What is it?
Formula windsurfing is a racing class of windsurfer that is designed to plane upwind and downwind at windspeeds ranging from 7 to 25 knots. Besides racing, Formula windsurfing equipment makes for exciting free sailing, particularly for areas that have lighter winds, like the southeastern United States and southern California. Formula racing is relatively popular in Florida, the San Francisco Bay area, and parts of South America. Virtually all formula boards made since 2002 are one meter wide and have a tail wide enough to accommodate fins of up to 70 centimeters in length. The boards are typically accompanied by sails with an area between nine and twelve square meters. By comparison, freeride (“back and forth”) type windsurfing boards are typically 65 to 75 centimeters wide, and use sails between five and eight square meters.
Is Formula Windsurfing For You?
Windsurfing on a formula board is not significantly different from windsurfing other shortboards, but it tends to use much more powerful sails and fins to drive the board efficiently upwind and downwind. The more powerful sails and fins make sailing a formula board more physical than sailing a freeride type board of 85 centimeters or less in width. After a few sessions getting the various basic settings adjusted to your body, sailing a formula board just for fun (like not in a race) can be not that much more physical than sailing regular boards in moderate winds. In marginal planing conditions (6-10 knots) and in strong winds (16-25 knots), formula sailing can be very physical, especially with a relatively large sail in strong winds or too small a sail to consistently plane in lighter winds.
The equipment can also be expensive, technical, and hard to acquire. Windsurfing shops generally do not promote racing gear, as the market is very small and the equipment is typically more expensive than comparable freeride gear due to higher carbon fiber content and at least the perception that gear that is not of the current model year is much less valuable. The suppliers and retailers are still sorting out how to sell formula gear, and some brands seem to be selling direct or through other alternatives to a bricks and mortar shop. Information about formula is gleaned from occasional blogs, websites, and forums, and is not all consistent or coherent (thus this article). Early formula designs were more experimental than they are now and so there was a fair amount of gear that was not particularly fast, durable, or easy to sail. Also, most people seem to prefer not to make windsurfing a cardio workout that leaves them exhausted after two hours. Who can blame them! But the speed of formula, especially in lighter winds, is seriously addictive. Racing these boards around the course is pound for pound the most exciting sailing racing that happens in the world. Boards converge on the starting line from opposite ends at approach speeds of over 40 knots, and they easily sail at 15 knots plus going upwind.
This article is in two parts. The first part is all about equipment. The second part is about how to sail a formula board, aimed at people who know how to tack, jibe, get into the harness, and use footstraps, but for whom formula is new. For people who can sail formula boards around relatively comfortable and who are looking for pro tips, there are good sources of information about fine tuning, such as that offered by windsurfingtour.com and carbonsugar.com. The best information about sailing formula, though, is found by the racers. Anybody who buys a formula board and who does not enter a local regatta is missing out on a great learning opportunity. Most racers are very happy to help get a new formula sailor up to speed. As to the races themselves, it is not hard to learn the basic rules and tactics in formula sailing – speed is king, and for a typical weekend warrior, the best way to do better than the other weekend warriors is to show up on time with gear that is not prone to failure and start and finish every race. Usually that will get you in the top half of the fleet. It is harder to do than you might think. I have been guilty of failing to meet that basic goal even after racing formula for most of the past 10 years.
Part I – Formula Gear
I am going to be very direct and use a lot of personal opinion about what is best to get, because I do not think that being diplomatic here will save anyone a lot of effort in figuring this out. I am going to go through every part, because it is very easy to end up having to buy two of everything because the first one did not work that well. So, here we go!
The Bits and Pieces
Uphaul. Buy an “Easy Uphaul.” It is an uphaul with a loop designed to fit your harness hook to assist in getting the luff of a (large) sail out of the water before lifting the rest out with your hands. They cost about the same amount as a regular uphaul. You can hurt your back lifting an 11 or 12 meter sail out of the water by hand, especially if you are older or not in the best shape. The design is patented but you can find these at most shops.
Mast Base. Buy a single-bolt, tendon-type base. Chinook, Streamlined, and Neil Pryde make good ones and these are easily obtained by most shops. I would not go cheap on this as this is a critical safety part. The U.S. type base with pins on two sides allows for the downhaul line to be stuffed into the base extension, and seems to be less prone to jamming by sand. Many racers use the Euro-pin type tendon joint and I’m sure it is not the end of the world either way. A few racers also have mechanical universal joints, which seem fine for flat water, but there is no strap or line to hold the mast in place if the joint fails. Check the compatibility of the base with your base extension – it should be snug but not difficult to engage or release – there is nothing worse than futzing with the connection of your board to your rig after being exhausted or cold, or while trying to get out to the racecourse.
Mast Base Extension. For adjustable extensions providing up to 25 cm of adjustment, buy a good adjustable extension like a Chinook, Streamlined, or recent-vintage Neil Pryde one. All things being equal, the newest NP and Streamlined ones look to be the best, but the Chinooks are very durable and long-lasting. The carbon ones are much more expensive, and if you use a carbon extension, I would try to keep the extension down to 15 cm or less. Some of the highest luff tension sails may snap carbon and even aluminum extensions of lower quality (or just due to bad luck).
Downhaul line. Plain 3/16” Dacron (polyester) line is not strong enough. Get a spectra (a/k/a dyneema) line designed for this type of application – again, the simplest thing to do is to call your area shop and say you need downhaul line for a racing sail. Don’t try to save 5 bucks by driving all around town to the marine store and buying the wrong line three or four times (like I have done). High-strength exotic lines do not all handle the jamcleats used on base extensions very well. Check it regularly for wear, though the good line can last a season or so with light to moderate use.
Downhaul crank. Do not kill your back downhauling your sail. Chinook makes a crank it calls a “Rig Winch,” and there are other brands out there as well. Get one. It helps you make fine adjustments to the downhaul tension as well.
Outhaul. Buy a Clamcleat-brand adjustable outhaul cleats with the plastic clips designed to go around each side of your booms. Do not bother with adjustable outhaul straps – they don’t provide the needed range of adjustment and mine have slipped under the high tension of the larger sails. You will have to get these from a windsurfing shop – don’t waste time trying to find them from another source. They are not cheap for what they are but they will last a long time, especially if you rinse your booms. You also need two small ball-bearing pulleys for line of about 3/16” in diameter.
Booms. Research the sails that you plan to buy if possible. Until 2007 or so, it was pretty safe to buy the biggest size carbon boom from one of the major brands like HPL, Neil Pryde, MauiSails or Epic (Aerotech), and know that it would fit formula-sized sails from 9.8 on up. Since then, the boom lengths have gotten shorter because the clew of the sail is set inwards from the longest batten or battens. In general, an 11 meter sail will require a boom that has a body (before the extension) of around 230 cm. 10 meter sails from 2010 and 2011 may have boom lengths so short that they no longer fit on the largest-sized booms. Trust me, you do not want to have to buy two carbon booms for occasional racing and freeriding formula gear. New formula booms can be crazy expensive, well over $1000 due in part to the large amount of carbon used to make them.
If money is no object, I would recommend the MauiSails or Neil Pryde booms. Also, the last booms made by HPL (which have red boom grip rather than blue) and Gulftech before each went defunct are good. The tails of each of these booms are relatively wide, which allows the sail to have a deep draft in the lower part of the sail. Each of these booms are probably beyond the reach of the new formula hobby sailor (no pun intended). Even some of the pro sailors have booms that they modified from the original stock to make wider or stiffer, and they keep them for years, rather than buying the new NP or MauiSails booms. Assuming you can’t afford one of these babies new and nobody has one used, I would suggest one of these alternatives. One, you could find an older HPL 245 cm plus boom and modify the tail yourself (at some point) or have it done for you to make the boom wider at the tail. This was done by racers for several years in the mid 2000s. The older HPL’s boom head is not stiff enough and would also need to be replaced – the MauiSails boom head is excellent and can be used to replace the original, which is good but not quite as stiff as the MauiSails one. Two, an Epic-brand boom is cheaper and lighter than most of these listed above and works fine for racing or just sailing around, but is maybe not for pros or the most enthusiastic racers. I put a Maui Sails boom clamp on mine and am very content. Most dealers can get you an Epic formula boom without major brain damage.
Harness lines. I have tried many different brands and types, including making them using a trapeze-harness clamcleat and various other parts. Aside from the custom lines, which are heavy and a little bulky, the best ones out there are the Neil Pryde Race Vario harness line in the 28-34” size. The plastic buckle grips the line reasonably well, yet it is still easy to release, plus there are extra little handles on the buckle and the strap. They also don’t swing around. Others I have tried tend to grip the line well but be hard to adjust, and the clamcleat version similar to that used by RSX sailors tends to swing around just as you are trying to hook in. At full extension of the NP lines, you can schlog in or out in subplaning mode and in the harness, which sometimes comes in handy. Unfortunately they do not make a set that goes from 26” up to 32 or so, in that some racers find that 26” is the right length for them. Some sailors used fixed lines at 26 or 28 but I have always liked being able to lengthen the lines for certain conditions.
The Big Stuff
Sails and Masts. Here you have two general choices. A formula board can be sailed perfectly well with a large 2-cam recreational sail in a large size, at least 9 meters and preferably 10 meters. These are generally designed to have low-end power, with the tradeoff being that they are not as stable as racing sails in higher winds. Freeride sails tend to be more tolerant of a variety of masts, though it is definitely worth talking to a reputable dealer or knowledgeable windsurfer about mast and sail compatibility before purchasing one or the other. Alternatively, you can get a new or used racing sail. Formula boards are very stable when tacking and jibing so having a fully cambered sail is not that big of a deal. Older racing sails are often had cheap. There are a few challenges, though. Formula sail design went through a phase around 2004 where the luff curves of the sails was so pronounced that masts were known to regularly snap, particularly when left rigged at full tension in the sun on the beach. Pros were going through more than 20 masts per year. More recent sails and sails of certain brands have had more moderate luff curves, and their corresponding masts have been strengthened.
In terms of what sail models are competitive, Neil Pryde sails have had an extensive network of team riders for years, and its current and former riders have shown that they can win races even not using the current model. Much the same can be said for North sails, and to a lesser degree, MauiSails and Gaastra. The extent to which each brand makes a competitive sail is something that is very difficult to ascertain. I’m pretty sure that Antoine Albeau and Paulo Dos Reis could beat me around the course using a 10 year old freeride sail so long as it was big. As to what this all means for the new formula sailor, I think it means that any racing sail that is in reasonably good shape and is 5 years old or less is probably just fine provided that you have the matching mast for it. Usually this means having the same brand’s racing mast. I personally ride Aerotechs and love how durable and light they are. The older narrow-luff sails may also be fine but they tend to be less stable and since you are probably having to buy a new mast anyway, I would not cheap out too much by getting a 7 year old sail. Some of the earliest wide-luff sails had extreme luff curves, so do your research on that sail model before snapping a mast. There can be a reason behind the low, low price offered on an older sail – either the luff curve or the cost of a matching mast or both can be a turnoff.
As to size, I believe that new formula sailors erroneously base their sail sizing on what the top racers would use in a given wind and wave condition. This is a recipe for frustration. They are rigging to be well powered to overpowered the whole time. I would recommend that someone of more average weight (say around 165 pounds) just get a 9.8 or 10 meter sail and get that dialed in before jumping up to the next size. I would imagine that for a 180-200 pounder, an 11 meter sail would be the rough equivalent. If it gets too windy for that one formula sail you own, then take out your shortboard and small sail and enjoy it. If you decide to race more seriously, you would probably want to get at least one more sail. Get one in the next larger size. It is always nice if both sails fit on one mast but it is not uncommon to have to get a 550 and a 520 mast. If you are lighter than about 155 pounds, a 9.0 or 9.5 can work, or you could just get a more-common 9.8 and have less top end range until you get more accustomed to it.
The Fins. Fins are the greatest thing about formula and the worst thing. A good fin is magic — pointing upwind at high angles while planing, bending inward so that the board is semi-hydrofoiling while sailing along on the curved part of the fin, and twisting off when overpowered. Manufacturing these fins to a high level of precision and at 65-70 cm in length requires a very precise mold, hundreds of dollars of materials, and lots of time and practice. The going rate for a top of the line, new fin is around 700 US dollars. That sucks but they are at least more available now than they were around 2006, when only one very small brand (Kashy) was providing super-competitive fins but production was so low and time consuming that they were often referred to as “unobtanium” for non-pro sailors or for sailors unwilling to pay a hefty fee to have their fins expedited. Fins are often the topic du jour of every racer at regattas but that said, race-quality fins can be gotten from Kashy (Virginia, USA), Ifju (Florida), and possibly custom Deboichets (France) of certain makes or F4s from San Francisco. There are other international brands I am not familiar with, including Virus and VMG. I got two Ifjus and they totally turned me back on to formula sailing after having walked away from it in frustration in 2006 due to the cost and inability to obtain a decent fin through any reasonable ordering process. Fortunately, many areas of the world now have at least one fin-making guru that you can speak with directly and get advice as to what to buy.
Boards can be sensitive to certain fin rakes, models, and stiffnesses. Suffice to say that with your very first formula board and rig, just try to get a 68-70 cm fin that comes with a used board, as getting a new fin can not only be expensive but it can take time to be ordered and made. Finding a good used fin may take months. A decent discussion of fins can be found in articles on carbonsugar.com. You don’t have to have the perfect formula fin to just sail around, though it can make the experience faster and more fun. A good fin is just as important as a good board, and is probably more important than having a recent sail. The consensus among racers that has emerged over the past 5 years has been that “soft” fins are faster and easier to control than “hard” fins, such that virtually all fins made today are labeled “soft” something or other, like soft minus minus, or extra-soft, or extra-extra soft, and so forth. Racers don’t usually part with a good fin – they don’t take up space like boards or sails. There are a fair amount of medium and hard custom Deboichet fins from the early 2000s floating around the used market – if you get one, don’t pay much for it.
To stay class-legal but offer a bigger fin, most brands offer a fin that is “cut down” from what would otherwise have been a larger fin, using an oversized mold. For regular all-around sailing in a normal not so windy area, a standard not cut down 70 cm fin is generally fine. A big guy might use a “72-2” but again, this stuff gets so technical that it is probably best to just call the guy who will make your fin and the guy who is winning the races and see what they recommend.
Keep in mind that a slightly smaller fin than a race-winning sized fin may be more comfortable and easier to sail. For higher winds, having a fin less than 70, say a 65 or 67 cm fin (depending on your weight and wind) makes it a lot less physical.
Boards. Probably the most fun piece of equipment to obsess over is the board. I don’t have a clue why but it is just cool looking – a giant door, some of them even coming in carbon black. Here is my totally worthless opinion about what are good boards, assuming that they are not trashed or have water in them:
Starboard 158, 159, 160, 161 – good boards but check their condition, such as whether there are indications that it had been stored in a boardbag for long periods while wet. The 161 has a particularly good reputation as still being competitive in 2011 and was used by top level riders this year. The 160 is known to have good control in high winds and is said to have been the basis for the Gaastra Vapor board. I have not sailed any of these so take this with a grain of salt.
Starboard 162 – appears to be competitive but I am told it can be harder to control – perhaps better for heavier riders. I have not sailed one.
Starboard HWR (2010-11 model) – this is probably the most available and popular board but not by much in Florida, where racers sail a mix of Patrik, Mike’s Lab, Exocet and Starboard models. Starboard has always had a good R&D team.
“Formula Experience” boards – these boards were built for a related class called the “Formula Experience” class. They are heavier, which will affect light wind performance.
Gaastra Vapor (2008-11 model) – good review from Sean O’Brien of carbonsugar.com. I rode one and it seemed very easy to sail. Few were imported into the USA, through Rick Randall of Maui Malone’s.
Exocet Warp (2008-09 model, a/k/a the “Black Machine”). I raced one for 2009 and 2010. It is very light, quick to plane, and excellent upwind. For a recreational rider sailing in flat water like most of the main windsurfing places in Florida, it is a great formula board. However, it seemed to suffer going downwind in racing and in chop. My friend and training partner could sail one much faster than I could.
Exocet Warp (2010-11 model). I have not sailed it and based on the pro races it was hard to tell its relative performance versus the other new models given its one team rider. At the 2010 Midwinters, teamrider Gonzalo Costa-Hoevel was certainly way, way up in the fleet. It was designed to ride more free than the older model.
Mikes Lab L8 (2008-09), L10 (2010-11). Mike Zajicek of San Francisco has been making formula boards since the inception of formula and they have been consistently easy to ride (relatively), light and fast, particularly in choppy water. I have an L8 that I like but I wish it were a little wider in the tail, like the L10. The L10 and its nearly identical twin, the 2010-11 JP formula board (from JP Australia (a Neil Pryde company), appear to be very competitive and highly regarded by its owners. His boards seem to work well for average-weight riders, whereas some boards seem to be optimized for a more typical 180-200 pound pro rider. There are not a ton of used boards in circulation outside of the Bay Area.
Patrik (Diethelm) Formula (2010-11) A new model, it has been very competitive on the racecourse. I have not sailed one and have no idea whether it would be a good board for a recreational rider, but racers having a variety of weights have used them and have been super fast. Patrik Diethelm was the shaper of many previous F2 formula boards.
Older F2 boards – check out carbonsugar.com’s reviews.
Older Fanatic boards and other brands – do your research. Post a question on the windsurfingtour.com forum.
Boards built between 2002 and about 2006 – if you are looking for something just to ride around, and that you would use only for light wind, it is hard to go terribly wrong if they are watertight and not pricey, just know that some boards will get more unruly than others in stronger wind, and switch to your shortboard once it hits a solid 15 knots.
Part 2
Basic Setup
Usually the sailmaker has offered guidance on how to set up the sail, so I am not going to get into downhaul or batten settings.
In general, the boom should be somewhere between the height of your cheekbone and your forehead. Where to put the mast base is specific to each board but generally speaking, a lighter rig or smaller rig has to have its base further forward than a heavier or bigger rig. The idea is to have the board wanting to lift out of the water but not fly up out of control. Moving the mast base back tends to put more pressure on the back foot and less on the front; vice versa the other way. Putting the mast base too far forward can make the board difficult to control whe going downwind. Time on water matters most in figuring out these things.
In lighter winds, the sail generally is set up so that one of the battens is touching the boom. If overpowered going upwind, pull in the outhaul a bit until it is more controllable. If it gets lighter, let it back out some. Downwind, it should be eased again so that it is draping across the boom.
The mast base setting should be just far enough forward so that the board is not flying up airborne and out of control while sailing along. Having it too far forward can result in the board going slowly (catching too much water) and making it more difficult to sail downwind. It is not unusual for some board models to have the sweet spot somewhere other than the exact middle of the track, so it pays to do some experimenting.
Pumping onto a Plane
Formula boards will plane in very light wind (around 7 knots), provided that you aggressively pump onto a plane. To initiate planning, you need to really pull on the rig with your arms and simultaneously push back against the board with your legs. You also have to shuffle back towards the tail of the board as you start to accelerate – after the first couple of pumps, you will want to put your front foot in the footstrap. You won’t plane if you are standing well in front of the footstraps, no matter how hard you are pumping. A few big pumps is more effective than a lot of little pumps. You are basically trying to make the board jump up and out of the water while accelerating.
Jibing
Jibing is similar to on a shortboard, but your back foot should be on the far leeward side of the board as you turn into the jibe. Formula boards do not necessarily want to carve through a jibe like a surfboard or shortboard – you have to wrestle it around a bit and use the power of the sail to force it around. As with any windsurfing jibe, you are most likely to stay on a plane if you first bear off well downwind and go for a 90 degree turn in the jibe rather than a 180 degree turn.
Tacking
Tacking is easier on a formula board than regular shortboards. Like shortboard tacking, move to the new side before the board has crossed completely head-to-wind, then on the new tack, sheet in a little to force the board around the rest of the way. Having to kick the lower cambers of the sail to get them to rotate after the tack is not unusual (unfortunately), but if the upper ones do not rotate, the sail needs more adjustment on land – typically by shortening the distance between the inside edge of the cams (closest to the clew of the sail) and the point at which the cam touches the mast, by removing spacers provided by the manufacturer.
Harness
Given the relatively high boom and the board’s unwillingness to plane without pumping, it is not usually possible to immediately hook into the harness before getting onto a full plane. Get on a plane first. Most formula sailors use a seat harness, often one with a relatively higher hook.
The Rest – See Steve Sylvester’s tips on windsurfingtour.com.
