Happy birthday to me
It isn’t actually my birthday, but I did have a present to unwrap today.
It’s been three years, one month and 8 days since I bought my Carve windsurfing board, and it has given me good service. But when Antony offered to buy it from me, and I discovered that Craig had some new boards arriving, it didn’t take long to decide that an upgrade was in order.
The new model is called a Futura, and superficially it looks very similar to the board it replaces (new board on the right):
But the design is quite different and, I hope, faster. For a start, there are sexy cutouts at the back of the board which I assume serve a purpose; or maybe the designer’s dog bit a chunk out of the mould.
Then there is the fin. I have no idea of the technical specifications, but it’s red so it must be good.
Most importantly, the board looks good. Wood forms much of the construction because it is light and it flexes well under load, and because it looks gorgeous.
The base of the board is also wood but usually obscured by paint. But now there is a cutout in the Tiki logo so you can see the wood. Cool. These things are important.
There is smart grippy design on top of the wood deck:
And plenty of other attractive design elements:
There is not much to do to finalise the construction of a new board. Screw in the fin, screw on the footstraps, and put this little bolt in the middle of the board.
Then you must take the bolt out again if you put the board on a plane, otherwise the board will explode, the plane will crash and everyone will die. Powerful bolt.
Perhaps the most surprising is the little sticker on the back of the board which says “Made in Thailand”.
Indeed, the majority of the world’s windsurfing boards are made in a single factory in Thailand. Doesn’t mean you can go there and buy them off the shelf, but Craig has some in stock as of today.
Of course there was no bloody wind (again), so all I could do is take a few photos. But once the wind arrives I look forward to taking my new toy out to play. You will be depressed to know I intend telling you all about it.
October 27th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
Wicked board
What rigs have you got for it?
October 27th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
9.0 Gator
7.5 Element
6.0 Gator
Used to have 8.0 and 7.0 too, but I “rationalised”.
Sadly, the 9.0 gets the most use. I have a Carve 111 for the rare occasions there is plenty of wind.
October 27th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
too much spare cash seems to have ended up your way!
October 28th, 2009 at 3:38 am
I fail to see how a shaped/molded plank of wood can cause something approaching, or maybe even beyond, ejaculation. Whatever that is.
October 28th, 2009 at 3:44 am
p.s. Is symbiosis involved?
October 28th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Lloyd, I consider three boards and three rigs to be a minimum for a gentleman’s civilised life! In my defence, I don’t buy clothes.
genuinej, that’s because you are not a windsurfer. The utter joy of blasting over the water at high speed with the force of the wind only just under your control, is a high; approaching, or maybe even beyond, ejaculation. Whatever that is.
October 28th, 2009 at 9:42 am
Why is there an arrow labelled ’starboard’ pointing at one of the thin ends? Does it sail sideways?
October 28th, 2009 at 9:50 am
http://www.star-board.com/
The biggest windsurfing company in the world. And they are based in Thailand.
October 28th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
We have a few white-caps today, how does it look from your Condo Spike?
New video being uploaded today from our Koh Samet Island Adventure -if you like this kind of content please Follow us on Twitter – AmaraWind
October 28th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
That sounds about fair!
Has grabbed my interest, if only the pricing wasn’t so steep.
October 28th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Yeah, they are not cheap. But they are very robust and hold their value well. After three hard years, my Carve ending up costing me 5,000 baht a year in depreciation. Less than 100 baht a week is cheap fun!
October 29th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
That is the good thing about Windsurfing Gear and Stand Up Paddle Boards also – you are paying for high performance gear yet quite tough and is almost infinitely repairable.
Unlike other highly glamorous water-sports the equipment is not fragile, does not date quickly and can be easily re-sold even many years later.
The Beach Clubs are the best place to store equipment for fast access to the the water – however with Inflatable Roof-racks and intelligent storage devices – home storage is still practical.
We have a few videos of our SUP Paddle-board adventure holidays on this page: http://www.isup.asia/index.php/sup-adventures#