Starboard Evolution fuselages and wings review

Evolution that is the new name that Starboard gives to the 3rd generation fuselages and 2nd generation front wings. The fuselages are optimized in terms of aerodynamics and attachment and the shapes of most front wings are ‘reshaped’. An evolution, then, or are the differences greater? Read our experiences with the Evolution fuselages and Evolution front wings.

Improved streamline and connection Starboard Evolution fuselages

The evolution fuselages look sleek. The ‘hump’ that was in front of the front wing is gone and the front wing now protrudes +/- 2 centimeters in front of the fuselages. All fuselages are therefore actually about 2 centimeters shorter than the plus fuselages. However, the distance between the wings has not changed. The geometry of the fuselages has also not changed (distance mast to front and back wings). The front of the fuselages are nicely streamlined and in the fuselage there is a ‘bridge’ where the front wing fits nice and tight. As a result, the structure should be stiffer.

Thinner profile of the Evolution front wings, or not?

According to Starboard’s website, of the tips of the 900 and 800 front wings should be thinner and the 1000 cm, 725 and 650 would have remained unchanged. Because we were triggered by a completely different sailing behavior of the 900 cm2 front wing, we started measuring (we even measured several front wings of the same size) and we came to quite surprising insights. Because we no longer had all sizes of the old front wings, we could only compare the 1000 cm2, 900 cm2, 800 cm2 and 725 cm2. The differences are;

• All measured Evolution front wings have become between 45 and 66 grams heavier (= 5% to 8%)
• Except for the 800 cm2, which has become about 40 grams lighter (= -4%)
• On average, the wings have become slightly thicker (we are talking about max 0.5 mm)
• Except for the 800 cm2, which has become slightly thinner (and also thinner than the 725 cm2 at most measuring points)

So what Starboard lists as changes doesn’t seem entirely consistent with our findings. But it is ultimately about the wind foil properties.

During wind foiling, more of everything!

As mentioned above, during our 1st session we experienced a big difference in wind foil properties of the Evolution 900 cm2 front wing compared to the old IQfoil 900 cm2 front wing. We also experience these differences with the Evolution 1000 cm2 front wing. According to Starboard, the carbon quality of the front wings is the same as that of the old front wings, C300 carbon. However, during wind foiling it is very clearly noticeable that the front wings feel a lot stiffer than the old front wings. Is this due to the higher weight or that they are fractionally thicker? Or does Starboard secretly use different carbon?

Back to wind foiling. The clearly stiffer front wings clearly give more control down wind when it goes fast. It is simply easier to go stable down wind. That gives confidence and therefore you can keep pushing longer. In addition, the 900 cm2 front wing in particular gives significantly more lift. We had to sail faster than we are used to with the 0 degrees spacer instead of the +0.5 degrees where we almost always have more wind foils. In a direct comparison with others, we were able to stay on the foil longer with wind dips and we could just stick 1 or 2 degrees higher upwind.

The 1000 cm2 front wing gave only a little bit more lift than the new Evolution 900 cm2 front wing, but is very fast and is also very long easily controllable. The stiffer profile is certainly to the reason for this. We find the 1000 cm2 just a little better balanced than the 900 cm2, which may not give a little too much lift.

Our final speed is not noticeably higher, but in important other areas we notice a serious improvement in aerodynamics of the Evolution fuselage in combination with the Evolution front wings. What strikes us;

• In the lower wind range stay longer on the foil and the take-off is also easier / faster
• In wind dips we can hold our upwind / down wind course longer
• In the hijacks’ the board flies more smoothly

Biggest advantage Evolution fuselages and wings for demanding wind foiler

From the above you can see that the biggest advantages of the Evolution fuselages and front wings are for the demanding wind foilers. The novice and less demanding wind foiler will (unconsciously) benefit from the stiffer wings and construction, making it easier to wind foil stably. We now have all Evolution wind foils, fuselages and front wings in stock in our webshop.