Hey Guys

After a recommendation for a suitable 14 footer - pre-2016 boards that would be worth having a look at, as I'll probably be buying a second hand one.

I weigh 71kg, 175cm tall, 43yo. I only want to use it in the ocean. I have no interest in flat water (unless it is a good down winding day in pittwater). It will be recreational use only, no interest in racing. I usually paddle alone which means I have to paddle upwind first and I want to be able to relax, have fun and not fight to stay upright (and therefore not think too much about brucie!).

I had a 2015 Starboard 14 x 25 hybrid but I found it hard work to stay upright on this in the bumps, also found it hard work to punch upwind. I am NOT blaming the board - they have great reviews however maybe I was too optimistic with the width given it was my first paddleboard (I stuck with it for 9 months).

Maybe the 28 inch wide allstar would have been better? Any other suggestions of other boards?

Cheers. Steve.

Yes.. 28" Allstar.. and the 28" Jav (like mine) or the 29" Glide will work well..

Try and demo before you buy because some boards have an initial quick-tip befor secondary stability kicks in and that can be very off-putting in choppy water.. I'd be looking at 27-28" or more if it's for open ocean use..

Thanks DJ, was hoping you'd comment

Are the older glides ok? See a few for sale around 2011 or 2012 vintage.

The Mk1 and 2 Glides are good for ocean work; the Mk2 especially. They tend to get a bit weird in very confused conditions sometimes, but 90% of the time they are extremely effective.

An old Starboard Coastrunner might be a cheap solution if you can find one. A bit heavy perhaps, but nice and stable.

There aren't that many boards that go well upwind as well as downwind, unfortunately, so it's often a matter of compromising a bit on one or the other.

It sounds like you could do with getting a ocean-specific board though, whatever you get. You might find one of the early SIC Bullet V1s on sale used, maybe?

SIC 14 V1.
Stable, and re assuring - no waiting for secondary stability.
Good luck finding one.

Select to expand quote

steve p said..

I had a 2015 Starboard 14 x 25 hybrid...

Which Starboard? All Star, Race, Ace?

I like the All Stars, but for your weight, the volumes are too high, 26" and up. All that extra foam really does you no favors in rougher conditions.

Hi bad dog, it was an Allstar that I had 2015 14x25 hybrid glass/carbon

Thanks everyone for your posts. Some people are saying go wider, bad dog has said that wide is too much volume for a guy as light as me. Bad dog is that comment in reference to the Allstar specifically? for the guys that like wider boards, are any of you similar weight to me? (71kg)

25" wide in most designs is pretty ambitious in the sea for most people. There is a good reason why the most popular ocean boards tend to be wider than that. You'll be surprised how much more you enjoy yourself if you go at least a couple of inches wider. You'll probably be faster too - you can't be fast on a board you can't balance properly.

Most production boards have too much volume in them for choppy seas. I have no idea why shapers do this. It might be that thickness is a cheap way to make a board stiffer or stronger. Whatever, I wouldn't pay much attention to volumes. They don't tell you much about how a board will feel.

Your principal problem is that you got a board that is too narrow for you. So solve that problem first IMO.

Hi - I have a 2014 29" GX glide that I use at work, I'm the same as you, I have to paddle upwind before I can turn back downwind, the 29" is perfect I feel for this and my ability levels.

At home I have a 27" DC and I would not feel as confident in that going up wind stability wise, although i have plenty of times, but i did fall a few times going upwind- downwind I love it

I demoed a 2014 Naish glide 14 x 29 GS today. Bloody heavy but what a difference the extra width made felt far more relaxed than the Allstar 14x25 in similar conditions. Just need to find something a little lighter now.

Yeah, the GS is unacceptably heavy for many people, really. See if you can find an old GX one. But people hold onto them so it might not be easy. Any of the wider downwind boards you will find much easier than the 25" wide SB, although they will probably be slower going upwind. But if you aren't racing, going 0.5mph slower upwind isn't going to matter.

It sounds like you maybe didn't demo enough boards before you made your last purchase. So it might be a good idea to rectify that now if you can. There is absolutely no substitute for trying a board yourself. Sometimes people will say that a board is as stable as an oil rig platform when 99% of people can hardly ride it. Balance, skill, and tolerance of falls varies so wildly between people that other peoples' opinions shouldn't really be your only source of information.

You might like a Jimmy Lewis M14, if you can find a used one, too. A Bark Downwinder might suit too -although they are quite a new model.

It's actually quite surprising how few boards there are out there that meet the criteria that the average ocean paddler needs: not too heavy, not too fragile, 27-29" wide (the sweet spot for most people in the ocean), copes with side winds and chop well, not too tragic in flat water. You'd think that this would be bread-and-butter to every brand, but in fact most offerings fail on one or more of these criteria. There's been such a rush to produce specialised boards for the elite on one hand, and cheap heavy barges for beginners on the other, that the middle ground has tended to be forgotten over the last few years. Put this together with the tendency for the main brands to have gone for extreme designs that are initially eye-catching but actually turn out to be deeply flawed in some regard, and it means that sensible and all-round capable ocean boards are less common than you'd think, and where they do exist, people tend to hold onto them.

The Naish 14x29 in GX is a good example. It was exactly what many people wanted, but for some reason Naish made three times as many GS ones (it seems), and then dropped it, leaving loads of the GS around, which is too heavy for day-to-day use by most women and a lot of men too. The reason? The GX probably competed with the more specialised - and expensive - Javelin. A similar thing happened with Fanatic boards, which were initially rather good all-rounders, but soon became highly specialised and expensive designs, with deep flaws outside their principal intended use, IMO. Starboard too, tended to rush to narrow widths and specialised use, and leave behind the 27-28" wide versions (see eg. the Ace).

Fortunately, many of the brands seem to have woken up to the need for more all-round and middle-ground boards for 2016 and beyond. But this has left a back catalogue that contains many oddities and experiments.

...mind you, some brands are still at it. For instance, Mistral's new ocean board, the Equinox, looks very capable in the right hands. In fact it seemed to be coping with choppy conditions better in the recent Tahiti race than the Starboards. But Mistral only offer it in a 24.6" wide version. That is going to limit it's appeal considerably. Shame.

I'm wondering whether the brands are now thinking that the normal SUP route is for people to start on inflatables, with only the dedicated and serious racers progressing to hard boards, so "Everyman" hard boards are not needed. But it's chicken-and-egg IMO. If you are an intermediate (and most people are) then getting hold of a mid-price, mid-weight, stable all-round ocean board is not that easy.

You're dead right area10, should have demoed more. Thanks for all your comments.

A10's suggestion of M14 good, SIC V1 again, 2011 Naishs look good.
This just posted in Buy and Sell.


Know nothing about Naish boards of that age, but it looks like an ocean / downwind shape.
I have what I think is the 17' version of that board, and it is great upwind - fine enough in the nose not to bog in, get blown off, enough rocker to ride over stuff, be safe downwind.
Don't be talked in to a newer, less rocker, narrower, boof nosed, flat water board just because people who have been paddling for 7 or 8 years can get them downwind with impossible footwork.

Yeah I saw that Naish listed, it's 27 wide, bit narrower than the 29 inches Some of the guys were suggesting, so not sure if it would be too narrow...

I'm around your weight, but clearly conditions I paddle in are not comparable. I'm a speed nut so I'll always opt for narrowness, but... if you're not just downwinding, I'd consider going down to a 12'6". Sure, you'll be a few 1/10s mph slower and won't be able to catch bumps as easy, but handling will be a lot easier if you're not fighting the 14's' length and volume. Except for the weight, my favorite older race board was the 2013 12'6" x 26" AST All Star. This board was really 27 1/4"s wide and super stable. The later versions seem a touch twitchy in comparison. It never happened/bothered me, but the knock was in big conditions the sunken cockpit could fill with water and not drain immediately. Can't speak to the durability of the carbon versions, but you could pick up any of the first gen All Stars super cheap.

Hi there
I'm a long time lurker on this forum but am prompted to ask a question. A little bit of a hijack but I was seriously considering buying a 2015 Starboard Allstar 14' x 25" as there's a new one available but now having just found this thread I am wondering if it would be a good choice for me starting downwinding. I currently ride a 9' x 27" 98 litre high performance long board style sup in surf but fancied giving downwinding a go. I'm a reasonably fit 46 years old, 5'9 and 150 lbs... been suping on and off for the past few years between my surfing (which I've done for years).
Any thoughts on whether the 2015 Starboard Allstar 14' x 25" would be a good choice for me would be much appreciated... I should add that where I live trying out these type of boards is not really an option...
thanks!

Your surf sup sounds similar size to mine (no probs balancing it) and I've surfed for decades. Despite this 25 inches wide on the Allstar was a challenge once it got bumpy.

Yes. Stability when downwinding is as much about the paddler being used to the water pushing you around, and how it does it, as it is the stability of the board. The problem is that you won't get that experience in the first place if you are on a board that is too advanced for you because your time on the water will be limited. So the usual protocol is to get a board to start that is much more stable than you think you need, and then gradually get narrower as you progress. Downwinding really is a skill of it's own. Surf experience helps a bit, but not as much as you might think. You have to be able to tolerate a certain level of lack of control when DWing - often the water will decide where you are going and when, and your job is to make the best of what you are given. It's very unlike flat water paddling in that respect. If you are not used to going with the board if you have to, rather than fighting it, then downwinding can be tough on balance.

aghhh.... you guys are killing me! Seriously though thanks for taking the time to give me your thoughts... much appreciated.
There is nothing else in my price range other than this option... I really can't afford to pay out for a 2016 model and nothing wider available second hand or older and new...
Wasn't what I wanted to hear but may just have to go with the 14' x 25" and make the best of it anyway. I'll just have to give the wild days a miss to begin with I guess. I'd be really interested to hear any other thoughts... either way but especially if they have a slightly different perspective!!

Give it a go. You've got little to lose: you'll always be able to sell a 14x25 SB on if you want something else at a later date. You'll probably be absolutely fine on it as long as you aren't going to be attempting the M2O crossing. It takes a looooong time to get good at downwinding, so the sooner you start the better :)

Thanks Area 10... I was thinking along the same lines about resale if I did really struggle with the 14 x 25".
Does anybody know if there is much difference between the stability of the 2015 and 2016 board?

just sent you pm Area 10...

sunova search..i have one, tino has one - our go-to fave..can downwind or surf in big ocean conditions..has a sail track too.planshape is the key to making the width work .dean

got a 2014 , 14' X 28 Allstar for $1,400

I reckon if you can get one of these you should, 2014 GX Glide 14x29, i have this one at work and its been brilliant for me to learn to catch bumps on, feel super at ease on it, i do a fair bit of upwind paddling on it also and ive found it to be ok also. has helped me learn so that now when i jump on my DC 14x27 at home i feel fine in the bumps on the narrower board.