Ace GT on a Downwinder

[PT Woody]

Here's a vid of the Ace GT on a downwinder. Thanks to DJ for mounting my second camera, and Abbadabba and the Honey Badger for assisting with the glamour shoot.

[Off-Shore]

Nice nice nice! That looks like a great downwind board!

[DavidJohn]

Great vid PT.. 

We'll have to try and mount my camera rig on your board one day..   

[headmount]

Liked that vid alot with the different POVs.  Enjoyed seeing PT do the John Belushi hop inside that deck well.  Looks he's adapted quickly to that kind of deck.  It's not easy.

Lack of nose rocker was much more evident in this video.  Right now the experimental focus here is towards OC like front ends.  If you flatten the rocker for DW boards, this seems to make more sense but time will tell.

Wild seeing DJs christmas tree go over with his board on the huli.  His dedication to DW videography knows no limits.  Thanks guys.

[Area 10]

Great job PT and Co. Nice to hear that song again as well, and to see that I'm not the only one who falls when DWing.

I'd long given up on the idea of Starboard coming out with a board that could part me from my hard-earned cash, but this one has really got my attention. I love that they haven't made it 24" wide or similar. Bravo Starboard, that's a really interesting board.

Do you think it would be possible to surf it at all, even if it did mean having your back foot on the bungees at the back?

[RL]

First off, these downwind videos that DJ, and now PT post are some of the best SUP content I've seen anywhere, I always enjoy them, thank you!

I'm interested in this new Starboard as I'm looking to move to an unlimited board from my 14. I'm 6'6" and it makes sense that a longer board may be closer to a perfect fit for me. I live in San Clemente and do most of my distance paddling in the ocean off of Dana Point. From the info on Starboard's site it sounds like this is a downwind specific shape or do you feel it would also be good in general open ocean conditions like we have in Southern California?

[PT Woody]

Hi RL, I'm finding the Ace GT is very nice and stable in flattish conditions outside of a downwind run although it is not the quickest board for those purposes. I have other boards such as the Sprint boards for flat water, and the All Star for choppy stuff. However I really need to get some of my bigger buddies to try it out so we can see how well it works as an all purpose board for anyone other than a jockey weight (me).

[PonoBill]

Nice video, interesting board. Kudos to Starboard for building something that isn't 14'. Looks like the well drains kind of slow. They need to play around with venturi drains some, or just copy them from an OC1. The foot well on my Scorpius is bigger than that and it drains instantly and makes a sucking sound as it goes dry. They also need a little deflector to reduce flooding. Odd, since they had one on the first DW board they built, the Point. 

Cool board though.

[PT Woody]

They have the deflector on the unlimited flat water board - the 17'6" Sprint just as they did with the K15, but they've resisted on the Aces. The venturi holes on this board are considerably bigger than all previous Starboards. The board drains pretty well when you are standing in a normal position and with modest amounts of water, but when you are right back and it gets swamped, they seemed to get overwhelmed.

[Muskoka SUP]

How deep is the footwell/deck?  I ask that because I'm wondering where the deck would be relative to the waterline for any given weight paddler... I recall paddling Argosi's 23.5" wide New (Ace) and standing in 4" of water. - and I was probably about 185lbs then.. The shear size and volume  of the Ace GT probably means this is a none issue for lighter people, but I can certainly guess that it might be problematic for the Clydesdales..

[Argosi]

Thanks for the great video PT.

Muskoka, the board you tried (Starboard NEW) was the earliest version of the Ace. It had a very low deck that was pretty much at the water line even with no one on it. Everyone was standing in some water with that board.  People complained about this so Starboard raise the deck in subsequent models. My 2013 Ace has a higher deck and my feet are dry in flat water. Not sure about the Ace GT though.

I've heard that the 2015 Ace 14x25 has a deeper standing area with higher side walls than the 2013/14s. How much deeper, I don't know. I think the 2015 Ace is supposed to be more stable as a result. Maybe they're at the depth limit allowed by SUPAA (or not).

[PT Woody]

Yes I had the New and I still have a prototype/custom from Brian Szymanski that predates the production version of the New, and both of them actually sucked water in through the venturi holes in flat water so there was always at least an inch of water inside the dugout. Once the 14'ers came along, they steadily improved to the point where the current Aces are essentially dry. I will do some tests with heavier paddlers on the GT to see how the waterline effects the drainage.

[DavidJohn]

I will do some tests with heavier paddlers on the GT to see how the waterline effects the drainage.

The starboard site says max rider weight is 110kg.. (245lbs)

I'm guessing any heavier the water will flow in rather than out.

[PonoBill]

While water is certainly a major league weight issue, the benefit of a sub-waterline standing position might overcome it if a flow evacuation system is adequate. Low foot position gives both stability and power vector advantages. One of the designers I admire most (Garry Efferding) believes that an inch of deck height reduction is worth more than half an MPH. At least that's what his testing indicated--he was taking footwells all the way to the skin. Unfortunately he's stopped working on SUP flatwater boards because he considers the effective limitation of 14' to be too limited a palette and he's way too busy making composite stuff for aerospace.

[yugi]

^Interesting.
I have often seen posts about advantages of high volume boards for downwinders and have not understood them - other than if you ride in cold water you feet will stay warmer.

I like being low to the water. I spent years on the Naish Nalu 11’4 which is very low volume so feet are close to water so I am sensitive to the “high heel” effect of very thick boards (like the old Nideckers). The only deep footwell board I have spent significant time on is the Naish Catalina which, IMO, is just an attempt in mitigating a deeply unstable board. It is a nightmare in any kind of cross chop making me more attentive to board shape than footwells. In fact I’m almost prejudiced that a deep footwell is a sign of some design flaw.

I understand the rigidity advantages of raised sides but don’t like anything bigger than what Brian Szymanski is doing now (photos of Annabel Anderson new board). I find my Rogue Rage is a good compromise and frankly prefer the look and feel of a Naish 2015 Javelin. But then again I fall in a lot so I know a board without raised edges is much smoother to get back up on.