Text: Arnaud Dechamps
My first encounter with Rémi Villa dates back to 1993, in Brittany, at the École Nationale de Voile in Quiberon. He was already a top-class racer and I had just joined Planchemag to look after the testing. Naturally, I recruited him for a few test sessions. A few years later, we met again – he had since moved to Starboard, whilst I was testing his boards. Rémi is a workhorse, a competitor who always has an open ear for riders and testers. A few years ago, I was lucky enough to visit Starboard near Bangkok, where he lives with his Thai wife and their son Alex in a house by the lake, just a stone’s throw from the company. Every conversation with him is a real pleasure, always shaped by our shared passion for windsurfing, technology and great stories. In the spring, we met up again at the ‘Défi’ in Gruissan. It was too good an opportunity to pass up to look back with him once more on his incredible career, and above all, to share it with you.
“Rémi is a workhorse, a competitor who always has an open ear for riders and testers.”
How did a young windsurfer from Martinique end up in Thailand, working for one of the world’s most prestigious brands?
That’s a lovely story and something quite special. In my early working years in Martinique, I was a sort of sales representative. Deep down, I’d always wanted to work in sailing, preferably in windsurfing. And then, at a World Championship in Thailand in 2000, Svein Rasmussen (Editor’s note: Founder in 1994 and owner of the Starboard brand) I caught his attention when – after breaking three masts – I finished in the top ten in many races out of 140 competitors. At that time, I had already been a Starboard sales partner in Martinique since 1996, without knowing Svein. I’d been awarded the Starboard distribution contract through Jean-Louis Colmas (Editor’s note: the shaper from New Caledonia who revolutionised windsurf board production at Starboard by using a 0.6 mm-thick laminated veneer made from Australian pine to achieve a better weight-to-strength ratio), whom I knew very well from the competitions. I’d phoned him because I’d seen a Starboard board in Martinique that was lighter and performed better than my Van den Berg slalom board. I rang Jean-Louis, who put me in touch with Svein, and ordered three boards. And that’s how the distribution got off the ground. Following that World Championship, Svein invited me to spend three days at his test centre in Thailand, where I experimented alongside him. He valued my opinions; I suggested changes that proved worthwhile. From then on, Svein and Tiesda offered me the chance to return to Thailand regularly for testing. This happened about three or four times a year, for two weeks at a time. At that time, the focus was particularly on the Formula boards (Editor’s note: one-metre-wide planks for sails measuring between 9 and 11 m²). Later, I switched to race boards and then to slalom.
In 2007, you went through a difficult time; you were diagnosed with a tumour…
Everything was going well; I was living in Martinique and travelling regularly to Starboard in Thailand. Then my life changed in an instant: I was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma, which nearly cost me my life. That was in 2007. The cause was using my mobile phone too closely to my ear. I was constantly on the phone, especially in the car – you’re basically frying your brain at the speed of light. What’s more, I’d leave my mobile switched on next to my head whilst I slept – these are things you should never do under any circumstances. The 3.8-centimetre tumour in my inner ear was really dangerous. Unfortunately, there were complications during the operation, which was actually supposed to last six hours, but they had to put me under anaesthesia again. And it took twelve hours …
"In January 2008, I received a phone call that was to change my life completely."
When I woke up, the doctors told me it was doubtful whether I’d ever be able to walk again. I tore off my bedclothes and immediately ran down the corridor to make sure I could walk. I ran, bumping into the walls on both sides of the corridor because I’d lost my balance. Svein and Tiesda were among the very few who visited me in hospital, which really touched me.
When did you move to Thailand?
In January 2008, I received a phone call that was to completely change my life. Svein rang me to offer me a full-time position at Starboard in Thailand. By 6 pm that very same day, I was on a plane. As I’m passionate about innovation, I’ve always been involved in product development and have regularly advised brands that I’ve ridden for myself – such as Van den Berg, Fanatic and F2 – who have valued my recommendations for their future development. It’s also worth noting that I shaped my first board back in 1985 – a slalom board. After that, in 1987, I built my first Division 2 board, which was semi-hollow.
Before that, we’d built two boats at home on the beach, together with my father and my uncle. I was in charge of all the carbon fibre parts. All the frames, the design of the centreboards, the rudders – all those things. I made the frames from discarded, broken Nautix booms. At the time, I was still working for Nautix as a regatta sailor and was involved in the development of booms and masts.
Were you ready to leave behind the Caribbean dream life in Martinique?
After the phone call, I spoke to my father about it. He said to me, “Go for it!” My mother took a completely different view. When I arrived at Starboard in Thailand, I was simply an assistant to Tiesda You in the research and development department. Tiesda was very, very dedicated; he was the product manager. We had countless ideas – they were just bubbling out – there were loads of prototypes, and things were going in all directions. At the start, I lived with Svein for a year and a half. And so I worked like a madman. That went on for a year and a half, seven days a week. It was intense. I spent a lot of time in Pattaya back then, surfing, because I was in charge of research and development and testing the large boards. Gradually, Svein gave me more and more responsibility. I’ve worked my way up step by step. Today, I’m, so to speak, the R&D manager and product manager for everything to do with windsurfing, as well as foil boards, wing boards and SUP.
What were your responsibilities in the early years?
From 2000 to 2007, my priority was the Formula boards. I worked very closely with Tiesda and the four shapers we had at the time. When I settled in Thailand in 2008, the Formula series began to stall a little, and I turned my attention to the iSonic slalom boards, which were experiencing a spectacular boom.
They were renowned for their fast cruising speed and acceleration, but lacked top speed. Together with Cyril Moussilmani (Former World Cup competitor, Ed.) We’ve done a fantastic job; the two of us have travelled all round the world. It’s been a life of luxury: lots of travelling, lots of flights. This has allowed me to test the boards in all sorts of conditions. We also made a point of trying them out with all sorts of sails to ensure that our board works with every brand. We took this very seriously to ensure that our board is a true all-rounder.
How has your role evolved over the years?
From 2010 onwards, I was also responsible for the development of the Freerace, Freeride and Freewave models, in collaboration with Tiesda, Svein and the shaper Albert Pijoan, who were, of course, also involved in this process. It really was a team effort. Around 2017/2018, Tiesda decided to focus entirely on foiling, which meant the role of product manager for windsurfing became vacant. I subsequently took on the development of waveboards as well, continuing to work with Albert Pijoan as shaper at Starboard. Albert later moved to Severne, and since 2023 I have been developing waveboards myself. At that point, I launched the completely revamped Ultra and Hyper ranges onto the market.
What do you mean when you talk about ‘a number of prototypes’?
I remember building thirteen prototypes for the iSonic 107 – that’s my record. I learnt a great deal in the process, because when you build lots of prototypes, you explore many different avenues and gain a much better understanding of things. Of course, there are plenty of failures too, but you learn the most from your mistakes. And so I’ve been able to develop a framework that now enables me to design boards with minimal effort. I’ve been working with CFD for several years now, which has been a huge boost. CFD (Editor’s note: Computational Fluid Dynamics) is a field that uses numerical modelling and computer simulation to analyse the flow of fluids in aerodynamics and hydrodynamics.
What is the specific process involved in developing a prototype?
Starboard has not had a shaper since 2018. We design the board on the computer based on all the parameters we have received in the form of CFD files, videos and test reports. The design is then sent to the CNC machine, where it is cut out (Editor’s note: The computer automatically controls machine tools – such as milling machines, lathes, drilling machines, etc. – to produce precise and repeatable parts based on files).
We now have an excellent CNC machine, and as soon as the core of the board is complete, we take it to the design and prototyping workshop to carry out the lamination: This is the production stage in which various layers of composite materials, such as fibreglass and carbon fibre, are applied to the board’s core and bonded with resin. Three members of staff are currently working on the lamination of windsurf boards. Once this stage is complete, the board is tested at various locations around the world. This, of course, is the empirical part of the testing process.
What is the Starboard development team like today in terms of size and organisation?
These days, I’m in charge of the entire research and development department. That doesn’t mean, however, that I make all the boards myself – far from it! My role is that of a product manager: I oversee the workshop as a whole.
How many staff members work in the workshop?
There are seven of us. I also have a team that looks after production at the Cobra factory. We develop our products here at Starboard, and Cobra is simply our contractor for manufacturing the boards. The factory is only about 45 minutes away from here. I travel there every Thursday to carry out quality control checks on the products before they’re dispatched and to discuss various ongoing projects and any issues that have arisen.
“I once built thirteen prototypes for an iSonic 107 – that’s my record.”
How much does it cost to produce a prototype at your workshop?
That’s around 1,000 euros – naturally, less than is usual in Europe. When I arrived in Thailand, there was one major advantage: the baht was very weak at the time. One euro was worth 48 baht. Today, it’s worth noting that one euro is equivalent to 36 baht. It’s not the same at all anymore. You automatically had a much larger budget, which allowed for attractive profit margins and meant you could sell at a competitive price. It was fantastic: you’d have an idea, get started, and even if you failed, you’d learn something from it. Today, the situation is much more strained because the baht is particularly strong against the euro.
What is your philosophy?
It’s not about striving for the ultimate performance, but about instilling the utmost confidence in the riders so that they can focus entirely on themselves and their tactics during the race. They don’t need to worry about their kit because they have complete confidence in it.
Text: Arnaud Dechamps