't even get upset. I felt like it was just a matter of time!

So another video with random clips with 4 different boards while I join the Wednesday night sail boats. Some Phantom clips in it.

So made a video from last Sunday's morning session. Plan was to sail to a friends house on an island, have breakfast and get in some practice. In the end we skipped that as it was totally nuking! The weather station had it as 18 knots, gusting to the high 20's! Being on massive 9.5m and 10.6m sails was not so fun and rather than wreck ourselves we headed to a more sheltered area and then back in.

Still I'd never had the board go so fast at times, so that was fun. Most of the time we sailed upwind centreboard up so not to be overwhelmed by the rig. My sail doesn't twist off so nice with the NP mast, so with the dh maxed out it was uber twitchy and a handful.

Boardwise it's such a nice setup, would be interesting to sail the Equipe again and see where it differs. I'm getting the gybing down now so pleased with that.