Windsurfing Equipment Tests - American Windsurfer

Boards: F2 @ Islamorada

F2 Phoenix 320

Power Rating: 76
Length: 10' 3"
Width: 27.6"
Volume: 188
Weight: 24.3
Planing: 9.0
Reaching: 6.0
Upwind: 8.0
Tight turns: 7.0
Wide turns: 8.0
Ding rating: 48+
Price: $1,249
Includes: straps, fin, cb

The Phoenix 320 is a shortboard in a longboard disguise. It’s shorter than the longest of the F2 shortboards and its mast track is not foot-adjustable, but it’s tremendously wide, at 27.6 inches at the widest point. It also has an unusually wide and effective planing surface two feet from the tail. Still, it offers the liveliest ride of any longboard on the water, and can jibe either very tight or very wide.
The centerboard isn’t meant to be used in powered conditions; you would need a foot-adjustable mast track to make it work correctly if that were the case. No, the centerboard is there strictly as a safety feature, to get you home when the wind dies. Bottom line: the rider who wants shortboard performance but worries about poor upwind ability has a friend in the Phoenix 320.

F2 Race 380

Power Rating: 68
Length: 12' 4"
Width: 26.4"
Volume: 290
Weight: 30.5
Planing: 8.0
Reaching: 5.5
Upwind: 10.0
Tight turns: 2.0
Wide turns: 7.5
Ding rating: 18+
Price: $2,295
Includes: straps, fin, cb

It’s no secret that dinghy racing is very popular. It’s physically and mentally demanding yet relatively inexpensive. It requires knowledge of wind and sea, sail trim and tactics, yet it’s often little more than an excuse to get out and do stuff with other sailors. The equivalent in windsurfing is longboard racing, and the hottest longboard on the water right now is the Race 380. It’s built to the maximum specs permitted by the IYRU Funboard class rules—max length, max width, max thickness—which is what you need for maximum light-air performance. This board is incredibly thick, which gives it needed flotation when it’s slicing upwind and railed up on its side, and the rails are very boxy yet still comfortable. The reason for the winged tail? To make the tail dimension fit the IYRU rule, while putting as much width as far back as possible.
The components of this board are flawless. The mast track works perfectly, the straps are good, and the centerboard is a wooden work of art. It’s big and beautifully foiled. Serious racers will love it. Construction is stiff and surprisingly light but like any wooden product, the handle has been known to crack when the mast is forced repeatedly over the deck to waterstart. This happens especially when the mast track is set all the way back up against the centerboard well.

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