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| Nice on the eyes and good for all wind.. The RIO S |
Waking up in the morning I looked out of the window. I was surprised. The sun was out. It was warm. No sight of what was a real rainstorm at the surf festival the day before 😛 I eat breakfast and checked WindGuru. It had good news in store for us. Southern wind 11-17 knots from 11am to 5 pm. Good I thought, picked up the gear and set out for a nice day on a now board with… the STARBOARD RIO S 2011.
Location:
Strunjan – Not exactly THE location but convinient. Wind tends to change direction in the middle off the bay stabilizing as you get furthur from the shore. There is a agricultural clam growth pod in the middle of the bay that you need to ride around. Check the google sat map for more details. Also if you are staying on the southern side of the bay ur gonna need some time to get to the better side.
Specs:
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| Bottom with Fin |
Volume – 180 l
Length – 269 cm
Width – 76 cm
Tail width – 56,2 cm
Thickness – 12.2 cm
Shape – Flat Vee to Double Concave
Fotstrap rows – 3
Fin – Drake Shallow 310 + Daggerboard Allegaier 620
Finbox – Tuttle 3 Holes
FinRagen – 31-41 cm
Sail Recomandation – 2.0-9.5
Testsail – 7.8
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| Top |
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| Rear |
How does it ride:
Even thou I had already been to a few events this year I kinda never got around to ride wind again. So when the option of stayin and playing with a new board came in of course I couldnt say no. The RIO is a entry to progression level board and according to the net the best All wind board on the market. It is easy on beginners because of it`s wide shape and also does some good speed in strong wind thnx to some formula like features.
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| Features at a glance |
The board is rated for all sails up to 9.5. The sail we used was a 7.8. First I tried it center mounted but that turned out to be rather bad. Everytime one would pick up steam the nose would dive and that would be it. My rusty skills didn`t help much there. After mounting it furter back the problem was solved and it worked like a charm. Still in hindsight I wouldn`t recomend using the big sails on the S version of the board. Thou it is very floaty once you pick up speed, the sails sheer weight does it`s job and hinders a little. The board also has an intergrated retractable fin and a rear removable one. The Daggerfin in the middle itself for me seemd more like a nausance then usefull since I keept steping on swithcer nob. There was not enough wind to actually test anything more then just simple cruising around the block but for that it went well. All in all I can recommended this toy to anyone who wants to have one board for all conditions and riders. A sleek all arounder that is even pleasing to look at 🙂
