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BIC TECHNO 273
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TECHNO 273
Length: 267cm Width: 64cm
Volume: 152 Weight: 19.5/18.8kg
Upwind: 4.29 Planing: 4.29
Speed: 3.57 Handling: 3.57
Jibe: 3.50 Overall: 3.85
Price: $1,199 Includes: Straps, Pads, Fin
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Quite logically and naturally, this board follows last year’s highly successful 283. More of the same, only less—and more, too. The user-friendliness of the 283 might have been predicted, but its speed and control in high wind was surprising, at least to sailors, if not Fabien Vollenweider, its shaper. Vollenweider apparently figured he could build additional
performance into a more compact package with the 273, thus Bic would be able to reach more advanced or aggressive sailors who sail in higher wind and chop.
Bic’s claim for this 125-liter board is range: 11 to 30 knots, with sail sizes of 5.5 to 8.0 meters.
SCORE: (7 ratings)
Upwind 4.29 Planing 4.29 Speed 3.57 Handling 3.57 Jibe 3.50 Overall 3.85
COMMENTS:
“Strong points are range and easy jibing. Works well in any radius jibe, at any speed. The speed is pretty decent as well. This board is consumer friendly.” This dealer-tester said the footstraps were mounted too far back. Sometimes testers did their own tuning without telling us. Sometimes we let things slip between the cracks. Sometimes those cracks were so big it was like having joists without floorboards.
On a rough day, a sailor struggling with waterstarts and thus insecure with smaller boards, went from a 6.0 to 5.0 to 4.3, searching for a rig he could control. “The Techno wasn’t quite as comfortable for me as the Starboard Carve 140 in these conditions,” he said. Probably because the straps were too far back.
“I blew several jibes on the 273,” said a sailor who doesn’t miss many jibes.
Maybe because the straps were too far back.
“This is a big ole board!” said a sailor who apparently had never sailed the 283. “Very good upwind, and I was surprised that it was pretty fast for how wide it is. Stable, user-friendly in light wind. But the footstraps may be too far back for beginners.”
Six days later, a sailor said, “This board is so easy! Even overpowered on a 6.0 it was easy to jibe and held speed beautifully in a wide arc jibe.”
Then he laid some flooring for us by moving the straps. After that, he said, “But with the footstraps all the way forward, the board was a whole lot less maneuverable and less responsive. Top speed, jibe entry and speed were all compromised.”
Maybe so, but the next guy, not nearly so good a sailor, was happy. “Easy to get on a plane and get in the footstraps, and easy to jibe. I made all my jibes in the session. Unheard-of for me.”
Moral to the story: To test any board properly, you have to test it in every state of tune. For the umpteenth time, we’re making no claims to the technical validity of the performance
pronouncements you read in this test, only to the validity of our testers’ experiences.
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