Has anyone actually test riden the Futura and give me there assesment on it...

How disappointing , you must have felt like ****

well our season starts in about 5 weeks thats why i am asking as i am thinking about upgrading...will have to take one on test

Ordered my Futura board just had to do it no one could tell me about test , fell in love with it when i saw it on showroom floor

that sounds so promising wormy can't wait to get mine...i ordered the 101 ,but i have been sailing the carve 99 for years and loved it and i also have bigger carve for lighter days

From all reports and feed back i made up my mind and went out and bought the 101 Futura,so if anyone is looking for gear in W.A ..2nd Wind gave me an great deal and i was more than satisfied so see Paul and Jez.....

I have finally sailed my new Futura 101 and what a dream,it jibes beautifully and is silky smooth to ride,my best investment this year.

This Just in from Tiesda - head shaper from Starboard and inventor of the Futura concept

Dear friends,

Well here we are, the first published verdict on the new 15% thinner Futuras. German Surf's test not only scored the board with the highest top speed and control, but they were also impressed with the ease, the stability (both longitudinally and laterally), how tight the board can jibe and how easy it is to jibe for learners.

From the R&D we did to develop the new Futuras, which started all the way back in February 2005, the key to combine this top speed and control with comfort, stability and more wind range was to make the shapes thinner.

You get a precise, razor sharp ride with a more responsive, sharper jibing performance, yet more width for more stability, more comfort and earlier planing. You can imagine the difference between driving a wide sports car and a tall truck - that's pretty much the difference in sensation.

Another point I wanted to add, as it was not mentioned in the test: another virtue of slimmer, wider shapes is that you can use larger sails, up to 1m2 larger than conventional freeride boards of the same volume. You can also use deeper fins. Together, this gives you more room to expand wind range and tune your board to different conditions.

After going wider and shorter, Starboard brings you thinner shapes.

Tiesda

Extract from the test: "The Futura is the widest board of the test group, shows up in the well known Starboard Wood design and seems to be very thin and round. The board is equipped with a 40 cm long Tuttlebox fin. The fin bolt recesses are enlarged and offer a lot of space for the fingers. The footstrap positions are suitable for everybody. Just a middle position is missing. The rounded tail outline has got little cut outs. The footstraps can be fixed in a matter of seconds for every footsize with one single Velcro tape and the anti-twist inserts work very well.

On the water, the Futura should be the fusion of the proven freerider 'Carve' and the more sporty 'S-Type' and would combine the best characteristics of both shapes. On the first few meters of sailing, it gives the immediate impression that the 'shape cocktail' also gets a dash of the Slalom board 'iSonic' design, when the board plays its trumps with the more power it gets. It rides very free over the water, so that you get the feeling of just touching the water surface with only the last centimeters. And we can assure anybody who is scared of wide boards that the board sits more stable in both it's longitudinal axis and transverse axis compared to all other boards.

Some body tension is needed to enjoy the efficient grip of the powerful fin, which persists in top speed and shakes off most of any pursuers. When you first look at it you may suspect, it's a pure Freerace board. That's partly true, because on one hand the characteristics give the impression of sailing a modern Slalom board. On the other hand intermediate sailors profit from a stable planing position and the great stability in non-planing conditions. Additionally the board turns tighter than expected.

Conclusion: An extremely fast board with sporty feeling and great qualities for recreational jibers too. For both intermediate sailors and sailors with racing ambition."

I could'nt have said it better...so all you Starboard riders now is the time to update

frenchy i'm 100Kg

Hi rode the Futura 122 today, was gusty 14 to 16 knots, was running a Sailworks Hucker 6.6m was a good test, under powered and well powered.
Started the board in with the straps all the way foward on the outside, the board felt really controlable at full speed, gypes great for the width,cranks upwind, but felt the board wanted to go alot faster.
I then moved the straps right way back and on the rail, the board real come to life, in this position the board speed increased a lot, feels really light to sail, incredably eazy to sail at full speed, which is pretty high, even in chop, and as the fella before said, "it felt like a wing" which is true, more than likely from the air under the wide nose.
The great thing about this board apart from all the fun it is blasting around at high speed, is you can easily uphaul and tack it, the volume is spread even over the board, so its heaps stable when it's not planning, so plugging out to the wind line in no wind is a snap.. and no worries about being stick in the middle of no where.
Starboard did an exellent job putting this board togeather, it's a great package.

P.S it should hold up to damage pretty well, i hit the rope from a yaht mooring at full speed with the fin, got smashed over the front, think i cracked a mast in doing it, the board didn't even have a scratch on it, tough..

I weigh around 90kgs, those sizes would be way to big, i almost had dry feet on the 122..

Going to buy a Futura for riding an 8.5M down to 6M Retro Sailworks in 10 - 20 knots wind. I weight 80K. What size do people out there recommend?

If you think you will be useing over 7.5 over 50% of the time go the 122 . less than 50% go the 111.
Although with your light weight probably lean towards 111,
either way there a great board but most will be wobbly trying to uphaul, this is only a last resort.

Hey paddymac, I use a 38cm freeride most of the time on my 122, I find it makes it a lot easier to gybe and feels lighter in the tail, also a lot easier to pull in on the rare occassion when I do slide out, I'm interested in the 44cm idea in the light stuff, what sort of breeze do you need to be planing comfortably, I'm 85kg with a 7.3 I need an average of 13knts.

matt h here from Auswind:

If you haven't already -check out the futura video here:

http://www.star-board.com/2008/pages/download/video.php

lots of info there on what makes this new design so special.

With the futura you are getting 2 boards for the price of 1 - the top and bottom end are outstanding - definitely look at 1 or maybe even 2 fins to take advantage of the extra range.

For the 8.5 , 6.0 combo - if you are intermediate go the 122 , if you are experienced i reckon the 111 is the go - that would be my personal choice!