I had the opportunity to pick up the new 2021 Starboard 9'2" Wedge about a few months back. Im a intermediate/advanced rider, 50 yrs old, and weigh 215-220 on any given day. I absolutely loved the board's new design as it preforms as advertised. Straighter outline provided down the line speed, but was also quite nimble as the rails have been thinned out from what was the Wide Point yrs back. Surfs like a shorter board and I cant say enough about the preformance.

Now the bad. After about 3 weeks of regular use (3-4 times) per week, I started noticing the deck pad beginning to raise up a bit on the right side of the sup handle. One day after a session, I observed discoloration/water running down from that same area described down to the rail. I began feeling and pressing the area to see if I could locate the cut or puncture that cause water to enter underneath the deck pad. I then felt the edge of the sup handle box had delaminated from from the board and had sliced into the deck pad from underneath. I could feel a sm gap where sup box should have been glass that was now an empty 1-2 cm space in between the edge of box to the wood deck. This gap ran more than halfway around the sup handle box. No falls as wood deck had no damage around the sup handle. The 9'2" wedge DOES NOT have a pressure valve, but my board was stored in my garage out of moisture and sunlight. I am currently going through the frustrating process of getting my board repaired or replaced. I was wondering if anyone else had or heard of a similar problem with the wedge and to give fair warning of any future purchase.

Hey Danno. I've had a Wedge 8'7" for about 3 weeks now with similar use to you, probs 3 times a week. It's a fkn awesome board but I'll leave that story for another day.

I got this board post snapping, repairing, then creasing a sunova so I was super wary about construction and quality. That was a big feature of the new starlight, including stringers. The lower rail design and raised deck to my mind would give it strength and resistance from folding also. Dylan from Sunova said my Placid was prone to snapping due to its profile here on Seabreeze hence my wariness. The construction quality and materials all seem good quality in line with their price point. The blokes at Surffx who deal with and move a lot of sups and were well aware of my Sunova experience only said good things about the starlight build and feedback fwiw and yeah Starboard don't have pressure valves. Given that they're probs the biggest international player in the sup market, or at least in the grand final, with a poo tonne of R & D, my thinking is they know their stuff. There's plenty of big boards without them.

It'd be good if you post some pics. I can only speculate that you got a lemon. Maybe with an inherent fault in the manufacturing process where the handle has been fitted and then the fault has been covered by the deck grip so doesn't get picked up, but that's assuming the fault is around the deck handle.

Anyways I've had a good look over mine cos you got me worried given my recent woes, and everything's sweet, seems pretty solid.

Let us know how you get on with the company warranty hassle and what the actual problem was. I'm guessing you're in covid country, that's the US right? Best of luck with the repair and stay safe over there. Cheers

Thanks for the response backbeach, but I unfortunately cant post pics according to the website until I at least become a "Prospect" in the Seabreeze Forum Club Im in Hawaii and we have a difficult time shipping food and toilet paper during this pandemic, so a paddle board in high demand will take a miracle to receive. I to believe it was a one off "Dud", but why me??? Got another board for the time being, but I really enjoyed surfing my wedge. Thanks for the concern bro, take care

No wucks Danno. Like I said let us know how you get on. I'm a beginner on a sup, lifetime shortboarder though, and I feel like this new wedge is just given me wings and going to launch my sup surfing to the next level. I'm already doing just about everything better and put it down to this board. It's stable, responsive, picks up waves and paddles well, easy to get the legwork happening and fast. No rush to try it as aquad, plenty of time for that, the 2 +1 works beaut. So I hope you get it sorted and on a new one. It's great and heartening to hear from a more experienced riders stoke on the wedge and I agree with the sentiment about how it feels like a shorter board, which is why I went to the 8'7" rather than the 9'2" thinking it would help but still with volume and width which is a newbies friend.

As an aside with your seabreeze name and being from Hawaii it reminded me of an Oz surf band we use to rock out to as young fella's back in the day called Radio Birdman and one of their great songs. Here's a link for your covid hard times. Hope you like to rock and maybe you can adopt it as Hawaii's national anthem, dunno if the song ever made it over there maybe a bit before your time. Still a gem. Cheers

Hi Danno
I was just saw you reviews for the starboard 2021 wedge. I'm having very similar issues. I would say probably three weeks after having it I started to notice that I could hear water inside sloshing pretty heavily near the handle.After every session I usually spray down my board and dried it off. And I noticed water dripping out of the handle after I dried it off. This water was ocean water, I just couldn't figure out how it was coming from the handle... but after looking at it super close I noticed that there is a small seam inside the handle. The handle is actually two pieces in snaps onto the board I believe . It was super clear that the water was coming from this seam where these two pieces of plastic sit on top of one another. I'll send you photos.Super frustrating the boards gaining weight After each session. I reached out to starboard and they really never responded back to my claim, they wanted me to go through my retailer, where I bought it from. No explanation from Starboard although I was able to get a refund from the place I purchased my board. The SUP Shop, Good guys for the most part. Starbord was not interested in providing a full refund, but a Partial refund, partial for what reason I have no idea. The board is great and love riding it but it's now off-balance since it's filling with water in certain areas on the deck. I'd recommend filing your claim directly with starboard through your retailer and press them for a refund. The board definitely has some sort of flaw.They definitely need to pull that board off the market until they figure out how to make it right and not take on water. Good luck to you.

Hi, just 2 things to remember:

Going through the retailer is the normal process for things sold in shops. Otherwise, why having shops (and their margins)?
You got a full refund from the retailer, which is the normal process. (and a happy ending)

Defective parts/boards happen. That's life. Board building is still a manual work, there are popped out of a machine. It really sucks when it happens to you, but this is why warranties (or insurances) exists.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Starboard in any way, nor to the physical shop business model.

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colas said..
there are popped out of a machine. I

Oops I meant to say: they are not popped out of a machine.

bookem Danno

The 10'2 and 9'2 wedge is possibly the best board l have ridden, l had them in starlight, l love them so much l sold them to upgrade to the carbon

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SydneySUP81 said..
The 10'2 and 9'2 wedge is possibly the best board l have ridden, l had them in starlight, l love them so much l sold them to upgrade to the carbon

Have you had any issues with the handle leaking? I like the look of the 8'7.

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SydneySUP81 said..
The 10'2 ... wedge is possibly the best board l have ridden...

+1

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mickeyb said..

SydneySUP81 said..
The 10'2 and 9'2 wedge is possibly the best board l have ridden, l had them in starlight, l love them so much l sold them to upgrade to the carbon

Have you had any issues with the handle leaking? I like the look of the 8'7.

Nope, no issues at all

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SydneySUP81 said..
The 10'2 and 9'2 wedge is possibly the best board l have ridden, l had them in starlight, l love them so much l sold them to upgrade to the carbon

Sorry, just a quick question. I noticed on other forums that you had paddled a creek and placid. I'm looking at both of these and also the 8'7 wedge. Which board do you think is suited to east coast conditions better. I was probably leaning to the creek or wedge. Cheers.

Hey MB, I can vouch for the 8'7" Wedge starlight-no issues with construction integrity. I'm 85kg and 6ft. I've used this board to break the training wheel shackles and am somewhere in that no man's land heading towards intermediate on a sup but over 40 years surfing shortboards. The board is really stable in all conditions, can hold a rail and take a decent drop. I'm still unlocking it's potential as I develop and feel it's still got heaps more to offer. THE 8'7 gives you more fin options and works well on all set ups. There's a good review on supboarder and their only con is that it dorsn't catch waves as easy but I'm catching waves and nothing is that easy at this stage.
The Creek looks more like an intermediate and up board, plenty of reviews out there on it. My only advice is be wary of the paulownia build and spend the money on the balsa.
I surf the east coast NSW

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mickeyb said..

SydneySUP81 said..
The 10'2 and 9'2 wedge is possibly the best board l have ridden, l had them in starlight, l love them so much l sold them to upgrade to the carbon

Sorry, just a quick question. I noticed on other forums that you had paddled a creek and placid. I'm looking at both of these and also the 8'7 wedge. Which board do you think is suited to east coast conditions better. I was probably leaning to the creek or wedge. Cheers.

In my opinion the starboard wedge is the go

Thanks boys.