Pre 2016 14 footer recommendations

Hey Guys

After a recommendation for a suitable 14 footer - pre-2016 boards that would be worth having a look at, as I'll probably be buying a second hand one.

I weigh 71kg, 175cm tall, 43yo. I only want to use it in the ocean. I have no interest in flat water (unless it is a good down winding day in pittwater). It will be recreational use only, no interest in racing. I usually paddle alone which means I have to paddle upwind first and I want to be able to relax, have fun and not fight to stay upright (and therefore not think too much about brucie!).

I had a 2015 Starboard 14 x 25 hybrid but I found it hard work to stay upright on this in the bumps, also found it hard work to punch upwind. I am NOT blaming the board - they have great reviews however maybe I was too optimistic with the width given it was my first paddleboard (I stuck with it for 9 months).

Maybe the 28 inch wide allstar would have been better? Any other suggestions of other boards?

Cheers. Steve.

Thanks DJ, was hoping you'd comment

The Mk1 and 2 Glides are good for ocean work; the Mk2 especially. They tend to get a bit weird in very confused conditions sometimes, but 90% of the time they are extremely effective.

An old Starboard Coastrunner might be a cheap solution if you can find one. A bit heavy perhaps, but nice and stable.

There aren't that many boards that go well upwind as well as downwind, unfortunately, so it's often a matter of compromising a bit on one or the other.

It sounds like you could do with getting a ocean-specific board though, whatever you get. You might find one of the early SIC Bullet V1s on sale used, maybe?

Thanks everyone for your posts. Some people are saying go wider, bad dog has said that wide is too much volume for a guy as light as me. Bad dog is that comment in reference to the Allstar specifically? for the guys that like wider boards, are any of you similar weight to me? (71kg)

Hi - I have a 2014 29" GX glide that I use at work, I'm the same as you, I have to paddle upwind before I can turn back downwind, the 29" is perfect I feel for this and my ability levels.

At home I have a 27" DC and I would not feel as confident in that going up wind stability wise, although i have plenty of times, but i did fall a few times going upwind- downwind I love it

Yeah, the GS is unacceptably heavy for many people, really. See if you can find an old GX one. But people hold onto them so it might not be easy. Any of the wider downwind boards you will find much easier than the 25" wide SB, although they will probably be slower going upwind. But if you aren't racing, going 0.5mph slower upwind isn't going to matter.

It sounds like you maybe didn't demo enough boards before you made your last purchase. So it might be a good idea to rectify that now if you can. There is absolutely no substitute for trying a board yourself. Sometimes people will say that a board is as stable as an oil rig platform when 99% of people can hardly ride it. Balance, skill, and tolerance of falls varies so wildly between people that other peoples' opinions shouldn't really be your only source of information.

You might like a Jimmy Lewis M14, if you can find a used one, too. A Bark Downwinder might suit too -although they are quite a new model.

It's actually quite surprising how few boards there are out there that meet the criteria that the average ocean paddler needs: not too heavy, not too fragile, 27-29" wide (the sweet spot for most people in the ocean), copes with side winds and chop well, not too tragic in flat water. You'd think that this would be bread-and-butter to every brand, but in fact most offerings fail on one or more of these criteria. There's been such a rush to produce specialised boards for the elite on one hand, and cheap heavy barges for beginners on the other, that the middle ground has tended to be forgotten over the last few years. Put this together with the tendency for the main brands to have gone for extreme designs that are initially eye-catching but actually turn out to be deeply flawed in some regard, and it means that sensible and all-round capable ocean boards are less common than you'd think, and where they do exist, people tend to hold onto them.

The Naish 14x29 in GX is a good example. It was exactly what many people wanted, but for some reason Naish made three times as many GS ones (it seems), and then dropped it, leaving loads of the GS around, which is too heavy for day-to-day use by most women and a lot of men too. The reason? The GX probably competed with the more specialised - and expensive - Javelin. A similar thing happened with Fanatic boards, which were initially rather good all-rounders, but soon became highly specialised and expensive designs, with deep flaws outside their principal intended use, IMO. Starboard too, tended to rush to narrow widths and specialised use, and leave behind the 27-28" wide versions (see eg. the Ace).

Fortunately, many of the brands seem to have woken up to the need for more all-round and middle-ground boards for 2016 and beyond. But this has left a back catalogue that contains many oddities and experiments.

You're dead right area10, should have demoed more. Thanks for all your comments.

Yeah I saw that Naish listed, it's 27 wide, bit narrower than the 29 inches Some of the guys were suggesting, so not sure if it would be too narrow...

Hi there
I'm a long time lurker on this forum but am prompted to ask a question. A little bit of a hijack but I was seriously considering buying a 2015 Starboard Allstar 14' x 25" as there's a new one available but now having just found this thread I am wondering if it would be a good choice for me starting downwinding. I currently ride a 9' x 27" 98 litre high performance long board style sup in surf but fancied giving downwinding a go. I'm a reasonably fit 46 years old, 5'9 and 150 lbs... been suping on and off for the past few years between my surfing (which I've done for years).
Any thoughts on whether the 2015 Starboard Allstar 14' x 25" would be a good choice for me would be much appreciated... I should add that where I live trying out these type of boards is not really an option...
thanks!

Yes. Stability when downwinding is as much about the paddler being used to the water pushing you around, and how it does it, as it is the stability of the board. The problem is that you won't get that experience in the first place if you are on a board that is too advanced for you because your time on the water will be limited. So the usual protocol is to get a board to start that is much more stable than you think you need, and then gradually get narrower as you progress. Downwinding really is a skill of it's own. Surf experience helps a bit, but not as much as you might think. You have to be able to tolerate a certain level of lack of control when DWing - often the water will decide where you are going and when, and your job is to make the best of what you are given. It's very unlike flat water paddling in that respect. If you are not used to going with the board if you have to, rather than fighting it, then downwinding can be tough on balance.

Give it a go. You've got little to lose: you'll always be able to sell a 14x25 SB on if you want something else at a later date. You'll probably be absolutely fine on it as long as you aren't going to be attempting the M2O crossing. It takes a looooong time to get good at downwinding, so the sooner you start the better :)

just sent you pm Area 10...

got a 2014 , 14' X 28 Allstar for $1,400