Isonic Man

 Rémi Vila is the man responsible for the design and development of some of Starboard’s most successful boards, most notably, their world championship winning slalom board, the Isonic. No stranger to the podium himself, Rémi is also a world champion windsurfer and his competitive streak transfers into his work “to make the best boards possible.” Read on as Rémi tells us more about his life and craft.

- John Carter

BEGINNINGS

It’s a long story how I started working for Starboard. I met Svein for the first time in 2000 at the Formula worlds in Pattaya. While I was there he invited me to test with him. He was very happy about the way I saw how boards worked and my testing methods and results. He asked me to work as a freelance tester from 2001. In 2007 I had a big problem with a brain tumour. Svein came to visit me at the hospital in Bordeaux. Then in January 2008 when I recovered, Svein and Tiesda proposed I work full time at Starboard. I did not hesitate! I received the news at 8am and by 6pm I was on a flight! Since that day I moved to Thailand to work for Starboard full time. My background was always racing and I previously had raced in all the different classes. I started sailing on flat boards in 1978, the Windglider and Carib Surf Boards, before going to Division 2, and then I switched to Raceboards, Formula and Slalom. Maybe next year it will be foil, I don’t know!

THE PROCESS