 World
Champion & European Champion: Starboard's Formula boards simply dominated the
past season and the current season by taking the top places in all major events,
including all top eleven places at the Worlds last year, then the Midwinters and
the European Championships this year. With these top eleven places at the
Formula Worlds 2006 followed by the European Title, Starboard's Formula 160
became the most successful racing board in Windsurfing history.
Three key points make Starboard's lead
unassailable: R&D, R&D and R&D. Simply put, Starboard invests more in racing
shape development than any other team: Tiesda You, Jim Drake, Remi Vila, Svein
Rasmussen, Per Andersson, Antoine Albeau, Kevin Pritchard and Julien Quentel
plus the ability to make more prototypes faster creates a unique and unequalled
development synergy.
For 2008, this R&D advantage becomes more critical than ever: ISAF have frozen
Formula designs for 2 years to boost the stability of the class and promote it
as a strong Olympic contender in 2012.
Design Evolutions of the Formula 162
Low-nose rocker: the new F162 is designed to work with a low-nose rocker. A low
nose provides a low angle of attack for both air and water, reducing aerodynamic
drag to improve speed and highwind control. This low-nose rocker also improves
speed over chop and the board's ability to keep planing - especially deep
downwind - as less speed is lost when hitting the back of a wave or crossing
over rough chop.
Wider nose: to make the low nose concept work, the nose area was also
enlarged on the sides, thus artificially making the board longer without
physically increasing maximum length.
New super-thin nose: this shifts the volume distribution back, giving the
rider direct control over the board and minimizing excess dead-weight in the
nose.
Higher aspect-ratio planing surface: in the tail, the planing area's
width was increased yet again for greater efficiency and to give the rider more
leverage over today's super-powerful fins. This increased width and increased
leverage improves upwind and downwind angles over last season's F161.
Conclusion: increased upwind and downwind angles, more downwind comfort,
less drag and more speed: the new F162 gets you first to the upwind mark, and
first across the finish line.
In 2000, the Starboard Formula 175 took the top six places at the Formula
Worlds. We never thought we could top that result but in the 2006, the Starboard
Formula 160 took the top eleven places!
Summary:
- The new Formula 162 will stay unchanged for 2 years
- New low-nose rocker improves speed and control
- New low-nose rocker improves early planing and
maintaining downwind speed
- New wider nose artificially increases length for more
downwind comfort
- New wider tail increases upwind and downwind angles
Project Apollo: With the new two year registration
period, the Formula Windsurfing class aims to grow stronger, more stable and
more popular. Its goal is to become a fantastic candidate as the new 2012
Windsurfing Olympic class. Imagine Kevin Pritchard, Micah Buzianis, Antoine
Albeau, Julien Quentel, Steve Allen and all of windsurfing's greatest names
battling it out for sport's most prestigious medal. With this in mind, Starboard
developed Project Apollo to offer a board fitting within the Formula Windsurfing
rules yet virtually guarantees heats to take place even in light winds thanks to
a super-low planing threshold.
The extremely wide tail works with the super-powerful 75cm fin and a longer,
shallower rocker to get the board on to the plane as early as physically
possible. With the new 2008 Apollo, the shape evolves to offer the same
super-early planing but with more medium and highwind performance. The nose has
been shortened and more volume has been pumped into the midsection.
Summary:
- Apollo: designed to help Formula Windsurfing become
the 2012 Windsurfing Olympic class
- Apollo: The World's Earliest Planing Board
Formula Experience equipment rules make racing more
accessible. Boards need to be built in the more durable and more affordable
construction and their shapes are frozen for a period of 4 years. Starboard
offers 2 boards for this class: the Formula Experience 160 Tufskin and the
ProKids Formula. They will remain class-legal until December 2009.
Formula Experience is the official Youth and Junior Class in many countries like
USA, France, Martinique, Spain, Peru, Brazil, Thailand, Germany, Belgium, etc.
For more information, visit www.formula-experience.org
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