Starboard Surf Race 12'6

[JonathanC]

The new full carbon Surf Race arrived just before we went to Maui and I've only had a chance for one paddle on it so far. The thing is such a wild shape it's really hard to photograph effectively, obviously very much based on paddle board shape.

Dave and I went for a paddle in really crappy on-shore 15 knot conditions, sea was super choppy, the board is really surprisingly stable considering it's only 26 1/2" wide, I was sure I would fall in but managed not to. On the way back in we ended up going almost exactly the same speed and catching the same waves - Dave was on his old style DC16. The waves weren't huge, two or three feet trough to peak and rough as guts but it certainly caught them easily and felt easy to get back and surf a little, really need a much better day to get a feel for it though. The nose is such a different shape to anything I've paddled before, heaps of volume but relatively low rocker. I imagine it will poke in but just come straight up, time will tell!

On the flat water inside the marina the glide was quite remarkable, it feels faster than The Pin but I really need to time over the same course on the same day to be sure. The secondary stability is amazing, with Dave on it at 225lb he could rock it over to 30 or 40 degrees and it would just right itself.

I'll post more impressions once I've had a couple of paddles on it. The fin that's in the photos isn't the factory one, just waiting for the factory one to arrive - thought the red matched though... I'm going to try a much smaller fin, this one felt too big - it's such a different board, feels like everything I know doesn't apply to this guy! The nose reminds me of a wooden clog...

Drain holes on each side of the sunken deck work really well, you don't even notice any water there unless you happen to to look down and see water hosing out each side - clears really fast.

[redfour]

Thanks for the write up and photos Jonathan, I was wondering how the Surf Race would perform. Sounds to me like it could be a good allrounder.
No offense to Dave here - (it's just I'm a similar weight) was the board able to float him okay?

[JustPaddle]

Is the board paint supposed to look like that?

[redfour]

Yep, it's to keep weight down to a minimum while also preventing the carbon fibre from being damaged by the sun.

[JonathanC]

Board floated Dave fine, it really has a lot of volume. I think Dave is about  225lbs, his comment when he paddled it was that it felt like a racing car!

[NickFL]

The paint looks so badass  It's got an all business battleship look to it.  I like it.

[venice mace]

good looking board.  weight?

[JonathanC]

Weight is 24lbs, was hoping for lighter but I guess it needs to be able to take a pounding. It is called the "Surf" Race after all. It feels very stiff indeed on choppy water.

[Kiwi-SUP]

It looks like a wild shape alright. When you get a chance to do a downwinder I would love to know how this board goes on linking bumps. I know there are Dw specific boards which do this well but I am looking for an all-rounder and the SurfRace may fit the bill. Thanks for posting the pics. Cheers.
G.

[JonathanC]

Just had another paddle on the Surf Race, 5 to 10 knots, tiny wind swell. This board is amazing, I was basically paddling across the waves but at the last minute could turn it down the face and catch the tiniest little bumps. Bumped into a friend on his Naish Glide 14, we swapped boards and the difference was huge, the Naish felt like it took far more effort to push through the water, slapping on the little waves on the way out while the Surf Race just sliced through. This paddle board style shape is really very different to anything I've paddled before, can't wait to try it in proper down-wind conditions. I've done a few down-winders on the Naish 14 and really enjoyed it so it's going to be very interesting to compare the two in the conditions the Naish is designed for.

Because of the very different rockers of the two boards they have a very similar waterline length. With the Surf Race the transition from not planing to planing is very smooth, almost like a displacement hull but then it actually rockets off like a full planing hull.

Stability of the Naish Glide 14 and the Surf Race is very similar but I think the secondary stability of the Surf Race is much better, function of the sunken deck and volume in the boxy rails. A couple of saves when I used it the first time in super choppy conditions really surprised me. Hopefully get some wind this weekend and see how it goes in real waves.

[juandoe]

That is one sweet ride.  Can you comment on how it compares to the Pin? 

[greatdane]

Every body who paddles one of Brians designs is stoked on how fast they are.  I've shown them to several board/boat designers who are completely perplexed at why they are so fast... on paper, the design shouldn't be that fast... shows you how much engineers know

[Easy Rider]

^^^ Uh huh!   

All our Starboard Race boards will be here Monday.

Carbon NEW for me!!!!!!!

It's like frickin' Christmas Eve when I was 10.
I can't wait. 

[JonathanC]

That is one sweet ride.  Can you comment on how it compares to the Pin? 

The Surf Race feels very different to the Pin, despite being 3 1/2" narrower it is only a little tippier, the secondary stability is amazing on the SR, you can rock it to point that one rail is underwater and it just bobs back. I'm used to this from another board I had the Penetrator, takes a bit at first because you think you are off for sure but pretty soon your body gets used to the fact that you can recover if you just ride it out. The Pin acts like a regular board, just gets to a point where there is no way it will come back.

I'm having trouble getting my head around the main difference but I think it is the way the board gets onto a swell, the SR seems so connected to the water almost right through to the nose that it almost feels like it gets pulled onto the swell, all you have to do is keep the momentum up and the nose pulls the board down the face and you are onto the swell - as opposed to the Pin or anything else I have paddled where you feel that the nose is above the water and you have to really drive the board forward so that the flat section under your feet is over the top of the wave and actually onto the face of the wave before you actually start planing.

And for another comparison, I've been paddling my F14 and also an F16 on Maui for the last couple of weeks, there is absolutely no way in the world I could catch these tiny little swells I've been getting onto on the SR with one of the F series boards. Now if the SR can deal with the bigger waves and get the tiny ripples it is going to be a "linking" weapon!!

Hope that makes sense...

As far as outright flat water speed, I'm guessing that there wouldn't be much difference between the Pin and the SR but I'll need to time that, as I said it feels so different my normal gut feel of speed isn't working.

Don't get me wrong here, I love the Pin I think it is an incredibly refined all round board that excels in flat water and is surprisingly good as a downwind board (just needs a way bigger fin in it than standard IMO), I notice that the new FreeRace boards have less rocker so will no doubt be a little faster on flat water but lose some of the  down-wind surfing ability.

Also keep in mind I'm very light 145 and 5'8 so narrow boards are not usually a problem at all for me. And the other thing is the I'm just a "little bit excited" right now!

Looks like we will have a 20 to 30 knot downwinder this afternoon, my friend Dave will be there on The Pin so we should have some very interesting comparison info -  boy am I looking forward to this! 



 

[JustPaddle]

Hey JC, was the F16 that you tried the v1 or v2? Hopefully a local dealer can bring in the Starboard race boards.