I had a great Demo day today thanks to Ian & Marco from SUPTour & Dave from Board Crazy.
Started off this morning at Dixon Park at 6am. Surf was a little lumpy but at least there was a wave at around 3'.
I Started with the 8'5 Pro (in AST construction), my first time on a board this short, a little twitchy in the somewhat choppy conditions. Great board & certainly my pick from the entire Starboard surf range. Paddles ok into the wave, once on a wave goes very well. Only fell a few times in my hr session, so overall stability is great for a board this length.
Next board 9'1 Pro, a little more stable than the 8'5, didn't pivot turn as well (8'5 can turn on a dime). Great down the line speed, this board would definately come into it's own in a faster down the line reef point break.
Next board 8'10x32" Wide point (AST silver), what a great fun board. Super stable but can be easily thrown around, deck grip was a little slippery on the back foot (just needed a little roughing up, the other boards AST silver boards were ok).
Last board for the morning was the 10' Whopper, extremly stable, 1st wave a little hard to turn. Next wave stood back more & got right on the rail & it went well for a 34" wide board.
Then backed up for an arvo session on Lake Macquarie at Green Point.
Started with the 14' surf race, punched up into the 15-20knot headwind, board is extremly stable & goes very well into the headwind. Turned & came back with the very small runners (conditions too small to see how it would really go but got the feeling it would go very well in downwind conditions (with it's rocker line) & would handle side chop very well with it's stability).
Next tried the 12'6 Surf race, this board is lighter, more agile & faster than the 14' in these conditions (both up & down wind - lake conditions, very small wind chop).
Then played with a lot of the Starboard range in the flat water (10'5 wide point, 10'5 Drive, 11'2 Avanti, 10' Whopper & the 8'5 Pro again in the brushed carbon).
I was impressed with how fun & stable the Avanti is, great learner board for the bigger guy.
Overall a great opportunity to try out a large range of boards in different conditions. The 8'5 Pro was my pick from the day, however both surf races were great (pick the right one for the conditions) & the Avanti was a surprisingly fun board for it's size.
If you're keen to try out a range of different boards, check out their next stop.
SupTour
> 9 months ago, 7 Dec 2010
