Stiff or soft, carbon or wood, production or custom?

[JB:)]

It does work to some extend with glass but being an organic material it can absorb water and rot/delaminate after impacts/damages if they are not taken care of quick enough.

This depends on how the wood is treated. If (as I have started to) you infuse thin veneers under pressure they absorb the resin and therefore the wood is actually fairly resistent to rot and depending on the species can be pretty tough.

Its something I have had to think about as several of my flax boards have grown mould and started to rot... Great from a sustainability point of view, i.e. I know how to mulch down my boards, but not great from an aesthetic and practical POV.

JB

[Ola H.]

PS. In Ola's last post, I think he missed the word 'never' from the last sentence.

Thanks. Corrected

[mikerb]

I have never compared 2 identical boards back to back but I have 4 Starboards, 3 in wood and in Technora. I choose wood purely because it is far more robust than carbon in terms of every day indidental damage ( as evidenced by some of mates who have carbon versions of my boards) and because it looks fantastic! I do know that there is a real difference in performance between wood and Technora which I guess is the same argument regarding flex just one step down the scale. At one time myself and my mate both had 96 litre Kombats...mine wood, his Technora. His board was much smoother in chop, mine was faster off the mark in lighter winds. Speed seemed similar once both boards were up and running. It is one of the reasons why my smallest fsw is Technora not wood.

[Sailrepair]

The most important issue and one not mentioned yet is that Mrs Sailrepair likes the look of the wood boards, they are the only boards she does like the look of.