Author Topic: Starboard Pocket Touring Board?  (Read 3545 times)

2Rivers

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Starboard Pocket Touring Board?
« on: July 20, 2016, 07:36:19 PM »
Does anyone have any experience with one of these? I'm considering a shorter touring/race shape for exploring some lakes and rivers, but there doesn't seem to be much out there that's not a planing hull, longboard type shape or under 11'.
Where I paddle I have some coves that I like to explore that can get quite snug depending on the water levels, so having something short and nimble would be more ideal. The Pocket Touring from SB looks perfect for my needs. The 9'6 looks like fun, but the 10'6 may be more ideal. I was hoping to keep it around 10'x30"ish. Speed is not a necessity, just straight(er) tracking and a decent glide.
Are there any other brands that I missing that make something like this? No inflatables!
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2Rivers

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Re: Starboard Pocket Touring Board?
« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2016, 07:44:52 PM »
I just stumbled onto the Hobie Venture 10'4, so I'll add that one to the list.
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Ichabod Spoonbill

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Re: Starboard Pocket Touring Board?
« Reply #2 on: July 20, 2016, 08:06:21 PM »
Pau Hana has a 10'10" pocket tourer. It looks cute.

https://www.pauhanasurfco.com/project/minisport/

Bic makes a hybrid tour/all-around board at 10' and 11'. They're reasonably tough and worth looking at. The shape is surfy but the underside of the nose has a touring shape.

http://www.bicsport.com/sup/boards/range/allround-sup.html

If you're going into rough areas, you might consider the Imagine Fit. It's an 11' plastic board. Yeah, it's heavy, but it can take a serious beating.

http://www.imaginesurf.com/index.php/boards/adventure/fit
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2Rivers

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Re: Starboard Pocket Touring Board?
« Reply #3 on: July 21, 2016, 05:51:41 PM »
Pau Hana has a 10'10" pocket tourer. It looks cute.

Bic makes a hybrid tour/all-around board at 10' and 11'. They're reasonably tough and worth looking at. The shape is surfy but the underside of the nose has a touring shape.

If you're going into rough areas, you might consider the Imagine Fit. It's an 11' plastic board. Yeah, it's heavy, but it can take a serious beating.
Thanks for the additional recommendations. That Pau Hana model looks interesting.
I don't require the added durability of plastic. However I did look at Imagine's website and they have a touring model called the Mission in an 11' size.
That BIC would work and I did find several more 11' boards that are ideal, but I can get away with a bit shorter length since the volumes are still within my weight range. I'm going to focus on some of the 10'6 boards I found, but I may give that Pau Hana a spin if I can find one. Thanks again for the heads up!
If anyone can provide some feedback on the Starboard or any other compact touring boards, please chime in. The other models I'm looking at are the Bote HD and Soul Odessey.
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Re: Starboard Pocket Touring Board?
« Reply #4 on: July 21, 2016, 06:05:47 PM »
Did try a SB Pocket Touring on a demo day and found it had a lot of drag at the tail for some reason.  Did try to stand as far forward as possible as well.  Not sure why it was like that.  On the longer lengths of the Elite Touring the glide was cleaner and better - but still a bit draggy.  It seems that the change to a square tail added a lot more stability at the expense of efficient glide - plus the nose is wider as well.  Better for stable touring - but not as efficient as before.

http://star-board-sup.com/2016/overview-exploring/
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Muskoka SUP

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Re: Starboard Pocket Touring Board?
« Reply #5 on: July 21, 2016, 07:20:33 PM »
Did try a SB Pocket Touring on a demo day and found it had a lot of drag at the tail for some reason.  Did try to stand as far forward as possible as well.  Not sure why it was like that.  On the longer lengths of the Elite Touring the glide was cleaner and better - but still a bit draggy.  It seems that the change to a square tail added a lot more stability at the expense of efficient glide - plus the nose is wider as well.  Better for stable touring - but not as efficient as before.

http://star-board-sup.com/2016/overview-exploring/

Lack of tail rocker, maybe? 
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Re: Starboard Pocket Touring Board?
« Reply #6 on: July 21, 2016, 07:28:33 PM »
Maybe.  The Pocket Touring just felt stubby and lacking length.  Whereas a normal surf shape seemed to better distribute rider weight more evenly.  But did not paddle it long - as it just felt odd to me compared to other boards.
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2Rivers

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Re: Starboard Pocket Touring Board?
« Reply #7 on: July 22, 2016, 11:55:49 AM »
Did try a SB Pocket Touring on a demo day and found it had a lot of drag at the tail for some reason.  Did try to stand as far forward as possible as well.  Not sure why it was like that.  On the longer lengths of the Elite Touring the glide was cleaner and better - but still a bit draggy.  It seems that the change to a square tail added a lot more stability at the expense of efficient glide - plus the nose is wider as well.  Better for stable touring - but not as efficient as before.
Thank you for the feedback. I have 3 questions for you:
1) How much do you weigh?
2) Do you remember what size SB Pocket you demo'ed?
3) Do you think a different fin could have made a difference or improvement on the glide?

I saw a 2015 Pau Hana Mini Sport that has a much narrower tail than the 2016 model and the SB Pocket boards. I'm sure that would offer a better glide for it's size, but be less stable. I also wonder if there's a point where these compact touring boards, if ridden too short, start having the "drag" issues you encountered.
Demo'ing the boards on my short list is going to be nearly impossible locally, so I'll have to gamble on this one. Any more feedback I can get is highly appreciated. Sucks that we don't have any quality SUP shops locally. Traveling around and having to spend $100/day to demo boards gets expensive fast.
King's Type-S 14' | Soul Firestorm 8'9
ZRE Power Surge ZX4 80sq" | Kialoa Big Eddy
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Re: Starboard Pocket Touring Board?
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2016, 01:17:27 PM »
Both my wife and I tried that Pocket and found it too short.  We are both light weight paddlers.  The length I cannot remember as I wanted to get off of it asap!  A change in fin would not help glide much.  The drag may have to do with volume distribution.

We do have the old SB Touring 14x30 in carbon and it is a pintail design.  That board we really like as a stable quick all round board for the ocean.  We thought we would try the Pocket to see if the concept worked in shorter lengths.

As noted we found normal surf shapes better to paddle because the tail did not drag.

Fast is FUN!   8)
Dominator - Touring Pintail - Bullet V2 - M14 - AS23

 


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