anchorpoint said..
My expectation was for boards weight to drop more than that after 10 years of SUP innovation

I don't know for starboard, but most brands faced recently a huge increase of the costs of materials, manpower, shipping, but could not increase the price of the boards accordingly, as they would have skyrocketed.

I guess the compromise price/weight/durability has thus been adjusted... and you do not want to compromise durability on non-pro models, it is a reputation killer.
There is no free lunch: For the same price, lighter boards are less durable.

I heard on the raceboard side and for the ICF they have a minimum weight the boards have to be which is 10kg so really not much point making them any lighter than that.
Around 10-11kg I kind of feel is a sweet spot anyway for race boards.
All costs went up but making boards with worse or cheaper materials just to keep the cost down sounds like a **** idea and I would rather find ways to cut cost else where. Like maybe just a few less team riders ( sorry team riders) I like making strong and light boards so we just suck up the cost for us at ONE. More to it all than just money for us so quite happy to make less in the hard times to keep things as fair as possible for all. We are pretty **** at making money so probably don't follow us if you are another brand and want to get rich. haha

I noticed the weights too.. eg the new Spice board. I expected it to be about 1-2 kgs lighter in all constructions. I suspect it includes the deck pads... and I'm pretty sure others eg Sunova don't include them.. so that'll account for a few grams i guess.

Also, i noticed the layups look pretty solid, which is good and definitely required in a SUP.... i have a starboard carbon blue prone foil board... super light, awesome board but has several cracks on it for bugger all use. so seriously under engineered and very disappointing. Have read of others with similar experience.. so maybe Starboard has realised too light weight will cost them loss of sales down the track.

justaddwater said..
I.M.O..KINETIC BUILT Absolutely the best construction in sup,I have had boards from every popular brand ,and a lot of failures,But never a failure of any type with a board built in the Kinetic factory! For me this quality is imperative,as I pay full price ,and need good resale,as I like to try different designs, .Of late I have been very impressed with the Smik product for all the above reasons, as well!

Where are SMIK boards made?

justaddwater said..

Slab said..

justaddwater said..
I.M.O..KINETIC BUILT Absolutely the best construction in sup,I have had boards from every popular brand ,and a lot of failures,But never a failure of any type with a board built in the Kinetic factory! For me this quality is imperative,as I pay full price ,and need good resale,as I like to try different designs, .Of late I have been very impressed with the Smik product for all the above reasons, as well!

Where are SMIK boards made?

Thailand,with excellent supervision/ quality control ,from Aussie owner.

Aha...Jimmy Lewis's factory..yes they seem to have the magic touch. He's been using them from the early days.

anchorpoint said..
Good day all.

Just saw the new starboard collection for 2023 and the shapes looks cool but is it me or apart from the pro carbon i find the weight in general not that light..
Interested to get your feedback on starboard but in general . My expectation was for boards weight to drop more than that after 10 years of SUP innovation ..but we did not really progress much..or is it me?

I thought it was to do with their (Starboard) ethics of reducing environmental footprint. Using products other than carbon might be more enviro friendly but weigh more.