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I've noticed that Izzi Gomez was riding a 7'6" 24" 3" 3/8 round tail Surf-pro carbon model at Sunset Beach 2015 trials.
This board is not in Starboards's catalogue.
I thought that SB riders were riding production boards rather than customized shapes.
Anybody out there that could clarify this matter?
Cheers
They're all riding custom boards more and more often. Naish also used to be strict on there windsurfers/kitesurfers using production equipment and this was something they carried over into SUP for a while.... but it seems to have gone out the window lately.
I guess this just highlights that with no kite/sail to mask the feeling of the board, if u want top performance you need a board that is custom built to you and the conditions. In that respect SUP has become more like surfing than windsurfing/surfing now the boards have got smaller and more specialised. Hopefully this change will give custom shapers a boost and put pressure on the big brands to no longer charge windsurf board prices.
I would say that on the opposite, it is now more like what was happening in Windsurfing, where the boards where custom designs, in many cases not even shaped by the brand shaper (Quatro was doing most boards of the top Windsurfing pro... for all brands), and painted to look like production boards.
It is unavoidable, given now that contest boards are so different than from what an average (or even good) SUP rider can ride, especially the width. Also, how can a brand make design advances, if their riders uses standard equipement? having them always trying new things is the most productive.
If that's the case it's quite disappointing. Even more if you bear in mind the prices they charge for a brand new 'production' board.
I was expecting another plausible explanation, like "it is a new model to be released next year" or so.
In fact this was my first thought as the board showed openly its length width and thickness figures. I would've definitely hidden those figures on a 'faked' (customized) board.
GeoInstance - what planet have you been living on?
It's pretty naïve for anyone to think the pros are riding production boards in comps - even when they are painted up to look that way. Even if the boards pros ride are never destined for production, there's still lessons to be learned from them and the good manufacturers will balance this with what mortals need also - or go out of business. Occasionally a brand will actually claim that so-and-so won riding a production board - and if so, it's reasonable to believe them. In this day and age of social media, forums like this and everything on camera, it would look pretty suspicious if they hid the board away between heats - there would be plenty of people around happy to give them a PR nightmare, so why would they risk it? Seriously - the V8s racing at Bathurst look just like your dad's, just with sponno stickers, but does anyone think they just grabbed one from the local dealer?
I see one of the Starboard SUP/sailboard sponnos/designers out in the surf fairly regularly - mostly on cleanskin protos, but sometimes they are painted-up. If I actually saw him back on a production board more than once (for 'calibration'), I'd call bull****. That's why the big companies have these guys - to test and progress (as well as promote) - and they charge ****loads more for their boards as a result. I've seen his backyard - it's a graveyard with hundreds of old prototypes rotting in the sun. He'll often shave-off or bog-up a bit of rail or tail kick overnight an re-test the next day. People on here call out the price the big companies are asking for their boards - saying it's just for the name, but the small ones and the copycats don't have multiple full-time staff (with the skills to feel the difference between minor mods) testing and refining to this degree.
As a consumer though, I gotta say though, ~$2800 for a brushed carbon Starboard Widepoint vs <$950 for a similar dimension Waterborn Evoke (as advertised on here and looks ok from the ****ty pics on their website) is a huge gap - even accounting for resale value. Just gotta be able to calculate $'s of stoke difference per wave. Easy to do with hindsight - impossible to predict....
It's not as bad as the old days of windsurfing i.e. fake production boards which were made by hand and then sprayed up to look like a production board but were actually half the weight.
I'm fairly sure the custom size naish and starboards are built the same as what you could buy in a shop. It was a bit annoying a year or so ago when the pro's were blatantly using shorter boards (than you could buy off the shelf) in average waves... but now they make production boards sub 7 and a half all is ok. I think that companies should be selling pretty much what the pros use in everyday conditions but I can appreciate why they don't mass produce Kai Lenny's 10'4 x 23" Jaws board though.
Izzi is a girl and her kind of surfing and power has got them looking in other directions. I wouldn't be too surprised if there was a Izzi model coming in the future, since she's the world champ.
Most of the boards that the team use are production, but they always carry a couple of tweaked versions from production. Be it a tweaked tail, rocker curvature or "just" a rail apex rocker line. Her boards are about 68l in volume.
Those which are really good, will probably become the new "2016 or 2017" models that we, as consumers, are waiting for every year.
Every brand has their teams riding prototypes through out the year, but most of them don't write the real sizes on them.
PS: Sean was also riding a custom at sunset. On the other hand, Giorgio Gomez (Izzi's brother) was still using the production 7'4 from 2013, which he likes more than the 2015 model.
Like what Johnny just said. What works this week at Sunset, will most likely be released late this year as a production board. Remember this event 2 years ago when Kai rode the first seen LE in the finals? Then later that year Naish released the LE Hokua range.So while i agree that some are riding custom jobs, there would be a heap of R & D going on out there for the 2016 range from all brands.
Competitors are SUPing more and more narrower and shorter board. Once those SUP dimensions shrunk along advancement of the customer SUPing level , do'esnt need the tough construction of the sailboard like windsurfers need.
Personnally as an amateur of 77kg, i use board under 7' 28'', my boards are build like surfboard with 4 and 6 oz glass clothes and a bit of carbon to deck reinforcement. The construction materials cost is just few up the one of the standard surfboard.
What i mean : SUPboard are still made ( and promoted) by big compagnies with windsurfboard terchnology because of the cost of one unit make a lot of money once container filled of boards and shipped onto the market. It will worth less if SUP must be built as an 6'19'' epoxy surboards.
Kami & Colas dropping the knowledge.
I've seen some pretty incredible replica paint jobs. I'm no expert but couldn't tell the difference at all - and these boards were made in a different continent from the production models. On race boards it's especially hard to tell the difference imo.
But it it's obvious why. No ones going to sell 70L 7'x22 stand ups. Except to idiots like me, haha.
What makes you think that that no longer occurs, generally speaking? I'm just bewildered by your confidence in that assertion.
I am not necessarily referring to any particular brand or brands. I think it's best if we leave names out of it.
well I was speaking about sup surf boards not race boards but I am beginning to wonder now. I did say "it's not as bad" as the old windsurfing days... not saying nobody does it. However, in relation to the sunset beach comp that just finished... would a fair estimate be that half of those on Naish/starboard boards were using production boards?? Back in the late 90's at a pro windsurf event in Hawaii, not a single person sponsored by the big brands would be on a production board
Oh Oh! Sounds like the paddleboard surfing revolution is going through what the short boarders went through in the 80s & 90s. The world champions excelling on tooth pick boards so the shops selling them to the public. End result, many youths giving up surfing & going to skid lid body boards!! HAaaa!!! But made some champions & great for the body board producers. Lol!!
In our case we might see a re surgence to the prone shortboarders again. Easier to lie down & paddle a toothpick paddle board than stand up on it.
Just my opinion.
Hey Kami - have you been indulging in a little too much local produce of the Medoc region? 
That didn't make a whole lot of sense.
That didn't make a whole lot of sense. not Medoc wine where is my place but Buzet , still cabernet sauvignon grapes , as good and cheaper produce same affect: 
Ah - I do know Buzet. A lot further to the beach than from Bordeaux, but better coast and a lot less traffic! I also know about overpriced wines from big-name regions nearby....possibly a good equivalent to what people are talking about here.
Are you saying that old-school eurethane/polyester construction is better than styro/xxx/yyy/epoxy ?
I'm glad you do know about Cotes de Buzet and glad as well you did enjoy the place around here but i know you have very good wine in Australia.
And bravo,
for jocking about "booze-ay"
About old school build i was meaning EPS/epoxy /fiberglass with or without stringer. This is enough materials to build short term board like SUP because those boards don't need to last longer than one or two seasons. because SUP evolution is fast and doesn't need to waste more materials like carbon glass left inside hasbeen shapes .
Agreed - in a way. I do still sometimes ride (and enjoy) a 'composite' Sup I have had for at least 7 years though...I forget what year I bought it, but guess 07-08...it doesn't even have a handle! It isn't heavy, but will still be in good condition in 20 years time for lagoon tourists, whereas boards made specifically for the short term will just send all those petrochemicals to the waste heap. I take the point that for performance models this seems inevitable, but that is also probably what they thought with short surfboards in '68-??. Design was changing so fast that there was no resale.....but there would be now! :)
Let's get back to being totally off-topic!
Sounds like a Seabreeze SUP trip to France is the go, with Kami and Colas acting as cultural ambassadors. Burndo can bring along some WA/Margaret River goodness to test against the various French appellations. We might fit some surfing in there somewhere.
Just have to convince my wife that the SUP is an essential travel item to pack next time we go to France, along with the travelling cork screw! I suppose that's where my 7'4" Minion will be particularly good - much easier to lug around a sub-8 foot board than the big SUP's.
Fun is never off topic
Please Rosscoe, if you come in France , i provide cork screw, wine and board , you will have to just bring your wife
Plus, you might try my idea of SUPboard:6'9''27'' 83liters, OK for 76 kg, EPS/glass/epoxy laminated as a surfboard to last as long as your shortboard favorite does.
This always gives me a little giggle, in surfing no one would ever think that a world champion or someone on the tour would be using anything else but a custom board, I would find it super strange to think anyone on the SUP, Windsurf or Kite tour is not using a prototype or custom shape. Surely no one is of the belief that we normal human beings could ride what a pro rides and get the best out of it. The crew that are on the tour would be testing shapes that we might not see for a season or two but we will all eventually benefit from them.
Lured perhaps Colas but I was given the opportunity to ride a Pro's personal boards many years ago and there is no way that 99% of people could ride the beast. As I said Colas, we will all benefit in a couple of seasons from what the Pros are riding because they will be taken and detuned for the masses.
