Hello, I live in the center of Spain and I ve been suping for around one year. My first board was a Starboard 12,6 astro touring, after a SB 14 astro touring, I recently sold both and I bought a SB astro 14 race 26" wide, and this is the board that I use almost everyday on lakes and flatwater paddling.

Well the last two weeks Ive for the first time Suping on the sea, with a lot of wind and small waves with my touring 12,6 x 31 inflatable touring board, and was pretty difficult for me to stand on the board, so I dont want to imagine how would be on the 26" race board. Anyway, I really enjoy paddling on the sea, so that's why I am considering purchase a hard board for flatwater 90% of time, and sea downwind maybe 10%.

As my budget is no so big I have only a few options right now... Starboard 2014 14' 30" touring wood construction or SB allstar older models, as I am going to use in different spots and transport it on the car I want to stay away from carbon, and have something more durable.

Could someone recommend me any other board to consider? 12,6 or 14? Its pretty difficult to store a 14'board. In anycase I am going to keep the inflatable board, as its quite fast and I use it daily for fitness. So does it make sense to downwind on the sea with an inflatable?

Thanks a lot.

I just picked up an old 12'6 x 30 Starboard Cruiser for short money.... it's a beater.... but really fun in surf and paddles very well.
Really stable.... surprisingly stable, since I am judging it by other 30" wide boards that a far less stable.

I bet it would be a good downwinder as well

Starboard Coast Runner 14. These boards still pop up used, in good shape and are cheap. Good rough water boards, and not fast but decent on flat water. The 12'6" Starboard Race was built in a few widths and is basically the same design and shape as the Coast Runner. The All Star would be fastest and prices are dropping fast for the 2014-2015 models. Naish Glides in 12'6" and 14" go for reasonable prices both used and new now that the 2016 line up is being released. The Glides are a good compromise if you can only have one board as well.

Thanks for the answers, the point is that i want to keep the inflatable board as well, since i like how it performs in flat water and where are a lot of rocks cause its dingproof.
I wanted to check th eprices of the Allstar but still are only a few in Spain and quite expensive by the way.
Naish glide cound be an option, since prices are much more economical.

But the 14 touring wood board... Its something that I really like, but I dont know how the nose will perform on donwinds.

I had the 12'6" version of the SB Touring and liked it, but it was designed for calmer water for inland paddling. It did fine in moderate chop, but the Touring models were basically designed for inland paddling, or ocean paddling in calmer waters. The 14' has a sharp pin tail and you lose some stability stepping back in rough conditions. The nose on the touring design comes back up pretty fast when the front of the board goes under on a swell, but it self steers a bit going side to side, which takes a bit of getting used to. Goes upwind well, and it's a fast board on flat water relative to it's width.

Hopefully more All-Stars make it to Spain, because they are really coming down in price now. The 14 X 28" AllStar remained unchanged from 2014-2015 except for deckpad and paint scheme/graphics. You didn't mention your weight, but I'm assuming the 14 X 28 is the right size? The narrower widths are not the same design as the 14 X 28 for 2015. I expect many more All Stars to come onto the used market now that the 2016 model is out, but I'm not familiar with brand distribution in your region at all. The All Star was on my short list as an all around distance board that could be used for some downwinders, but I ended up with a Glide 14 X 29' for a very good price, and I'm pretty happy with the board. It is alright on the flats, handles rough water very well, and is very forgiving in moderate DW conditions. Meaning you can stand at the centre handle and don't really have to move much if you don't want in smaller swell around knee to thigh high. Of course it helps to move to maximize your glides in smaller conditions, but the Glide is forgiving enough that you aren't getting pitched off if you stand at or just behind the center point.

Thanks again. I am 190 cm and 85 Kg. What I am really looking for is a board to complement my inflatable race board, I am fine riding a 26" wide board, but on the ocean I would like to have more extra inches or at least a lower center of weight.
Once thing that I was worried about purchasing the touring board is to get a really big board with a storage problem, and after riding it a couple of times forget it cause the inflatable would perform better.
I dont know if I will be better with an Allstar or a Ace but 12'6 x 26" or even 25...

Downwinding certainly can be done on an inflatable, at least in small conditions. But most inflatables will be a lot harder work and if you have sections where you have to paddle across the wind they can become almost impossible to use, once you are over about 20 knots. Hard boards really come into their own the more difficult conditions get. But if you are just downbreezing in 10-15 knots and ankle-high stuff then an inflatable will work OKish - as long as you aren't racing. You need to pump your board up as high as you dare, though.

Hello, I have now the chance of buying some used but like new boards for a really good price around 1000$. One is the Starboard touring 14' x30" in carbon construction 2015 model, and the other is a SIC X14 SCC never used 2014 model.

what can expect of those boards while paddling on the sea? Make sense to purchase one of them for flat-water while keeping my inflatable for trips to the coast? would I notice any improvement?

thanks

Rick,

One of these would be nice