Jonathan4782 said..
Looks super nice. Looking to buy some but havent decided what size i should choose for my high wind board. Already choose the 107l for light wind but cant figure out what size to choose for my small board. Any advice ? Im 50 kg.

what is your smallest sail?
what is the highest wind you want to sail?
will you only have 2 boards? the 107 but then this next new board?

Jonathan,
At 50kg you may need to rethink your sail quiver. A 107 and 7.8 in 14knots would be more than adequate as a light wind kit. (in fact a 7.0 would probably be suitable.)
If sailing up to 25-30 knots a 5.8 may be way too much to handle also.
Small board - maybe around 70 litres and 50 to 55 wide. Being a lightweight even a small slalom at the upper wind limit could be difficult to handle if sailing open waters.

Jonathan4782 said..


i am a pretty skilled sailer, on P7 team aswell. When sailing in 14 knots i usually sail 8,6 and 116l, my point is that i am used to sailing overpowered so i dont think that 5,8 will be too hard to handle.

At 50 kg that's really overpowered !! :-) Especially knowing how powerful the p7 are !! In 14 knots I'll be using my 7.9 and I'm only 40 kg heavier than you, I'm impressed.

I would go 80 or 87
Hey guys any more 2015 Isonic reviews. Also how are they stacking up against 2014 Mine are still 1 month away

i heard that the 2014 boards are a bit harsh in chop. Are the 14 or 15 models compatible with dodgy knees?

^ ^ "gybe nicely". If they're anything like the futura 93 I have then I'd be very impressed

sausage said..

Jonathan4782 said..

sausage said..
Jonathan,
At 50kg you may need to rethink your sail quiver. A 107 and 7.8 in 14knots would be more than adequate as a light wind kit. (in fact a 7.0 would probably be suitable.)
If sailing up to 25-30 knots a 5.8 may be way too much to handle also.
Small board - maybe around 70 litres and 50 to 55 wide. Being a lightweight even a small slalom at the upper wind limit could be difficult to handle if sailing open waters.

Okay thanks. Was kinda worried that the 107l was going to be to small for when its real light. On the other hand what you said about the board sizes i can understand, but the sail sizes i dont think i quite agree. Dont know if i should have mentioned it but i am a pretty skilled sailer, on P7 team aswell. When sailing in 14 knots i usually sail 8,6 and 116l, my point is that i am used to sailing overpowered so i dont think that 5,8 will be too hard to handle. Anyways note taken. When you say 70l and 50-55 wide do you mean a speed board of some sort ?

jonathan,
Sorry I wrongly assumed your skill level. Maybe an iSonic 80 would be perfect as your high wind board. If sailing rough conditions then I don't think a speed board would be a better choice. Very impressed you can manage an 8.6 and 116L board too. Out of interest do you have your sails extremely depowered (loose leech)?

I am comfortable on my iS117 and 8.6 at 14kn.I'll usually drop down to the iS110 and 7.8 in solid 15 to 20kn. Anything above 20 and I'm on the iS90 (14 model).

I'm only 44 kgs heavier than you too.

Thanks so much for all your advice.

No i dont rig my sails with a more then usual open leech.

Hi Jo

Same issue with the 2014 ACK and AC1, at least 2cm more extension, on the ac1 8.6 I add 4cm.

out of topic, but did you experiment batten breakage ? I've already broken 4... :-(

I'm getting good at making one batten out of two broken ones...

The good thing (or proof they know their battens are weak) is that the sails come with a spare...

shinobi said..
Hi Vando,
Here is a pic of a some more iSonics, all very nice.


Today was the first outing with the 130 + r5 9,6 and a 48cm FHOT fin. Note, I'm a sponsored rider of Starboard Japan, still this is my honest opinion.
The new 130 is so much easier in higher wind and in the jibes, it feels like a Futura but with the potential of an iSonic. Well done Starboard and thanks to Remi for the product. The accessibility of the 2014 130 in stronger winds was a concern for me in the past...

We had 3 races today and I could easily take 3 bullets which felt unreal compared to my other results this season. On the other hand, it was not a race which counts for the ranking but still a whole bunch of good riders where present to compete. By the way, place 2&3 went also to a 2015 130...
All riders different weight (88kg, 80kg, 62kg) and sails ( R5 9.6, R5 9.0, OD 8.6). The fin choice was also quite interesting (48cm fhot, 46cm Kashy, 46cm zfin).
As you can see very impressed with the new board and I'll post some more thoughts once I got it out in different conditions.
~Shinobi

I haven't ever sailed a slalom board - the first thing I notice looking at these is the lack of space / area in the tail.. How does that affect the feel/ ease of use / performance..

^^^yeah, once you go outboard straps you can never go back

Hope to get a slalom / speed board in the next year..hopefully will improve my speeds a bit

sboardcrazy said..

I haven't ever sailed a slalom board - the first thing I notice looking at these is the lack of space / area in the tail.. How does that affect the feel/ ease of use / performance..

Slalom board is much more difficult than freeride or waveboards, yes it is a more locked in solid feel but several things make them more of a handful in the chop:
- outboard/rearward strap positions
- less forgiving fins
- harder rails
- flatter rockers
- less shape on bottom (concaves etc)
& the fact you are travelling faster

So all in all they aren't as nice in chop or gybe as nice as even a futura, but they have better speed especially upwind (particularly on the 97 and bigger isonics). Slalom boards are alot more physical, I can sail waveboards or futura all day but start to feel it after an hour on isonics. That all said slalom boards are great fun but if you want to go fast you really need to drive a slalom board rather than just sit passively like you can on freeride/waveboards.

I only recommend a speed board if you are sailing in very flat & consistent conditions. In everything else (real world conditions) an 8oL slalom board will be easier and faster, a speed board will always feel faster but feel vs actual are completely different. Stepping from a slalom board to a speed board is similar step from freeride to slalom, much less forgiving, much harder to get going, very bangy going upwind into sharp chop, another couple of gears to a slalom board, much more specialised fins, very easy for the fin to go sideways in chop due to smaller size & hard to gybe if you're just an ok gyber or have big feet.

& yes all brands are different so i'm generalising about the ones I own & have ridden.

The 2014 Iso's are fine in the chop you just need to widen strap position a little more & get them more onto the tail (seems this is common even with the 2015's), but certainly the 2014 90 was a bit more like a big speedboard. I found running 1 size smaller fin than recommended made them ride a bit nicer also, except if you are running a soft fin like the carbon drake's. I have a wood futura also as it is just nicer in chop and to gybe plus the carbon iso's are very light build so my 100kg's is sure to give them a hard time. The 2015 seem a bit better quality than the 2014's (if only in the paint/graphics). Haven't had the motivation/conditions to take my new 130 Iso for a run yet, maybe this weekend.

Oh & sboardcrazy if swapping from wavesails to race sail add about 0.8m.

At 50 kg the I-sonic 80 or 87 would be the way to go.

No matter how high your skill level a 5.0m will be plenty.

A 5.5m on the small i-sonics in the lighter conditions say 18-25 should still have you fully powered up at your weight!

A bigger sail will not add speed at your weight,it will only reduce your top speed due to a increase in drag.

Comparing the I-sonic 87 to the 2cm wider Patrik 92----- the I-sonic is that much easier to keep down in the gusts,probably due to the added weight of the wood.construction and much narrower tail.

Slowboat once described my 2013 I-sonic 87 as a banana board,such is the high rocker of the board.

You will be thankful of the high rocker when the wind picks up above 22knots.

Jonathan4782 said..

sausage said..
Jonathan,
At 50kg you may need to rethink your sail quiver. A 107 and 7.8 in 14knots would be more than adequate as a light wind kit. (in fact a 7.0 would probably be suitable.)
If sailing up to 25-30 knots a 5.8 may be way too much to handle also.
Small board - maybe around 70 litres and 50 to 55 wide. Being a lightweight even a small slalom at the upper wind limit could be difficult to handle if sailing open waters.

I'm 63kgs and use a 3.8m wavesail in 25 - 30kts..If it was flatwater maybe I could hang onto a 5m cammed sail but it would be a handful.. I'm female though so you'd have more strength than me.

Yeah i dont know, i guess ill have to try it out. Thanks though, good to know what others in my weight group sails with.

Something seriously lost in translation here for sure................

Steve Charles said..
It took a long time but the boards finally arrived I like the look of the new 87

Wow, isn't this a classic case of evolution!
In the beginning boards were shaped as one, the outline of the deck locked to the hull outline. What was needed was to disconnect the deck outline from the hull outline, but that was too big an evolutionary jump. Evolution only works on a very shallow ramp. (I've just been watching a video where Dawkins explains the evolution of the eye.)

What was needed was a mutation. And I believe I saw it about 10 yrs ago down at Sandy Point, a Starboard proto with small cutouts hacked into it with a hand saw and roughly glassed over to keep the water out. ( The nose was probably sticking, and it was a attempt to quickly get it to ride a little higher. ). Then this first cutout went through all the exploratory variations, heart shaped cutouts, double fluted cutouts, triangular cut-outs, semi-circular cutouts. Now we finally have what's needed, a hull that smoothly tapers below an independently designed deck that is the bare minimum to put the footstraps where needed. The cutout, that critical intermediate in the evolutionary process, is now almost unrecognisable. It will be very interesting to see where board design goes now that hull outline has finally been fully freed from the constraints of deck outline.