Tandem Test

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Freestyle 2007: Another Level

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Sail Design: First thought to Finished Product

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Imagine the funniest experience you have ever had. Multiply this by ten and factor in uncontrolled fits, hysteria­ and a lung capacity that just cannot cope with the amount of laughter. Sometimes you are laughing so much that you forget to hold your breath when you fall in and consequently nearly drown, but you don’t care, you’re laughing so much. Seriously, tandem sailing should come with a public health warning.

So, under these extreme conditions, we attempted to ‘test’ in the broadest sense of the word, the NEW Starboard Gemini Tandem against the old skool F2 Tandem which is actually no longer in production (shame). Clyde Waite, James Cox, Dave East & Adrian Jones are your hysterical test team.

Detail:

There is more tail rocker than the F2 and there is also a two stepped thunder tail. The rear footstraps are right at the back behind the fin. The rails are rounded and the board has a stretched Formula Board style outline. There is a good quality daggerboard for non planing winds that has a removable handle, which is neat. The slot flusher also works well.

Detail:

The F2 is a lot narrower than the Starboard, being from the generation before the widestyle boom. The rails are boxy and sharper, the nose pointed and there is a lot less rocker. The deck is standard grip without any deckpads. As one of the ‘test team’ said; ‘It’s a board for real men!’

The Starboard is wider and more stable and getting into the straps is also lot easier than than the F2.

We didnt get a chance to try the Starboard in non-planing conditions, but imagine that it will be considerably better than the F2 in these conditions due to the presence of a daggerboard and much wider plan shape.

Gybing either board is difficult, however the Starboard is noticeably easier due to the extra stability of the board which makes up for technical malfunction and miscommunication!

Full planing it has an exhilarating widestyle feel.

Despite being wider than the F2 and posessing a much bigger fin, the Starboard is initially a bit ponderous to get up and going.  Once going it also feels like it lacks a bit of lift (at least with the smaller sails that we were using) and needs to be sailed on the windward edge just to maintain a straight line.  It almost feels that the fin is too small, but at 70cm, they dont get much bigger!

The rear straps for the front sailor are set too far forward making your stance more than a little awkward.

It does feel a little slow compared with the F2.

The F2 is harder to sail than the Starboard, but it is so exciting. It definitely feels a lot more alive underfoot, sometimes scarily so, and head to head gets up on the plane quicker than the Starboard and is faster overall.

The smaller fin also makes beach starting much easier!

It does require more technique; you certainly can’t put anyone other than an advanced sailor on this thing in Force 4 winds and above. It is harder to bear away and much harder to gybe.

In light winds, this board is not good.  No daggerboard means getting upwind is difficult and the lack of width makes the board quite unstable.

They stopped producing this board nearly 10 years ago, so you may have a hard job finding one!

Getting on it: If you have enough wind then the front person uphauls then holds steady whilst the rear person waterstarts. Bear in mind that there is a 70cm fin on the Starboard so it will be a pretty deep beach start for the front guy! To aid water starting for the person on the back, the front person should hold the board across the wind.

Getting going: When both are up on the board; the front sailor has to bear away, but most of the power comes from sailor on the back. On the F2 the front sailor has to get low and really exaggerate the bearing away process. To push upwind on both boards you need to depress the leeward edge.

Gybing: Bear away, the front sailor going for it first. Carve like normal, letting the front sailors rig flip first.  This is where it starts to get difficult because the front sailors sail is now completely windshadowed and with the apparent wind, starts to backwind. The back sailor then has to scoop the rig around avoiding taking out his fellow rider with the end of the boom. Be warned, you need a lot of water to gybe!!  The easiest option is actually to duck gybe the front sail.

Tacking: This is a bit like tacking a catamaran if you’ve even done that ie. its very easy to get stuck in the head to wind position! The best technique is for the front sailor to do a heli tack to steer the nose through the wind back-to-sail. The back sailor has to wait and then do a fast tack.

Jumping: Ok the video clip might not look like the highest jump in the world (its pob actually one of the lowest!) but chop hopping these things isnt easy!! To get these things airborne you have to be fully powered and find the steepest bit of chop you can.

The front sailor lets the board head up the wave without trying to pre jump it; they just let the nose carry on upwards keeping the sail sheeted in. The rear sailor judges when his half of the board is about to hit the steep part of the ramp, then like a chop hop pushes down, crouches and pops. The front person will sort of bear away a little, like a normal jump. Landing definitely happens tail first because the board is so heavy! Whilst the rear sailor might not feel much lift, the front sailor actually gets a fair bit out of the water which is quite a strange feeling.

Transport: Bit of a nightmare as they are massive. They only just fit inside a long wheel base VW resting on the inside of the front windscreen, right through to the boot lid. Therefore a roof rack is a must for any other vehicle. You also need room for a friend and a crane to help get them off the roof and into the water.