Select to expand quotenuteman said..SchobiHH said..geoITA said..SchobiHH said..geoITA said..Mark _australia said..
It's not a starboard thing. It's their deliberately cheap n cheerful entry level construction. The wood/carbon an PVC sandwich Carve can be ridden like that for years. The Starlight, nope. but the proper construction is more expensive.
other brands also do a real basic heavy laminate that is going to last like a full sandwich board.
where r u located?
A "reputable" manufacturer would NEVER sell boards built that way anyhow.
it is the brands and not Cobra who sell the boards. And the brands decide what quality they want. Cobra is just the one who is producing the product to the specification of the seller. And the seller defines every little detail what goes into the board
You are perfectly right.
Still, a reputable brand would NEVER build such crap.
Everybody is allowed to have his opinion. But I have the feeling we do not know the whole story. Nuteman also killed one of his sails after 1.5 years of use. I wonder if there is more information needed have the full picture. I.e. you can kill every board if you use it hard. You can kill every nose if you do beginner catapults where the mast hits the board full speed. This kind of catapult an experienced windsurfer never does. I have seen that several times. A friend of mine who is selling beginner boards a lot can tell you stories about killed noses.... And then the customer says this is a warranty case.... And the brand doesn't matter or even "custom boards" which they sell. You can kill every board if you do not use it with care and skill
Yes, the full picture is that I have "only" 4 years total windsurfing experience and I was under the naive impression that a "relatively" high-end sail and board would handle some reasonable level of unintentional "abuse". I know better now 
Regarding the sail - it's clear from various responses on that post that many sails are simply not as tough as others - and the price reflects it in my case - the Gator being double the price of the Convert (at least from my dealer).
Regarding the board - Yes, it has suffered many a catapult, and as I progressed to higher speed those catapults got more violent (though, again, I'm typically catapulting an average of once per session by now). I'm wondering if the damage was cumulative and finally that last relatively mild catapult was the one that was "one too much".
Not making excuses, but I'm lucky to get conditions of less than 60 cm wave height and serious chop and speed boats and jets skis, blah, blah. So I guess I need to face reality and buy the most durable equipment I can get.
Now I know why the rental equipment is built like a tank here - they don't want to be replacing it non-stop. I guess I should have figured that out before I was peddled the "good" stuff.
Don't overthink this. You started as a beginner. Beginners break their equipment. I would say that this is not so uncommon across sports. The board very likely had been weakend by your first beginner years and finally it broke later when you have become better and seemingly without reason. all boards suffer from fatigue over time as the core EPS and the sandwich material disintegrate slowly. Finally this will happen to every board. That is physics. There is not way to stop that. But it depends on your riding skills and conditions where you ride in how slowly that happens. IF you try to create a board to completly overcome that, that board would become to stiff and heavy. And in the end a stiff board will also break because stiffness creates to high compression peaks on weak spots. And heavy nobody wants. But yes, you can create longer lasting boards and therefore usually you find this heavy duty constructions at custom brands. But still they do not last forever. Generally a flexible construction lasts longer and is actually what makes a board nice to ride. So it is in the end a compromise. Now you have become better you therefore likely will not "abuse" your material so much. So just buy a new and higher quality construction board and accept that this sport is simply an expensive sport. I don't buy in this "Kinetic" vs "Cobra" vs "custom" ideology discussion. Buy a board which you like and put some money aside to buy a new board every couple of years.
OK so most of my windsurfing time I've been a tad over 70Kg, so I don't put a lot of load on stuff.
However, my boards tend to last more than 10 years,
the speed boards need the slight hollow on bottom between the footstraps bogged back to flat, after 8 years or so. The wave boards have enough initial rocker, it's not noticeable.
about 7 years ago, I wanted to try something different so I made a couple of new boards, (these are still going well), the old ones I gave to a mate in Albany, bigger, heavier and much faster than me, yes they've been back for minor repairs, like footstrap plug breaking. But he's still getting top speeds on them, now that they are 15 years old.
And they aren't heavy.
Repair done and a couple of sessions later, it seems to be holding up.
Here's the repair video: www.facebook.com/share/v/1BDBX1CoZK/
Seems he put several layers of glass fiber.
Ok it's a starlite carbon build: biax carbon with glass over without sandwich. The guy do the job right but i may be would go a bit wider with last couple layers of glass. Time will say.
Ok it's a starlite carbon build: biax carbon with glass over without sandwich. The guy do the job right but i may be would go a bit wider with last couple layers of glass. Time will say.
Ok it's a starlite carbon build: biax carbon with glass over without sandwich. The guy do the job right but i may be would go a bit wider with last couple layers of glass. Time will say.
Ok it's a starlite carbon build: biax carbon with glass over without sandwich. The guy do the job right but i may be would go a bit wider with last couple layers of glass. Time will say.
Ok it's a starlite carbon build: biax carbon with glass over without sandwich. The guy do the job right but i may be would go a bit wider with last couple layers of glass. Time will say.
Ok it's a starlite carbon build: biax carbon with glass over without sandwich. The guy do the job right but i may be would go a bit wider with last couple layers of glass. Time will say.
Ok it's a starlite carbon build: biax carbon with glass over without sandwich. The guy do the job right but i may be would go a bit wider with last couple layers of glass. Time will say.
Ok it's a starlite carbon build: biax carbon with glass over without sandwich. The guy do the job right but i may be would go a bit wider with last couple layers of glass. Time will say.
Ok it's a starlite carbon build: biax carbon with glass over without sandwich. The guy do the job right but i may be would go a bit wider with last couple layers of glass. Time will say.
Ok it's a starlite carbon build: biax carbon with glass over without sandwich. The guy do the job right but i may be would go a bit wider with last couple layers of glass. Time will say.
Ok it's a starlite carbon build: biax carbon with glass over without sandwich. The guy do the job right but i may be would go a bit wider with last couple layers of glass. Time will say.
Select to expand quoteMark _australia said..
Lemat would you really do 11 layers? sounds overkill to me 
Sorry wrong use of my Phone! Moderator can erased my post please.
Not need so much layers for sure.
Hi All,
Reviving this post as I'm considering a board that has become available in my area in the right size for me (my board has started developing signs of a new imminent buckling).
It's the Tabou Rocket 145L MTE 2025 (tabou-boards.com/archive/windsurf-boards-2025/rocket-2025/).
So again, just to remind folks: I'm more interested in durability than performance.
Any insight if this board meets that goal?
It's a properly made sandwich board for a start so it's better. as to more durable than others - depends. Tabou carbon-innegra deck is very good but if they do a lighter model with just carbon it won't be as strong. Would still be as good as any other freeride board. You're going to get nose splits from catapults on any board of course.
Thanks, Mark.
Good to know it's at least better than what I have now. I'll hunt around some more to see what else I can find that might be even better.
For Tabou's constructions, MTE isnt a sandwich construction. Its a lot of fibreglass on a EPS core and looks to have wood reinforcement on the rear half of the deck (its not full deck). Cheap to make but heavy.
LTD is PVC sandwich, fibreglass deck and hull with some carbon reinforcements under the footstraps and mast track.
Team is PVC sandwich, carbon innegra deck and fibreglass hull.
Personally, I wouldnt buy a board which doesnt have PVC sandwich deck and hull. Too heavy and I remember the benefits of sandwich construction from my school days in woodwork/physics lessons.
All my freeride/slalom/freerace boards since 2008 have been PVC sandwich and full carbon deck and hull, feels light and stiff. I've never had a problem with boards buckling like yours did. They are more fragile to knocks, but not too bad in general. Im not hard on boards like jumping, but just blasting in chop/flat water. Its mostly catapult damage after hitting something in the water.
These days its only top of the range slalom boards which are full carbon, deck and hull. A lot are carbon deck, fibreglass hull. Some brands top construction are now PVC & fibreglass deck and hull with some carbon reinforcements, they dont use carbon as its expensive. Well, it isnt that expensive, but by the time % profit margins have been added + taxes it mounts up.
If you are worried about durability, go for a LTD type construction. Although I've noticed some brands LTD do look very light, considering
they are fibreglass. Makes me wonder how they have shaved off the weight.
Sorry I haven't seen the MTE. Shame that Tabou have also done a rubbish budget one
i take issue with this claim that glass done too thick over EPS is durable. Might dent less than carbon sandwich .. But with no sandwich it doesn't t have the stiffness and strength. Maybe only impact resistance is a bit better - but to call that durability is really a bit of a lie. dont see any non sandwich wave boards huh
what we do see is like the Starlite with a massive crease from nose impact that would not happen in a sandwich board. A decent board would just have a longitudinal deck split at nose that's easy patched up, whereas the Starlite is terminal. I think the MTE is not a great idea.
If y'all have got the patience for another question:
So the Severne Verso 138L is also available (for about17% more in price than the Tabou - I'm willing to go for it, if it really is robust - see below).
There are others, but at displacements that are probably too small for me.
See the description below from their site (www.severnesails.com/boards/verso/) - I don't know enough to judge whether or not this is significantly better than what I've got now, in terms of toughness. I also don't know if that's just a bunch of marketing bull.
ROBUST CONSTRUCTION
Full Wood deck and bottom layup with heavy-duty reinforcements. Biaxial Glass reinforcements between the impact zones i.e. mast track, nose, and heels. Rail Bands add parabolic reinforcements for added reactivity.
Select to expand quotePanno said..
Could someone give me some tips on how to perform an "expert catapult"? Seems like a pretty complex move and something I should work on once I've mastered the Vulcan.Select to expand quotePanno said..
Could someone give me some tips on how to perform an "expert catapult"? Seems like a pretty complex move and something I should work on once I've mastered the Vulcan.
Forward loop practice. look back and sheet in hard with your back hand when you feel you have lost control. You will land on your back , board unharmed. Unless you going more than 25 knots, then reaction time gets a bit sketchy.
Select to expand quotenuteman said..
If y'all have got the patience for another question:
So the Severne Verso 138L is also available (for about17% more in price than the Tabou - I'm willing to go for it, if it really is robust - see below).
There are others, but at displacements that are probably too small for me.
See the description below from their site (www.severnesails.com/boards/verso/) - I don't know enough to judge whether or not this is significantly better than what I've got now, in terms of toughness. I also don't know if that's just a bunch of marketing bull.
ROBUST CONSTRUCTION
Full Wood deck and bottom layup with heavy-duty reinforcements. Biaxial Glass reinforcements between the impact zones i.e. mast track, nose, and heels. Rail Bands add parabolic reinforcements for added reactivity.
More or less same build as starlite, mte, ast, etc...
Price entry boards, made at same place, are build the same: multi layers glass epoxy over light eps with a layer of wood veneer on deck sometimes only on back. This build is heavier an less stiff. Can have a good dings strengh but dent and buckle more easily as you ever experiment.
