Hi there.
I'm new to the supping world having been into it for about 6 months, but I am hooked. I ride a 2012 12'6" Fanatic race [a classic board], a 2012 Bamboo 9'0" Naish Mana [great wave rider and quick glide], and my first board ,a 2010 Bamboo Starboard 10' Whopper [great to learn on, take the family on, and it rides waves very impressively for its width. I mainly ride at Moffs and Happies on Sunny Coast and Redcliffe to Sandgate area.
Now, is it me or is the brushed carbon look on just about all major makes of board, simply not that pretty to look at. Or is it me who perhaps just doesn't see the beauty. I just find them really dirty looking. Fanatic do an ultra light weight carbon ProWave which is just a beautiful looking board and doesn't have that brushed look that I am writing about. I'm thinking of buying my next Race board and am hanging off because I reckon the manufacturers will find a better look which will leave all of those brushed carbon boards hanging in limbo in the marketplace.
Any thoughts...Sorry if this is the cat amongst the pigeons.....
And congrats on having such a great forum...so many useful ideas.
Hi and welcome.. 
That brushed carbon look has been around at least 10 years with windsurfing boards and IMO I can't see it going away anytime soon. The idea is to have the paint as thin as possable as to not add too much weight.
I checked out the new Starboard AllStar yesterday and it was the AST construction but looked very similar in grey colour to the brushed carbon greay.. It wasn't till you looked real close that you could see that it was not the brushed carbon.. I think that's a good idea by Starboard.
DJ
Hmm, I guess each to his/her own on this one. I actually like to look of the brushed carbon, though I also think the added fluro green on the tail of this years Starboard pro range makes then look even better.
Another great thing about brushed carbon boards is that in my experience they don't show up as many minor scuffs and scratches as many gloss finish boards so they can stay looking in new condition for longer than some other boards.
They are also easy to colour match for repairs as the varied colour means a good repair doesn't stand out as much as on a block colour gloss board where even if the repairer has done a great job, you can usually still see where the repair has been done.
I have one of the new 7'7 Starboards with the brushed carbon and green tail standing in amongst my surfboards in my family room. I think it looks awesome evertime i look at it. Just need to actually take it out in some waves now. 
As Ali Cat said, i guess its all personal opinion on what people like.
Brad - your not alone, I didnt like it when I first saw it on the Starboards, but it does grow on you. Have to agree with Ali, the flash of green makes it for mine, just softens the look a little, not that you should buy a board on looks..............alone!
Coreban has a full colour carbon board and it weighs 2/5ths of nothing so that might be worth considering, i am sure there are others but that ones comes to mind.
Greg 
Also new to SUP, just bought a Starboard Converse 9'0 x 30' in wood construction and it looks pretty awesome with the red rails/hull and white deck with wood. Rode the brushed carbon model prior to purchase, slightly lighter to carry to beach but haven't noticed a big difference as yet. Cheers, Geoff
Thanks for the opinions and information. I was inspired by the Bark rocket ship posted by supfreak..cheers...with a little bit of research I found this video of Joe Bark talking about this....pretty interesting, I think...
www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=17373.0
I guess I still just don't find the brushed and pot-scoured look attractive of the brushed carbon...I do get what is trying to be achieved by the scrubbing, but why not just colour the epoxy resin [I admit I don't know much about the technical details of construction at this point!]
