Had a quick play with some Starboard inflatable SUP's on the weekend, I had paddled a Naish One design sup before apart from that, no experience with pump up's before, just the real deal.
I was really keen to see how easy they pump up and deflate.. one board was a 10ft SUP only the other the SUP/SAIL model.
Was really impressed by them, must say one pumped heaps quicker than the other, aside from that just a tad longer to pump up than a Kite, but was really amazing is how hard/solid they were once inflated.
They paddled almost as good as any basic 10-11ft Sup, harder to turn probably due to the volume and a lot more prone to being 'blown' in a gentle breeze, but for family fun paddling on flat water perfect.
The kids couldn't get off them! and with the soft deck and rails climbing on/off and bouncing about they were happy as, no bumps or bruises. And they gave them a fair flogging as kids do.
The Sail model has a sturdy deckplate support where you screw your mast base in, and a middle fin for stabilizing when sailing, which I would suggest is a must, as it was pretty hard to hold its line without. Not sure if you can upgrade the fins to something bigger or better if you wanted to do some better sailing?
The 11ft SUP/Sail paddled and felt better than the 10ft dedicated SUP, firmer underfoot (inflated to same PSI) and it tracked better also, single fin v' thruster also.
When it came to packing up they deflated super quickly and were easy to roll up (which squeezes the excess air out) then easily packed up into a back pack, believe the new model the bag has wheels also to make it even easier! Process takes less than 5 min.
For a fun toy that you confidently give out to the kids /family and friends and breathe easy that they cant trash it (keep your own fav hidden away!) they are perfect, and for basic learn to sail and light wind mucking around awesome. You can even semi deflate it for a camp bed mattress!
What's really impressive is the firmness once inflated, hard as, nice deck and still light enough for kids to pick up, so many winning points. The fact that you can roll them up and stick them in the boot of the smallest car is an absolute winner, would be great to have one floating around the house, give it out to family/friends for some water fun, and stick a sail on when the breeze trickles in..who knows it may even convert a few new punters.
SB 11ft Sup/Sail Rating
/5
dedicated 10ft Sup
/5*
*IMO Better off getting the Sup/Sail, performed better and 2 toys for the price of one!
There may be a few pics of them in action here on the Winwanderers FB site
www.facebook.com/groups/382447855143305/ Thanks Andy at Windsurfing Gear for bringing them along for the kids to try and destroy!
JonesySail
> 9 months ago, 1 Sep 2015
...good stuff, can see it being really attractive to newcomers, throw it in the back of the car , paddle or sail based on the conditions, then when they get hooked on either or both they will look to upgrade to hard boards for more serious performance.
