Hi all ,

I hope you don't mind me posting here , I actually live in France but there is so much discussion on Starboards on the forum and I need some advice on them !

I used to surf mini mals and funboards 7-8 ft boards so not an expert surfer but could get a decent amount of waves and have fun, small turns etc. ...

I am now doing more SUP and have a BIC for flat water and an old Naish 9'5 for waves , the Naish is old, bought it from a mate and has a lot of damage, so I am in the market for a new board.

we don't have regular waves but once in a while we'll have really clean 3-5 ft so want something I can use for paddling on flat days and get a few rides on when it does break.....the starboards seem to fit the bill but lots of choices .....do I go for the wide point , converse or whopper ? or something else completely ? the main makes I see I the water here are Naish , Lokahi and Starboard.

the naish works well in waves and has a nice feel but not great on the flat days, I'm 5'10 and 79kg and with a decent level of fitness, any advice appreciated.

thanks!

Alan

At your size and for the mix of flat and waves you describe, I reckon:

10'6 Naish Nalu
10'5 Starboard Drive

should be on your list of boards to look at. With a bit more length they'll offer better flat water glide than boards in the 9' range and both surf very nicely.

Or just buy a quiver of 2 Gongs for the price of one major brand board ... Sorry for the pimping, couldn't resist :-).

On a more serious note, it depends a lot of the type of surfing you want to do: (I will take examples in the Naish line)
- Longboard style: you can noseride but need to move a lot fore/aft on the board. In the Naish line, the Nalu
- Cruising style: pointier tail & nose, but with a fast rocker (unlike the Naish Hokuas) to be fun in weak waves, you draw cool curves from the middle of the board. I dont think Naish have one, it would be an Hokua with a flat rocker.
- Fish style, a bit like a longboard but more front rocker, pointier nose, and a wide tail so you can put your foot on the fins for radical turns even on weak waves. For Naish, the Mana seem to fit the description.
- Hybrid: the front of a race board and rails and tail of a surfboard. PSH Hulls, Gong Perv, ...

There are other styles, but these are the ones I can think of that can be compromises between surf & flat.

You can find these kind of boards in most brands, but I would avoid the boards designed for Hawaiian waves, they have too much rocker for places with no "regular waves"

For flat water, length is the key. Some slight convex/belly in the nose can help. I would stay longer than 9'6". Wider is slower, so avoid the whooper for instance. Parallel rails have less row (the Fish or longboard style, or even better, the Simmons). Pointed noses are more fun in chop.

thank you guys for the comments, Colas I had thought about the Gong's previously but someone told me they ding/dent quite easily ? I was looking at the 9'10 bamby (I think) , agree for 500-600 per board it may be worth taking a chance compared to almost 1000 euros for a starboard.

the model naish I have is old so its easy for getting into waves early , the rails are pretty thick but when going down the line it does seem to lack a bit of speed. the great thing about it is though is whenever you thing you're about to nosedive ......it somehow doesn't !

I will be heading to French atlantic coast later this year and maybe a good opportunity to try a few different boards , I do see a few gong's down here but mainly lokahi , black wings and starboard.

On Gong, yes, there were some rail chipping on the models between summer 2012 and summer 2013, similar to other non-sandwich boards. Earlier all-red ones were stronger but heavier.

But the new 2014 are insanely ding resistant, the new kevlar rails are impressive. A friend dropped his board on the concrete in his garage, not a mark (before it would have made a waterleaking ding). Plus there is now a carbon patch underfoot even on the entry level construction. They are thus a bit heavier, but the weights given on the shop pages are accurate. I'd say ~ 1kg more for a 10'. You have plenty of details & feedback on the gong forum.

Also, you should try the new Gong Pro paddle, 350g for a 170cm surf paddle is magic.

I don't know black wings, only saw the early lokahis (the shapes seem quite better now), and starboard brushed carbon modern shapes (the old ones had crude rails) seem very nice.

Colas said...."avoid the whooper"
and maybe you should
but the whopper is surely an OK board...wide and stable to stand on but able to handle a bit of size

Yes, I was saying "avoid the whooper" for his intended use and weight.

The whooper stays a nice solution for heavyweights looking mainly for stability.

stability and surf ability is what I as a past whooper owner would believe is a fairer description
....it is I think only about 160 litres volume