STARBOARD FUTURA 77 WOOD SANDWICH 2022 TEST REVIEW
VERDICT
With the capacity to be used across a massive wind range, the Futura is almost two boards in one – a light wind powerhouse and a high wind Super-G blaster. It likes to be piloted and takes a little getting used to, but the rewards certainly make it worth the effort.
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- Starboard Futura 77
THE LOWDOWN
Dubbed their ‘fast and easy’ range, the Futura is Starboard’s freerace series, sitting between the freeride Carve and their reputed iSonic race programme. There are five sizes in the Futura series for 2022, each named by their maximum width measurement and with all bar the smallest being a short 228 cm in length. Less emphasis is attributed to their volume measurement, the concept of the Futura focussing on the individual board’s width to determine its wind range and power handling potential. The other key features can be found on the underside, the Futura displaying an extraordinary amount of vee along the length of its hull (intended for improved control and comfort through turbulent seas), and some two-tier cutouts in the tail (for quick acceleration and improved speed). Combined with its compact outline, tapered tail and thinned-down rails, the Futura is said to “save you energy, maintain a high average speed for miles and make sporty gybes.” This 77 is the second largest in the range, with each size available in two constructions – the brand’s ultra-lightweight Carbon construction, or their trademark Wood Sandwich construction, reintroduced and engineered to have the lowest carbon footprint possible. Both options come supplied with thin (6 mm) deckpads, a reduced length mast track (for simplicity), Drake Slick footstraps (85% of which are claimed to be made from a natural plant-based rubber) and a Drake Ready to Race fin to compliment the foil ready Tuttle box incorporated. The widest board here in the test group, it has a quoted sail range of 6.0-9.5m, which would be hard to believe of a board with just 117 litres of volume in the not-too-distant past.
BRAND CLAIM
“The test-winning board that really started the freerace craze for technical windsurfers seeking the impossible: maximum speed combined with comfort, control and gybing precision. The Futuras deliver maximum average speed with total confidence and comfort.”
PERFORMANCE
On the water the Futura certainly has a unique nature amongst the group. There is plenty of volume and width up front to take the largest of rigs, feeling stable at rest and turning off the wind positively when driven purposefully through the front foot. As it glides up onto the plane, the board then feels much smaller as you progress rearward and into the straps, the tapered tail shape helping to disguise the board’s size. Once locked into the straps, the ride is incredibly comfortable, the dome in the tail and fittings combining to provide real traction and purchase, from which to push against the fin. The Drake 42 cm fin compliments the board well and offers the power and feedback to really explore the Futura’s drag-racing potential. And it is certainly fast on all points of sail, pointing upwind well and holding its drive and control admirably through varying wind-strengths. Once going, it simply keeps going! In powered conditions and choppy seas, the Futura begins to feel its size again, not necessarily experiencing control issues through the tail or fin, but rather through its nose and shoulders. Being so short and wide, it’s inevitably meant the Futura is chunky in its forward profile, which, when travelling at speed through confused seas, means the board can get buffeted from rail to rail. As a result, the rider needs to pick their path carefully through the troughs and over the peaks, which makes it quite an involving board to ride at speed – something the more advanced and proactive rider will thrive on. There are no control issues, like a high-end slalom board; rather, the Futura is a thinking rider’s board, that likes to be piloted and guided, instead of a straightforward plug and play platform. In the gybe, the Futura cuts into the turn beautifully, the pronounced vee helping the board to rock onto its rail, whilst the narrower tail offers the ease of response to adapt the carve as desired through the transition, with plenty of room and volume to step forward and finish the turn off.
WEBSITE windsurf.star-board.com
STARBOARD FUTURA 77 2022 TEST REVIEW
VITAL STATS
Price: CARBON: £2149.00 WOOD: £1949.00
Volume (Quoted): 117 L.
Length: 228 cm
Width: 77 cm
1ft off: 47.7 cm
Bottom shape: Pronounced vee with a double concave running throughout the board, which becomes a straight vee in the rear, finishing with double step cutouts in the tail.
Weight (‘Naked’): 7.8 kg
Fins: Drake Slalom 42 cm (Foil Tuttle)
Sail Range (Quoted): 6.0-9.5m
Sizes Available: 63 (99 L.), 67 (106 L.), 71 (109 L.), 77 (117 L.), 86 (144 L.)
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