Starboard Discontinuing Sup Models: Blend, Drive & Element

[Night Wing]

I went to the Starboard site to see what is new in their product line for the year 2020.

https://sup.star-board.com/

But I got a rude awakening when I visited the site. First, their website loads very slowly. Secondly, it seems Starboard has discontinued the Blend 11'2" x 30", the Drive 10'5" x 31" and the Element 9'8" x 30". I can remember about three years ago the Drive was 10'5' x 30" and Starboard increased it's width to 31".

Now the Drive is no more. I'm guessing all of these models didn't sell well enough to keep them in Starboard's product line. It seems these discontinued models have now been relegated to the Wide Point series which are 11'2" x 32", 10'5" x 32" & 9'5" x 32".

I can remember when I was looking for an 11' sup. I had looked many times at the 2014 year model Blend 11'2" x 30" x 3.9" @ 174 liters. Three main items always kept me from it. The first was the Blend always came with 3 fin boxes and I'm a fan of 5 fin boxes. The second was the 3.9" thickness. Just a little too thin thickness wise for my tastes. Lastly, the 50/50 rails. I like 60/40 rails.

Starting in 2015, the Blend's thickness was increased to 4.4" and the liters increased in volume from 174 liters to 178 liters.

Long story short. I eventually came across the Stand Up PaddleSports (Sup Sports) site and after lots of research on their production made One World 11'1" x 30" x 4.6" @ 200 liters, I asked Warren Thomas if he could build me a custom One World according to my likes, wants and needs.

After a long phone from Warren, (WarDog) when he was on this Zoner site, he custom built for me my One World 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 liters with 5 fin boxes, a Blue Planet Sup Grip handle, pulled in nose, 60/40 rails (thinned out), narrow pin tail, comfy deck pad with a kick pad.

I enjoy riding my One World whether I take it out for flat water cruising on lakes, sup surfing the waves on the upper Texas coast or tanker bow wave surfing (inbound) in the Houston ship channel. But, my custom built One World was basically patterned after Starboards 2015 year model Blend. I'm sad to see the Blend 11'2" x 30" has been discontinued.

And below is a short video of the Starboard 2014 year model Blend 11'2" x 30" @ 174 liters with Scott McKercher riding it. And I never get tired of watching this video.

[NorthJerzSurfer]

Interesting NW....

I would imagine it's getting hard for the more expensive companies to sell 'all-arounders' at a premium price and premium construction.

the initial wave of people willing to pay 2k to get into paddleboarding seems to be gone.  And very good all rounders are readily availible used from people who didn't stick with the sport or moved on to more progressive shapes. And decently built new all arounders are well under the 1k mark.

[Badger]

I had the Blend for three years and didn't like it. As I progressed into more performance shaped boards I came to realize how badly it surfed. It was fine on flatwater. I even discovered downwinding on the Blend, but it sucked for surfing.

[burchas]

I had the Blend for three years and didn't like it. As I progressed into more performance shaped boards I came to realize how badly it surfed. It was fine on flatwater. I even discovered downwinding on the Blend, but it sucked for surfing.

So in short, the Blend was bland

[burchas]

And below is a short video of the Starboard 2014 year model Blend 11'2" x 30" @ 174 liters with Scott McKercher riding it. And I never get tired of watching this video.

I actually learn to surf on one. Same flattering fun smaller version waves as in the video too. I still like the sound of your One World better.

[Night Wing]

I made three mistakes in my first post so I need to correct them. Starboard made changes to the Blend three different times when it was in the product line at Starboard.

In 2009, the Blend was 11'2" x 30" x 3.9" @ 168 liters. Then in 2014, the Blend was 11'2" x 30" x 4.3" @ 174 liters. Then the Blend was changed again for the third time to 11'2" x 30" x 4.4" @ 178 liters.

When I had my right shoulder operated on; even though I was told to stay off of my Hammer, when I took a short car ride to one of the mainas up at Lake Conroe (in southeast Texas), there were two women riding sups and one of them had a 2009 Blend. Long story short, she asked me if I would like to demo her Blend and I took her up on her offer. I liked it as a flat water paddler.

I figured I could tweak it for sup surfing the waves I would encounter on the upper Texas coast....IF....I could find a sup designer who could accommodate my likes and wants and this is when I came into contact with Warren Thomas (WarDog).

Since a production made Sup Sports One World production made board is 11"1" x 30" x 4.6" @ 200 liters; I used the Blend as a pattern to build my custom One World which eventually came out to 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 liters with all the tweaks I wanted.

Still, I'm going to miss the now discontinued Starboard Blend 11'2" x 30" x 4.4" @ 178 liters.

[Night Wing]

And below is a short video of the Starboard 2014 year model Blend 11'2" x 30" @ 174 liters with Scott McKercher riding it. And I never get tired of watching this video.

I actually learn to surf on one. Same flattering fun smaller version waves as in the video too. I still like the sound of your One World better.

I like my custom built One World too. 

[Area 10]

What has been the “centre ground” of SUP is disappearing: there are now many direct-sell brands undercutting ones like Starboard, and often producing gear that is as well-made or better than Starboard IMO (eg. Gong in Europe). And then there are ultra-premium brands like Hypr Hawaii who are making more specialist boards for the high-end market, and doing so for not much more than Starboard charge. And with all the new gear such as wings and foils etc, they’ll have to be some trimming of the product ranges. The main focus of innovation has moved to foils and wings, and most of SUP sales in many areas of the world are inflatables.

[coldsup]

They ballsed up the Drive by making it higher volume/wider.....the original was a better size.

I had a good look around last year for a new longboard.....I eventually opted for the 9,8 Starby Element. I really like it...it surfs very well, turns brilliant with the rounded pin and handles pretty much everything I need and noserides fine too. You could shave off some volume in the nose but the concave there works well and the double concaves throughout the hull too.

It used to be marketed as a more extreme board but lately one for lighter paddlers, or women as a do it all board. Total nonsense of course as it is an out and out surfing shape. Nicely sharpened rails in the tail.

I’m not surprised they are fading them out as they now have the more expensive Starby longboards which look nice.

I’m glad I managed to get one before they discontinued them.....it’s a great allround surf shape for someone in weaker waves who also wants a forgiving shape....plenty noserocker to help with steeper last second take offs.

 

[BrownSugah]

What has been the “centre ground” of SUP is disappearing: there are now many direct-sell brands undercutting ones like Starboard, and often producing gear that is as well-made or better than Starboard IMO (eg. Gong in Europe). And then there are ultra-premium brands like Hypr Hawaii who are making more specialist boards for the high-end market, and doing so for not much more than Starboard charge. And with all the new gear such as wings and foils etc, they’ll have to be some trimming of the product ranges. The main focus of innovation has moved to foils and wings, and most of SUP sales in many areas of the world are inflatables.

Starboard has always had a crazy amount of boards in their line up. And with them selling to literally everyone its hard to shops to want to pick up a board because you almost guarenteed to take a loss or break even...especially with online "clearance" sites. I think they kind of lost their way with boards and should focus on the OG SUP shapes and update slightly and then lighten down the pure number of boards they have.

[MLB]

SIC is the same, must be 100 different models. So much overlap in size I don't see how anyone chooses. 

[Bean]

Their new "Longboard" looks like it might be fun...

https://sup.star-board.com/products/longboard/

9 x 28 and 10 x 29, definitely a more performance oriented SUP/longboard

[surf4food]

As the market and SUP's popularity is solidifying, this was bound to happen.  At their peak, they seemed to have the widest variety of boards of all the big names.  I remember when they even had an unlimited.  I remember years ago demoing the "Fisherman" in Mission Bay.  That had so much volume you could bring your grill and cook up your catch. 

[surf4food]

On a separate note, I'm surprised they still have two prone boards in their lineup.  I don't imagine many prone surfers (who don't SUP) would even know the existence of the brand.  And any prone surfers who DO SUP would ever consider their prone boards. 

[Area 10]

Their new "Longboard" looks like it might be fun...

https://sup.star-board.com/products/longboard/

9 x 28 and 10 x 29, definitely a more performance oriented SUP/longboard

A problem that Starboard have got is that for much the same price as their carbon construction one you could have a SUP version of this longboard. I know which I'd rather have...