Messages

http://www.maui2molokai.com/escort-boats/

Can anyone provide an unbiased review on the 2017 Allstar?  I am thinking about buying one. I am 200 pounds with good balance. I know I can ride the 24.5, but should I go with the 27 for better hydrodynamics?

I weigh 192-195 and the 24.5" X 14' floats me just fine... If you want to do any flat water races, I think the 27" wide would feel like a pig.  Wish I could say I had the skills for the 23", but my weight and balance probably would have me swimming in sporty conditions. The 2017 AS feels faster and a bit quieter through the flats than my 2016.  They did something under the nose that makes it a bit less splashy.  Still, not a missile in the glass compared to something knifier like a Sprint, but feels so good in the chop.  Haven't got it out in a good down winder yet, but looking forward to it. 

Sort of ironic that it happened at a place called Privates.

You beat me to it Mike!

I had a 26" wide Blackfish for about 2 months.  I went much too wide when I ordered it, I should have gone 24.5" or 25". It was quite slow on flat water, but fun and forgiving when things got rough on the salt water. If I did most my racing in open ocean, I would have kept it, but our races up here are often flat to medium chop and it was a pig.  I've been on Allstars ever since, but if I were to get another Infinity I'd lean Whiplash. I enjoyed working with Dave Boehne (sp?)...

A thing that blows my mind is that once you take a lot to OC1 models, you discover that there are just a few models that made not to many changes over the years and riders keep and use the for the long term.
I wish the SUP world could be a bit similar, cause I don't really understand why after tons of years on paddling and surfing, the brands are still "improving" their products year after year, making last year models look obsolete.

I do feel your pain, regarding new, improved models every year, but we have to remember that outriggers have been around for a long time... literally hundreds of years, while SUP, particularly downwind and race models are kind of in their infancy... 10 years maybe?

Hey Puna, I've had some really fun outings on my Fat Ass Quad, both in the pacific northwest and Oahu.  In small, mushy waves to about chest high, I think you will be impressed by this inflatable.  Here is a vid from Waikiki showing my very mediocre surfing skills on the Uli...

Cheers!

Not sure if this will be helpful or not... I owned both the 2015 26" wide and 28".  Got them through a connection with Gerry Lopez, so no way could I afford them at retail.
I thought the 28" wide would be a good DW board, but it ended up being slower than my Bullet V2 so I sold it.
The 26" wide was incredibly stable and at that time the narrowest race board I'd owned.  But it wasn't particularly fast in flat water according to my GPS data. So I sold it.

Flash forward to this year and one of the fastest guys in Washington/Oregon is racing on the 2016 thats 24" wide... not sure what got changed other than width in the design.  He is a big guy, 200lbs and 6'3"?  He has won both races that I've gone up against him at.

He said he tested many 14' race boards at the Big Winds demo this spring and this 24" wide board was the fastest, according to his GPS, and the 26" wide was the 2nd fastest.  The close 3rd place board was the 25" wide Allstar (which I'm racing.)

I think the Javs are still one of the best looking boards out there.... Next to my Allstar (-:

Be warned, I am Starboard "team racer" and get my boards at a discount.  However, the last 2 seasons I have raced Starboards that I have bought at full price when I wasn't "sponsored."

I've only had the 25" wide 2016 Allstar for 3 weeks, but here's my brief findings.  It likes to get up "on top of the water" and thats when you see the gps speeds start to creep above 6mph on the flats.  But like a lot of boards, as soon as you tire out/fatigue and the board "sinks" the speeds go back to avg.  I think where this board excels is the versatility.  It catches tiny bumps with very little effort, and the new nose design is less affected by other board wakes and side chop.  In a medium downwinder it punches through waves, and I still felt the need to brace expecting it to pearl like a lot of other race boards, but it doesn't.  I've never been a stellar buoy turn guy, and this board feels a bit "twitchy" when I step back to pivot.  Still getting used to it however.  It tracks very well, perhaps because of the multiple concave channels, but I'm not smart enough to know if thats the reason.  As far as the flex everyone talks about, I hardly notice it and really expected it be much more noodle like at my weight.  While it does flex if I jump around on it, I never notice it during my stroke.  In comaparison my old Bark Dominator and M&M were much softer. I raced the 2014 Allstar last season, and this is a huge improvement over a board I really already liked.

Here is the brief data from my Canadian friend...A guy who has raced for at least 8 years. Naturally it is not conclusive and it was a brief test, and you have to throw out the anomalies.

I believe the 25" & 27" inch wide 14's will be replaced by 24.5" wide and 26" wide. Other than that, I don't know anything, which is normal for me.

At 6'1" and 195lbs, I don't think I'd ever go narrower than my 25" wide 2016.  I think my weight and balance skills are right at the breaking point with the 25" wide.  The 26" wide version next year is enticing for me as a friendlier winter downwind board when I really don't want to go swimming as much.

There is a guy my weight in Canada who time-trial gps tested the 2016 23", 25" and 27" and the results were interesting. There was almost no speed penalty between the 25 and 27 (flat water.)

For those who don't "get it;" this is my take... The biggest smile on my face when I'm downwinding are those moments when I'm hitting 8-12mph on a SUP or over 15mph in the outrigger... Speed equals fun.  Kai says he's hitting 20mph.  Enough said.

Yep, but on the other hand, that means my run is going to over in about 20 minutes.      and that means the logistics of shuttling is going to be higher percentage.      But I'd be willing to give it a go anyway   

Ha! Good point!

I don't really agree on couple of points...

Compared to most paddlers, I was really late getting into the sport of "paddling". I started on surfskis at age 17, granted I have put in a lot of hours into the sport. I was surfing Pipes and Sunset way before I ever got a paddle into my hands. However, I would rather see SUP getting closer to surfskis than to windsurf boards.

You are right: UL seem to have died in its path. For a moment, let's just leave out the rudder system. Let's focus on the bow for downwind or chop. We know we need volume, and we know we need a narrow catch. Take a K15, make it 10 pounds, add volume to the bow (for all intent and purpose, make its bow look like a surfski) but make the rails a little harder for stability. Yes, you would have a stand up paddle board that differs greatly from most boards out there.

We'll eventually have to agree that the first surfskis were looking exactly like the current 2016 boards, and they have ALL gone away from that shape for the simple and good reason that there were more efficient bows.

In the end, The SUP of the future may have a bow that will look a little like a surfski, but the SUP in question will 1) look very differently overall, and 2) may not require "piloting" them.

It's cool if people don't see the benefits of a narrow catch, but for as long as shapers don't see the interest in narrow bows, we will have more handicaps while paddling, especially for those of us carrying smaller shoulders. Shapers could (at least) bevel the catch area of the boards...

Here is a UL SUP shaped much like a surfski, shaped by a surf ski racer, but raced by me.  This was made 5 years ago. 24.5" wide X 18'.  Wide point 1.5' behind the standing area or "Swede" outline.  Won me a few races but its not real fun to only race against a handful of UL's when most the field is on 14's.  Not sure how the surfski design would translate into shorter race boards.

For those who don't "get it;" this is my take... The biggest smile on my face when I'm downwinding are those moments when I'm hitting 8-12mph on a SUP or over 15mph in the outrigger... Speed equals fun.  Kai says he's hitting 20mph.  Enough said.  Then ad being able to slice through the waves in front of you like a razor vs. slamming into them with your standard dw board and dang...

However, it is Kai, & anything he can do will take me another 20 years to do even half-ass.

I live in an area where surf skis are incredibly popular, on the Saturday morning paddle there can easily be 18 guys on skis and maybe 5 of us on OC's.  I started 6-man paddling about 5 years ago to cross-train for SUP, and this winter I've partnered with my Hawaiian transplant friend for 3 OC-2 races (won all three OC division, but got beat by skis every time).  Have also had more fun downwinding our bay than I've ever had on a SUP, mostly because the OC's just get into the waves almost effortlessly.  It feels like cheating. What I enjoy the most is the camaraderie between the skis and Oc's.  The skis are faster, but my buddy (born and raised in an OC) can out surf any skier up here... But thats more of an experience thing than an equipment thing. Another interesting feature is that guys on OC's have been involved in several rescues of skis because of their stability in the 40-50mph gusts when the skiers are having difficulty remounting.  We've had two rescues by coasties this year already and one fatality a few years back which is a bummer.  I used to be 100% SUP, but now it seems as though I'm about 50/50 OC/SUP.
Video I made this winter of some of our endless rides...

I like my Kialoa Insanity adjustable 3-piece.  I wouldn't race with it, but it's flown to Hawaii with me twice for surfing my iSUP. Total length broken down is around 40".  Their integrated cam-lock in the palm grip is pretty slick, doesn't rattle & doesn't budge once clamped down.

Three weeks ago at the the PNWORCA outrigger series race #2 at Jericho Beach in Vancouver BC an OC1 racer in his mid sixties crossed the finish line after our 6 mile race and collapsed and fell out of his boat into the water.  We/they/all-involved worked him for 10 min before EMS arrived, they worked him for another 30 minutes in the ambulance.  Got a pulse back but he never regained any brain activity.  They removed life-support a few days later. 

It's a shitty story, however, if I had to kick the bucket, and I had my choice, not a bad way to go.  Beats the hell out of rotting away in a nursing home.