in planing wind [12-15] a formula board is a good 2 knots slower for top-speed.

adding a 10.0m sail will further reduce top-speed.

a 68cm wide board and 7.8m is a popular choice these days for light wind sailing,providing more feel and enjoyment.

in less wind a Formula board is still the way to go.

formula boards above 15 knots,not much fun,too slow.

in 25 knots,survival mode.

petermac33 said...

in planing wind [12-15] a formula board is a good 2 knots slower for top-speed.

adding a 10.0m sail will further reduce top-speed.

a 68cm wide board and 7.8m is a popular choice these days for light wind sailing,providing more feel and enjoyment.

in less wind a Formula board is still the way to go.

formula boards above 15 knots,not much fun,too slow.

in 25 knots,survival mode.

petermac33 said...

in planing wind [12-15] a formula board is a good 2 knots slower for top-speed.

adding a 10.0m sail will further reduce top-speed.

a 68cm wide board and 7.8m is a popular choice these days for light wind sailing,providing more feel and enjoyment.

in less wind a Formula board is still the way to go.

formula boards above 15 knots,not much fun,too slow.

in 25 knots,survival mode.

Thats a big call,it all depends on your weight,conditions etc.
I would use a 7.8 and 68 cm wide board in approx 20 knots,not light wind,12-15 knots I would definitely be faster on formula gear as I would not be able to get planing with the smaller gear.

Reflex Films said...

but do you really want to look like that guy standing sideways as he tries to gybe his 100cm wide board ? It just looks so bad

formula - great for going upwind - miserable on the downwinders

Big slalom gear all the way 8.5s and 45 cm fins , or Bagged out 7.5s and 120 litre boards will get you fanging in 10 knots - and the gybes still look good.

I would rather be planing and having a smile on my dial than concerned what gybing a 100cm wide board looks like

Almost convinced but the shallows on Broadwater are quite difficult to predict.
So Formula with two or three smaller fins or fin that could swing when hit the bottom could be nice.

Macroscien said...

Almost convinced but the shallows on Broadwater are quite difficult to predict.
So Formula with two or three smaller fins or fin that could swing when hit the bottom could be nice.

One fin option is a formula weed fin - a lot less depth (40-50cm I think) but still a lot of area.

Formula is alive and well in NSW.

Why wish a class of board to fail?

When I got back into windsurfing in 2007 I was amazed how windsurfing had changed with formula boards. Clearly formula has changed windsurfing for the better in that they allow planing at much lower wind speeds. Sure formula not for everyone but planing at lower wind speed is something most windsurfers can appreciate every now and then.

Planing on large freeride gear under 10 knots will be a marginal proposition at best and soon gets a bit boring. However with formula it would be quite full on and formula also gives you the option of a bit of sailing upwind and downwind.

Sure as a class it may not be popular over in WA where you are blessed with strong and consistent winds for much of the year. In other places its a good class. Plus where formula is an active class it means there is a fair range of gear passed down from the racers to more recreational sailors.

Reflex Films said...

instead of going all in on formula - go larger slalom / fast freeride gear

instead of planing in 7 knots you plane in 8 - 9

you can sail comfortably on a reach

the gear actually gybes well

it is actually fun to sail, you can plane out of gybes and flick the rig without feeling like you are trying to lift an engine block

Formula gear costs a bomb - you need to have specialised mega masts and megabooms

large slalom / freeride gear has a much higher range of use - ok so you have to wait for 8- 9 knots instead of 6-7 - but after that you are having at least 10 times more fun



Formula is dying worldwide ... (thankfully)

That's a bit harsh on the Formula front.

Not sure if you have sailed Formula gear lately but it has improved a lot over the years and now really user friendly... You can even do a planing jybe

As for cost, second hand Formula gear is probably cheaper than slalom kit (just checking a few ads in the buy-sell section).

"Formula dying worlwide", I dont have numbers worldwide but quite sure the NSW fleet is growing every year.

Megamasts didnt stop fanatic windsurfers in the 80-90s when the boards were 3m+ long, one piece mast... not mentioning the weight of the gear.

no chicks sail fw only rich people

windsufering said...

no chicks sail fw only rich people

Probably because most ' chics' ( or old hens in my case..) would do their backs in trying to manage 9 & 10m sails..

djl070 said...

Reflex Films said...

but do you really want to look like that guy standing sideways as he tries to gybe his 100cm wide board ? It just looks so bad

formula - great for going upwind - miserable on the downwinders

Big slalom gear all the way 8.5s and 45 cm fins , or Bagged out 7.5s and 120 litre boards will get you fanging in 10 knots - and the gybes still look good.

I would rather be planing and having a smile on my dial than concerned what gybing a 100cm wide board looks like

I would rather sit on the couch and play Goldeneye on my '64 than be planing on a formula board.. They take everything thats good about windsurfing and throws it out the window... Formula is miserable, sure you will plane earlier but if thats the only criteria why not go Kitesurfing?? If your after fun in light winds just wait for another 3knots and take out an 8.5m and a 120 slalom, you can even sail across the wind when it picks up..

70cm fins, 1m wide boards, 11m sails?... go kitesurfing..

Topic summary so far:

someone asks for recommendation of all round sailing abilities of formula gear - with reference to 20 - 25 knots as well as other conditions (and then continues to ask vague and rambling questions about unrelated equipment throughout the thread)

Pro Formula opinions given with Valid points - light wind performance , big group racing in NSW , dont care how silly gybing looks

Anti formula points given by reflex - big slalom gear has more wind range for sacrifice of some low end planing (maybe this is good for places that get lots of 12- 18 knots -like parts of qld) , not into aesthetic of Formula , expense of gear (sails up to $1400 unless sponsored - and half the fleet is sponsored)



response by NSW Formula riders -second hand gear cheap (so Formula is expensive for gear depreciation ?( but everyone is sponsored now so that doesnt matter - and if you arent sponsored the hit on depreciation is huge )
please keep your opinions to yourself as suddenly we have so much budget that we wish to hire a cameraman and editor (that we cant afford) from WA to fly over to shoot and edit (now that would be a boring job!) some racing but now we may just decide to do it ourselves.

I have sailed Formula , and have sailed Apollo (a larger than Formula legal size with a 75 cm fin) with 12m in 6 knots fanging - but much preferred a grunty 8.5 (Low end light weight power sail with 2 cams) in 7knots on the same board- still and it feels horrible to me.

But i fully support your right to enjoy it. Without loving it myself. Its great that there are lots of (mostly sponsored) riders in NSW enjoying tactical planing racing.

Where is our next Steve Allen / Phil Mcgain / Scott mckercher coming from ? Why arent we producing the world beaters that we used to ( a bit like aussie tennis right now EDIT -go the aTOMIC !) Why do international riders come over and win the top spots in events held here ?

Arguably the underground freestyle discipline has produced the most talented sailor in Australia at this point in time. And as far as i can tell there is no freestyle organisation arranging events / sponsorship etc etc

^^^^^ +1 making sens ^^^^^

this was the question originally posted

Macroscien said...

In the day like today I wish to have 10 m2 sail ( 10-15 knots max, but stable) . But my JP 92 L hardly could support 7.5m2. Just not enough to get planing comfortably.
But on everyday sailing what could be advantage to have Formula gear?
How they can perform when wind is 25knot and above?
How it compare to ordinary ( small ) board and sail?
I never saw on my spot (Shaerwater, GC, QLD) professional Formula rider, so I wonder how do they perform against standard windsurfer, handle 20 knt++ , and chop.

i provided an answer to the question posted as i saw fit - relative to the conditions the poster originally described

in 10 - 15 knots a large set of slalom gear will smoke Formula gear across the wind- and Formula gear will smoke it upwind- and downwind - if you can work out how to sail off the wind with a chicken strap or with your foot miles off to one side of a 65 - 70 cm fin

And make sure you sailing area doesnt have shallow water ...

which one is more fun - i'll leave that up to you to work out

I Agree that its great that so many people are loving formula sailing in low wind areas to get lots of water time - more power to you.

Does that still make it the right choice for the rider who posted the original question ?

How demanding is then sailing on Formula?
Brett is saying that he didn't waterstart in 10 years , I didn't uphoul in last 2 years.
Because I didn't have a chance to try I am not sure if I will be able to handle such big sail. Do you need to be super athlete to uphoul and then keep the board fying or just anybody could do so?
My only recent experience with bigger board was on Vanuatu when resort had only one 220L or bigger Staboard ( possibly the biggest Starbord in the world) with old textile triangle sail and no harness.
I know that to get this stuff planing was on the absolute border of my tendons breaking point and strength. My son which is much better sailor then me but 20 kg lighter couldn't force this bird to fly.