David vs. Goliath

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Kauli Seadi Interview

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Olympic Boards

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World wide, there are currently 2 very strong racing classes. The first is Formula Windsurfing which is going from strength to strength at the moment with almost 140 competitors at the recent European Championships. The other is Olympic One Design racing using the antiquated Mistral IMCO but still very popular due to its Olympic status.

Formula tends to attract the ‘superstars’ such as Steve Allen, Antoine Albeau, Kevin Prichard and Micah Buzianis etc whilst IMCO tends to attract the full support of National Governing bodies (such as the RYA) in their bid to support Olympic Class disciplines.

THE PROBLEM

The problem is that both disciplines are at extremes and not at all related to the type of sailing that most windsurfers do. IMCO requires sub 70kg endurance athletes who can pump their way around a race course in an abundance of light and marginal racing conditions (due to having to compete at sailing venues). Formula requires 85kg ‘power sailors’ who can hold a 12.5m sail sheeted in for 30minutes around a course in 15-20knots of wind. Formula can’t race until the wind is above 9 knots and IMCO racers don’t stop pumping their way around the course until the wind is over 15 knots!

So November 2004 is time for a change as the new Olympic board is selected for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The decision of which board to change to, is ultimately made by the International governing body for sailing – ISAF. To help them make a choice, they hold an ‘Evaluation Trials’ where manufacturers can supply their proposals.

Sails were being evaluated although the focus was on the boards. It was noted that the sails with fewer cams were much lighter in the hands and pumped much better in non planning condition but didn’t have the drive to really perform in planing conditions on formula boards. More development needs to go into the sails as the general consensus was that they are not good enough for all-round performance.

Mistral One Design (Standard)

Standard Mistral One Design supplied as a benchmark with the standard 7.4m IMCO sail.

Length: 374
Fin: 34
Weight: 15.4kg
Volume 235l
Idea Sail: 7.4m

Mistral One Design (Improved)

Mistral One Design (Improved) – Olympic Design

Daggerboard and fin size have been increased slightly to cater for the proposed sail size increase to 8.4m.

Length: 374
Fin: 40
Weight: 13.9kg
Volume 235l
Idea Sail: 8.5m

Mistral Prodigy

The Mistral prodigy is a tried and tested design. Has a very successful racing circuit in the US. Relatively heavy, but lighter construction will mean a much higher price tag. Works almost as well as the IMCO in non planning conditions but is a real struggle when it gets windy as it is so heavy. The extra weight prevents the board from accelerating and instead causes a lot of pull from the rig.

Fin: 50
Weight: 15kg
Volume 225l
Idea Sail: 8.5m

Testers comments: “Too heavy! It could be really good if it was a few kilos lighter. When it gets windy the board doesn’t accelerate causing the sailor to struggle too much with the rig.”

Mistral Prodigy

Starboard 1 (Z Class)

Starboard 1 (Z Class)

The first of the 3 Starboards has a full length retractable daggerboard and sliding mast track and a V nose similar to a Lechner. Unfortunately the prototype was very heavy at the detriment of performance.

Fin: 70
Weight: 15.5kg
Volume 195l
Idea Sail: 11m

Starboard 2 (Z Class)

The second Starboard has less of a V nose and is shaped a bit more like a formula board. It has a daggerboard and sliding mast track, but the daggerboard does not retract. It simply lifts up out of the cassette and is then stored in a channel on the deck until needed again. This has two advantages. The daggerboard can be longer as it doesn’t have to avoid the fin when retracted back and secondly the board is more efficient at speed because the slot for the daggerboard is much smaller.

Fin: 70cm
Weight: Approx 14kg
Volume Approx 180l
Idea Sail: 11m

Starboard 2 (Z Class)

Neilpryde

Neilpryde

Neilpryde produced one of the most finished looking designs of the trials with a fairly standard formula board looking very similar to last years AHD. The board was equipped with an 80cm fin, 10cm bigger than currently allowed in formula, with the aim of boosting light wind performance.

Fin: 80
Weight: 8.5kg
Volume 165-170l
Idea Sail: up to 12.5m

Testers comments: “Fairly standard formula board performance. Bigger fin made a small difference in the very light winds and strong wind performance was excellent. Problem was that you need 7-8 knots to plane and 8-9 knots to make decent upwind progress.”

Gaastra

Gaastra were at the trials to promote their rigs more than the boards. As such they submitted a Starboard formula board painted white as their proposal.

Fin: 70
Weight: 8.2kg
Idea Sail: 11m

Gaastra

Boards and Less

Boards and Less

This board defied both convention and belief. It was submitted by a Canadian company by the name of Boards And Less headed by front man Cam Rawlinson (also referred to as the mad professor)! The board certainly had plenty of innovation but perhaps the empty drinks bottle attached to the daggerboard for floatation and the duct tape holding the detachable nose on indicated a slight lack of refinement! The fact that it was heavier than a heard of elephants made it a bit of a lottery whether it was going to float or sink at any point!

Specifications are all a bit sketchy (unlike the design itself obviously!)

Exocet (Flying Fish)

With the exception of the Mistral One Designs, this was probably the most ‘long board’ orientated of the lot. A big bulbous bow (very similar to the old Lechner design) boosts non planning performance whilst strong wind performance was good with the exception of all the spray that the nose churned up! It did have a very nice mast track and sliding daggerboard system.

Fin: 70
Weight: 12kg
Volume 280l
Ideal Sail: 11m

Exocet

PD

PD

The PD was supplied by Patrik Diethelm (F2 shaper) and was one of the most successful and innovative designs. It has been designed to use the attributes of a planning formula board in strong winds but also to be able to be sailed like a long board in light winds. It has a stepped under hull design with a thunder tail, sliding mastrack and retractable daggerboard. It also boasts a mini bow and chined rails.

Fin: 70
Weight: 9.5kg
Volume 180l
Idea Sail: 11m