Anyone around 70-72Kgs riding a 7'4" Airborn, I'm toying with the idea of getting one. I am now riding an 8'2" JP pro and was hoping someone could give me a comparison between these 2 boards. The JP 8'2" is very similar to the 8' Starby prowave.

I demoed the 7'10" airborne quad and just did not get it. Strange, because I really enjoy riding prone quads and keel fin fish. I instantly found the airborne way too skaty with no drive. In my opinion, not a board that would suit a power surfer. At 85kg, the 7'10" floated me, but not much more.

On the other hand, the 8'5" Starboard pro (and even the 9'0") with a tri fin setup is a.totally different kettle of fish. I could generate power and carve tight arcs in crap surf. I found the 8'5" was a comfortable board to paddle. I would be happy to own one.

Thanks Shane, not to many reviews around and all seem to a bit conflicting. I may have to find one for a demo.

Hi bjben, I've got a 7'7 Pro and a 7'10 31.5 Airborn. Seems a funny combination but the Airborn is just so much fun in crappy, strong onshore wind, crumbly waves that I often get, honestly amazing how fast it will go rail to rail for such a wide board, and of course the 7'7 is fantastic on something a little cleaner and bigger. The 7'7 seems to get onto waves a little easier for me than the Airborn.

I've paddled the 7'4 but only on flat water and for my 69kg it felt more stable than the 7'7, more like the stability of the 8' Pro

Had a 7'4 x 29" Starboard POD from a few years ago and loved that thing even though it was a bit fat. My 31'5 Airborn is way looser than the POD was, can only imagine what the 7'4 Airborn must be like. They say that the Airborn's are more suited to head high and smaller waves but not sure that applies to the 7'4 version to the same extend, just a guess though.

SurfershaneA, I've mucked around with fins quite a bit on the Airborn and different fins make quite a bit of difference to the drive of the board.

Hey JonathanC, what fins do you use or have you tried and in particular on the 7'10 x 31.5 AB? I been talking with Tang and he swears by the C-drive fins and reckons it made a world of difference,-for the better. Would be good to hear your comments.

Hey Windara,

Started with the stock Starby fins then tried Simon Anderson Quad large quad set, board felt a bit dead and slow with the SA's.
Tried the FCS Q-PC7, actually never really liked them in any board, worse than the SA's. Then I tried mixing and matching with different sets, nothing really stood out so in the end took my old favourites out of another board, the Kelly 2.1 FCS Quad Set - best by far. Great acceleration and really responsive.

Funny you mention the C-Drive, just got a thruster set from Troy to try in my 7'7 - of course I won't be able to resist getting some for the Airborn if I like them in the 7'7...

One if the Starboard guys suggested trying the Airborn as a thruster, he thinks it works better that way than with a quad set-up.

For what it's worth, I really liked the feel of the stock SB quad fins in my Airborn (7'10" x 30"), until I tried a set of FCS "HI" thrusters in it and now I LOVE IT!
Plenty of drive and pivot.

JonathanC,

Thanks for the info. Please let me know how the C Drives go. I guess our weight and height differences and surf style/methods will affect what fins we try and even though we may be on the same or similar boards, we will get varying results. What works for some wont always work for others. Cheers

Where about in NSW are you I am on the central coast and have a demo 7"4 airborne..
Rod

Rod

Do you have demo of the 7.7 pro

Cheers

Clayton

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JonathanC said...

SurfershaneA, I've mucked around with fins quite a bit on the Airborn and different fins make quite a bit of difference to the drive of the board.

I just jumped on the Airborne as it was, so yes, the fins could have been totally wrong. Pity as the surf was crap and I was hoping it was going to be fun.

Gotta admit though, if I was going to have one shorter board, I would go the Starboard Pro. I was honestly surprised how well this board went in the same average conditions.

Sorry no 7"7 Pro Demo I do have a 8" pro demo.
Thanks Rod

This is an old review I did of the Airborn 7-10 & JP 8-2 might help:-

I have ridden both:- Out of the two the Starby will float more Kegs as it is 120 litres compared to the Jp at only 101 litres , plus the SB has a much fuller nose , tail and rails. A better comparaison between the would be the SB 8-0 x 28 Pro only 5 litres difference between that and the JP 8-2. But to answer you question the SB 7-10 is very light and really fun in beach break style breaks , will float guys well into late 90kegs , hard to compare to the JP 8-2 as it's all performance based design with very pulled in nose and tail with tucked rails , as I said before compares closer to the SB 8-0 , so it depends on what you are after. Re the Nitro:- If you can stand on that you will be fine on the JP or SB Wave size:- The SB was tons of fun but as soon as you got a little chop it felt very sketchy , great fun board for clean 3 to 4 foot days The JP very fast & super responsive , takes late drops and sucky faces. I'm 90kegs and you only being 70kg will be able to surf any production board made......check out the JP 7-4 that is the killer weapon.

I think one of the things that seems to be excluded from these conversations and that is paddle power.

You need to be mindful of the fact that as you move down to a smaller board there are a number of considerations
to be taken into account which have been covered. The extra size and flotation of a bigger board makes it easier to
move the board through water. When you get down to boards 8 foot and under the effort required to propel yourself
onto a wave becomes problematic to the extent that the ability to read the wave and position yourself more in the
pocket becomes more important otherwise you will find yourself missing out on more waves than you are catching.
Everyone seems to talk about weight distribution, balance and will particularise different shapes which react in a certain
manner whilst you are ON the wave. That is not the issue that I am presenting here. What I am pointing to is the
limits of paddle power that you possess in order to get on a wave which becomes more crucial as the board gets
smaller. With this in mind then you need a board which is explosive in the first few strokes as well you having the
capacity to explode out of the blocks otherwise you are doomed to fail. This requires refining a stroke which is geared
to generating this effect. Intrinsic to this is whole body placement during this movement. Stability is but one factor when considering a smaller board. Just my opinion.

Cheers Ozzie

Ozzie, +1

Prone surfers know this, the know that on take off, you must give all you have. The fractions of seconds gained on take off can make the difference between a good ride and just playing catch-up with the curl.
This is why I do not recommend non-surfers try very short SUPs too soon: they lack the understanding that you must paddle as strong as possible (or even more :-) ) on take off.

I agree that the 8'5" pro sb is a great board, and with c-drive fins it's even better.
The 7'10 x 31.5" airborne seems better as a quad to me, but on the paddling issue it paddles in pretty much as well the 8'5". I've had (nice) comments from other surfers about how well it paddles, too, so I know I'm not dreaming it. In fact, the extra nose width lets you get further forward in those coupla seconds where it counts, which makes up for the lower volume/length.

IMO, the airborne 7'10" 31.5" is far out too much confortable to me but is a good starter as shortSUP. Or can be a good shortSUP for +100kg guy...
IMO:ShortSUP go around 28" for my weight of 75Kg with a bit more liters than weight.
Short SUP dimensions should be in keeping with SUPer weight/ liters .The dimensions: width,, length been involved from equal ratio weight/liters.
As i've been surfing with teeny board( 5'9" < 19") about 20 years ago, I got use to enter the wave with strong paddle but a good wave placement is lot more efficient .
So this is what i do now with shortSUP, good wave choice and right placement is the key to succeed taking off and get some G from a carving bottom turn on a clean face.
IMO, while surfing paddle is made to carve wide shortboards which are these shortSUPs. Just paddle back laying on chin on the paddle relaxing my old surfer's neck, step on the board on the back of the first wave passing by the set and paddle for a ride on one of the next ones.

All depends on shape and rider
Xavier on 6'10" x 29??1/2 from Gong in decent waves

Thanks to all coments.
I actually did a demo of the 7'4" that Rod made available last Saturday morning on a reef break I had never surf before. Wind was off-shore, swell about 2 feet with the odd larger set, a lot of turbulance in the water from the backwash off the rocks.
The board floated me quite well and the stability side to side was easy as at 28 1/2" the board is about 1/2" wider then my JP. Front to back stability was little more of a challenge. About 1 1/2 hours in the water and tried to catch the larger sets to get a good feel for the board once a wave.
Took some getting use too to catch one, but once on a wave a great board, hooked into the suck up on my back hand reallly well (although I got cautgh a couple of times) and the speed & cut backs were just great.
In summary on a wave i loved it and had a ball, paddling around a little bit of a challenge, would be perfect for me if it was about 4" to 6" longer.
Thanks again to Rod for the demo.

My prediction is that over the next few years what we are going to see is a lot more experimentation in terms of innovative shaping which will result in specific dimensions becoming a lot less important. When you have guys who are demonstrating competence on sub 7 foot boards and taking off on waves with a steep face and overhead in size then I see no reason why the more popular boards will head into this direction. Shaping will make all the difference.

I set the 7'10 x 30 airborn up as a thruster because i like to paddle round a bit and it was yawing too much as a quad. Also it bounced around a bit on the bigger waves as a quad. Its got a Occy carbotune centre fin and shapers Pioli sides. Gets on to waves very easily. Photos are from Batu Bolong, Canggu, Bali from a week ago. It is insane fun in the beachies at Legian too. The board has such a comfy handle and feels so light to carry i covered a 10km stretch of beach on foot. i have the wood version. my new favourite travel board, works in little beach barrels and up to 6 ft rollers. if anything i'd say the tail is a bit chunky but the rest of the design works fantastic, i am 75Kg.

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HSJ said...

www.seabreeze.com.au/img/photos/stand_up_paddle/8481863.jpg' />

I set the 7'10 x 30 airborn up as a thruster because i like to paddle round a bit and it was yawing too much as a quad. Also it bounced around a bit on the bigger waves as a quad. Its got a Occy carbotune centre fin and shapers Pioli sides. Gets on to waves very easily. Photos are from Batu Bolong, Canggu, Bali from a week ago. It is insane fun in the beachies at Legian too. The board has such a comfy handle and feels so light to carry i covered a 10km stretch of beach on foot. i have the wood version. my new favourite travel board, works in little beach barrels and up to 6 ft rollers. if anything i'd say the tail is a bit chunky but the rest of the design works fantastic, i am 75Kg.

Is this link correct to watch your photo about Batu Bolong ????

yep thats the photo, i haven't put a photo in a post before so i must have done something wrong

That's a good-size wave for a fish!