we hadn't really seen much of the starboard big boards on the goldie until this year.

i tried a 14' ace and while it was very fast i don't like the cockpit feel. however i loved the way they move on the water. i managed a couple of dw ers on the ace and the floating nose feel and ride i do like.

in the same thinking process as the sic bullets they are designed to float over the bump ahead if its on. i personally don't believe a sup will ever go through a bump like a oc1 and skis can so i'm not a fan of displacement noses for dw ing.

anyway after much research i decided to get 12'6 carbon race to bop train on and use for surfing. i'm so happy with this board. not the fastest in the flats be any means but still capable. get it in the surf zone or in bumpy rough water and the board comes alive- a pleasure to use. myself i use a jm fin right back. super easy to control on the run in waves with this setup. to paddle out toes just in front of the back drain holes allows the board to float over waves without grabbing the nose. took me a session to work that out ptwoody

i have a sic 17'4 which is the ants pants for good dw ing but sometimes if the swell is short and stands up it's not so good. so a good heavy duty solid 14' dw board was on the menu.

again after much research and looking in the breeze for sale section i got myself a ast coast runner which i received today.

the ast is on the heavy side for sure but for my purposes this a good. i paddled it this afternoon in the creek. the ast model is not going to kill it here either, but if your a capable paddler it will hold up alright. i imagine the carbon model would be faster in the flats.


now the good part. as soon as i hit the rough tidal swirling waters in the creek mouth it was very very stable and really came to life. i paddle straight through sections where i would normally be checking as the board goes sideways-none of that. its like chalk and cheese. i believe the round nose to flat ish blended into a very slight chime from the rails leading a concave down through the middle of the board to v in the tail allow the board to soak up the roughs and convert that to trapped air through the concave and float along - works well. the dvs designed lahui kai work on a similar concept

the waves in and glides back to the carpark was seriously very good with ast weight playing the part beautifully. i can't remember doing so little paddling yet making it through to the carpark beach. something to be said about weight/momentum. light boards can drop off quickly if you stop paddling

i just know this ast model is going to kill it in the dw conditions i intend to use it in.

can't wait to get it out there soon


yep,while the bullet will always be my go to good dw board, i'm falling for this lot of starboards

cheers

Hi Lacey
I completely agree in regard to the Coast Runner. I have the Carbon model and it is just as fast in the flat. A number of the guys have coast runners over here and it is was the board to beat over summer with downwinders and middle distance races.

It is a brilliant 'all round board'. Sure there might be faster specific downwind boards and specific flat water boards, but this does both very well. It does it well enough for it to be about the paddler and can match it with these specialised boards.

I'm looking forward to trying out the 14' Ace soon.

Hi Lacey, I went from the first coast runner in ast to a carbon bop. I don't down wind much as there are not many of here with the equipment. I usually paddle from my house a couple of kms to a surf beach and mess around on the waves then paddle further and then home. I am most interested in surfing and have a carbon starboard 8'5 and a Laguna bay 8'4. I now take the bop with me and it is a blast in the waves. Much better than the coast runner I had and it fits in the shed. I have had it long enough now my wife hasn't noticed the new board. In waves it catches them so easily, surfs better than I expected and will ride a tiny bump. I think this style of board has a great future.

We had good waves this last weekend. 4 m new swell at 19 sec period so there was a lot of grunt. Recent gw shark sightings here and incident at Wedge may explain the low numbers out

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johndg said...

Hi Lacey, I went from the first coast runner in ast to a carbon bop. I don't down wind much as there are not many of here with the equipment. I usually paddle from my house a couple of kms to a surf beach and mess around on the waves then paddle further and then home. I am most interested in surfing and have a carbon starboard 8'5 and a Laguna bay 8'4. I now take the bop with me and it is a blast in the waves. Much better than the coast runner I had and it fits in the shed. I have had it long enough now my wife hasn't noticed the new board. In waves it catches them so easily, surfs better than I expected and will ride a tiny bump. I think this style of board has a great future.

We had good waves this last weekend. 4 m new swell at 19 sec period so there was a lot of grunt. Recent gw shark sightings here and incident at Wedge may explain the low numbers out

sounds like you got the wrong board first up. personally i went for the 12'6 carbon race for its dw ing ability and the fact that i prefer my 12'6 boards to go over rather than go through waves

One of us!

yes Lacey you may be right. When i first saw a video of downwinding i decided it looked like fun so i made an impulse purchase. It was the first of its kind here and was a special order as the shop had not heard of them. I did get my money's worth out of the board but my tastes changed over time. The 12'6 compromises to able to be fun, work in waves, general paddling and down wind too. (Plus it fits in the shed)
i did do a few fun down winders with one in over 40 knots where the wind was flattening the water.

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PTWoody said...

One of us!

i guess so. just got back from a run on the ast cr. while it wasn't the conditions i intend to use it for, wind a bit light on, it handled all those outcrops that affect the conditions really well. no problems on the steep short stuff. actually that's where it went best. pretty impressive. it will cook in our swell ish se runs

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PTWoody said...

One of us!

This week

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rager said...

PTWoody said...

One of us!

This week