Sport Today

Any comments on this board? I'm a 185lb intermediate looking for an
early-planing board for my 9.0 (no bigger!) to complement my 130 ltr and
100 ltr boards. Flat water to mild chop conditions.  I'm considering it
as an alternative to a 160-170 ltr freeride board such as the Carve 161,
RRD Z-Ride 165, etc.

thanks,

Steve

I've known some people who had a Techno Formula.  It seems to be an
early planer and a perfectly adequate formula board unless you're
really serious about competition.  Alternatively you might consider
getting a used formula board from another brand- they're often cheap.
Any formula board will out-plane a large freeride board once you learn
how to use it.  When conditions are right formula is awesome, because
you can go WAY upwind and downwind and pass anything else on the
water.

I sailed a formula board for a few years, but I've recently switched
to the Exocet Kona as my light wind option.  Now I need more wind to
plane, but less wind to have fun.  There were a lot of gear hassles
associated with formula...  I particularly didn't like rigging a 12 m
sail and then finding the wind just a little too light to plane, so
then I was shlogging uncomfortably with a giant sail.  With the Kona I
can get satisfying performance in all winds without ever rigging
bigger than about 8.5.

See the Z-Ride thread.
In short, it's not a z-ride, but nice for the money.

The Bic Formula is a great board. It is much more durable than a
regular formula but it is heaver. If you can find an old formula board
get that instead. The weight factor is really noticeable in light
winds. You will also find that a 9.0 is small for a formula because
you have so much leverage due to the width of the board. I ride my
formula more than any other board I own.
Chad