Author Topic: My 2018 board ? What did I go for ?  (Read 8938 times)

ukgm

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My 2018 board ? What did I go for ?
« on: September 13, 2017, 07:40:22 AM »
So anyway, I decided to step back from being a sponsored rider for next year. It was my call and my last sponsor (Naish) had been absolutely fantastic and I had been well supported over the last 2 years. I'd also received a couple of very generous team offers for 2018 but, for a variety of reasons, I decided that I needed more flexibility in what I was doing next year as far as SUP went. As a result (and I hope you're watching this Eagle), after trying loads of racing boards I opted for.............

..............a secondhand 2017 full carbon Starboard Allstar in a 24.5 width. It's going to be receiving a full Allison fin install shortly too.

I tried a 23 but (at my size) it didn't have the volume and after I started smashing out PB's on a loaner board of this model, I realised very quickly that with the races I wanted to do, it was a good fit for me and allowed me to get down to a decent width whilst still cranking out full power. I've been really impressed with the design. I'm very excited about trying the Allison system in particular too and I'll be doing some testing of that with some hardcore science as soon as I get the board back from its install. For me now, its about finding racing innovation wherever I can find it !




PonoBill

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Re: My 2018 board ? What did I go for ?
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2017, 07:47:57 AM »
What do you weigh, UK?
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

Luc Benac

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Re: My 2018 board ? What did I go for ?
« Reply #2 on: September 13, 2017, 08:12:57 AM »
Looking forward to flat water testing of the Allison four fins system. Keep us posted.
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ukgm

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Re: My 2018 board ? What did I go for ?
« Reply #3 on: September 13, 2017, 08:26:46 AM »
What do you weigh, UK?

I'm currently in shape for cycling so I dropped from my typical 95kg down to 88.5kg.

(I found the 23 struggled a bit at the tail volume so I was having to come far forward to compensate).

burchas

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Re: My 2018 board ? What did I go for ?
« Reply #4 on: September 13, 2017, 08:50:07 AM »
I'm shocked ukgm ;) I was very surprised by that board my self in contrast to previous
AS models. Would be very interesting to see your results with the 4 fins, don't hesitate to
ask for pointers.

Keep us posted.
in progress...

Eagle

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Re: My 2018 board ? What did I go for ?
« Reply #5 on: September 13, 2017, 10:23:18 AM »
As a result (and I hope you're watching this Eagle), after trying loads of racing boards I opted for.............

..............a secondhand 2017 full carbon Starboard Allstar in a 24.5 width. It's going to be receiving a full Allison fin install shortly too.

I tried a 23 but (at my size) it didn't have the volume and after I started smashing out PB's on a loaner board of this model, I realised very quickly that with the races I wanted to do, it was a good fit for me and allowed me to get down to a decent width whilst still cranking out full power. I've been really impressed with the design. I'm very excited about trying the Allison system in particular too and I'll be doing some testing of that with some hardcore science as soon as I get the board back from its install. For me now, its about finding racing innovation wherever I can find it !

Cheers and congrats on your new aquisition!  Finally convinced you to come over to the dark mysterious side.  ;)

That board is the right width for you.  Even tho I constantly make fun of the fat cutting boof -> it is not really fat at waterline compared to most other AW designs.  It is actually quite svelte.  That design is actually a lot faster than many know or realize until they test it themselves at speed.  It is not draggy feeling compared to other designs.  Once you get that initial tippy tip feeling under control -> you are gold and can motor on flat water to chop to small DW.  So very smart choice indeed.  Times do not lie. 

Would expect the Allison fin options to keep you pretty busy testing speed vs stability for the next while.  So let us know what is working best for you.
Fast is FUN!   8)
Dominator - Touring Pintail - Bullet V2 - M14 - AS23

ukgm

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Re: My 2018 board ? What did I go for ?
« Reply #6 on: September 13, 2017, 10:33:08 AM »
As a result (and I hope you're watching this Eagle), after trying loads of racing boards I opted for.............

..............a secondhand 2017 full carbon Starboard Allstar in a 24.5 width. It's going to be receiving a full Allison fin install shortly too.

I tried a 23 but (at my size) it didn't have the volume and after I started smashing out PB's on a loaner board of this model, I realised very quickly that with the races I wanted to do, it was a good fit for me and allowed me to get down to a decent width whilst still cranking out full power. I've been really impressed with the design. I'm very excited about trying the Allison system in particular too and I'll be doing some testing of that with some hardcore science as soon as I get the board back from its install. For me now, its about finding racing innovation wherever I can find it !

Cheers and congrats on your new aquisition!  Finally convinced you to come over to the dark mysterious side.  ;)

That board is the right width for you.  Even tho I constantly make fun of the fat cutting boof -> it is not really fat at waterline compared to most other AW designs.  It is actually quite svelte.  That design is actually a lot faster than many know or realize until they test it themselves at speed.  It is not draggy feeling compared to other designs.  Once you get that initial tippy tip feeling under control -> you are gold and can motor on flat water to chop to small DW.  So very smart choice indeed.  Times do not lie. 

Would expect the Allison fin options to keep you pretty busy testing speed vs stability for the next while.  So let us know what is working best for you.

Oddly I didn't get that tippy initial feeling I was bracing myself for. I just got on it and went. Compared to my maliko it seems to be holding around 5% faster than my 2016 Naish Maliko for the same effort. That's not fair on the Naish as it was very very good at what it was actually designed to do. I originally was going to go for the Allison system to help with stability but I don't need to now. I'm actually doing it to see if I can coax more speed and efficiency out of this board and to see if the tail flow really does work against would be drafters. All of this will help my racing choices next year.

Eagle

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Re: My 2018 board ? What did I go for ?
« Reply #7 on: September 13, 2017, 11:34:01 AM »
Oddly I didn't get that tippy initial feeling I was bracing myself for. I just got on it and went. Compared to my maliko it seems to be holding around 5% faster than my 2016 Naish Maliko for the same effort.

Good job.  Your balance is not as crappy as you say then.  Haha.

Many have complained bitterly in the past about tippy tip even paddling a 24.5 width.  If not a problem on your new All Star -> then you are gold.

A 5% jump is huge.  About similar to my speed improvement over my Dominator when I tested right after getting my 23.  Some peeps had a hard time believing this but numbers do not lie.

Talked to a racer who has paddled almost all the new race boards out there and he told me on the weekend that a small single fin was fastest for him after testing out quads.  He also needs no help in the stability department.  As this year he has been racing on a 23 Sprint.  He is always looking for that little extra bit of speed just like you.
Fast is FUN!   8)
Dominator - Touring Pintail - Bullet V2 - M14 - AS23

PonoBill

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Re: My 2018 board ? What did I go for ?
« Reply #8 on: September 13, 2017, 10:21:23 PM »
At approx 90kg it's no surprise that you needed to trim forward on the 23" Allstar.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

ukgm

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Re: My 2018 board ? What did I go for ?
« Reply #9 on: September 14, 2017, 12:03:36 AM »
Oddly I didn't get that tippy initial feeling I was bracing myself for. I just got on it and went. Compared to my maliko it seems to be holding around 5% faster than my 2016 Naish Maliko for the same effort.

A 5% jump is huge.  About similar to my speed improvement over my Dominator when I tested right after getting my 23.  Some peeps had a hard time believing this but numbers do not lie.

Talked to a racer who has paddled almost all the new race boards out there and he told me on the weekend that a small single fin was fastest for him after testing out quads.  He also needs no help in the stability department.  As this year he has been racing on a 23 Sprint.  He is always looking for that little extra bit of speed just like you.

I've found that since I'm a larger paddler, going to small a fin hurts my efficiency and stroke index. As a result, my data continues to show for example that my larger Black Project Maliko is still the best fin I've used to date and that the smaller Tiger is fractionally slower (but well within the margin of error). Mind you, the thing of interest to me is to test the quads first and then to get with trialling the fence idea that Ponobill has been advocating. I think that could be a good progression to get the drag down (whilst maintaining the tracking through use of a ventral).
« Last Edit: September 14, 2017, 12:11:21 AM by ukgm »

ukgm

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Re: My 2018 board ? What did I go for ?
« Reply #10 on: September 14, 2017, 12:10:41 AM »
At approx 90kg it's no surprise that you needed to trim forward on the 23" Allstar.

Yep, it was just a step too far. The 2018 sprint or Allstar 23.5 looked like borderline considerations for next year though.

mr_proper

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Re: My 2018 board ? What did I go for ?
« Reply #11 on: September 14, 2017, 01:15:12 AM »
I have the 2017 Allstar/24.5 with 93kg/193cm and go with the original fin. In normal case, I feel well and do not go swimming. If it gets too heavy, it can happen that I'm slower and swim.
And I'm not a fast paddler.
So for you it will be a easy game ;-)



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SUPDaddyBear

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Re: My 2018 board ? What did I go for ?
« Reply #12 on: September 14, 2017, 04:26:08 AM »
Going blue this year, sounds like it was a good choice!

I tried some all stars at bray lake recently, found them a bit tippy for me but I'm not quite at your level :-) Haven't managed to try the maliko yet!

What races are on your list for next year? I really want to get back into it and be a bit more competitive if I can lol

ukgm

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Re: My 2018 board ? What did I go for ?
« Reply #13 on: September 14, 2017, 05:53:34 AM »
Going blue this year, sounds like it was a good choice!

I tried some all stars at bray lake recently, found them a bit tippy for me but I'm not quite at your level :-) Haven't managed to try the maliko yet!

What races are on your list for next year? I really want to get back into it and be a bit more competitive if I can lol

If you want a really stable platform and a board that can handle a bit of mess I can honestly say the maliko was the most stable 26 inch wide board I'd ever used. I dropped the fin size down in the end to get more speed out of it as stability was never an issue.

I'm having to wrap my SUP season around my bike races and some quadrathlon so I'll likely race through the winter (possibly doing the odd race up where you are) and then I'll aim for a top result at Head of the Dart in April. Thats the biggest event in the UK and is a defacto national distance champs in my view as everyone is there. After that I'll still be paddling but my race season emphasis will shift to my other sports until August.

ukgm

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Re: My 2018 board ? What did I go for ?
« Reply #14 on: September 14, 2017, 05:58:01 AM »
Oddly I didn't get that tippy initial feeling I was bracing myself for. I just got on it and went. Compared to my maliko it seems to be holding around 5% faster than my 2016 Naish Maliko for the same effort.

Good job.  Your balance is not as crappy as you say then.  Haha.


I likely don't paddle in as wavy conditions as you do. Most of my paddling is done on rivers and large chop estuaries. The board was surprisingly good at that but then I'm another year down the line in terms of development so I think I'm still a work in progress on the earlier slope of the learning curve.

 


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