Wow! Seems my "event" has started a lively debate here
Ranging from "the manufacturer is totally at fault in misrepresenting their product" on one extreme, to "you're a pathetic beginner who doesn't know how to catapult properly, so it's all your fault" on the other extreme
I suppose the latter is thoroughly possible, but I'm guessing even the super experienced have some pretty violent catapults on at least rare occasion - so they might want their board to be able to survive it
Just a bit frustrated, but I really do appreciate the input/advice - sincerely, I do.
So to me (the lowly neophyte who's clueless about the details of all the various manufacturing techniques), the practical question is:
Which board can I get that is pretty freakin' durable that is in the 150 liter range that won't break the bank? Durability (not top performance) being the primary criteria.
Seems like the consensus is that Cobra and Kinetic are brands (???) that fit the bill, but I'll research some more
Having seen how starboard throws putty at manufacturing defects I'd never buy a board from them.
Somehow Goya/Quattro gets cobra to make way better boards. Others too but not always.
Kenetic (Simmer) are consistently better though.
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.
You do sorta learn to turn the slow motion catapaults into softer landings, and get a lot better at not doing them in the first place. but its really not a case of better sailors doing "expert" catapaults. If anything an "expert" catapault inflicts a lot more damage than beginner ones, since you'r e travelling at higher speeds loaded up. You get to inevitably in a split second. There is no seeing it coming like you do in the beginner years. If you can see the catapault coming it means you're not going fast enough.
I love catapults. You should all do more. the boards are designed to be flogged.
use it, abuse it, then Moz it. /repeat
In order of difficulty:
Hold on to the boom.
Slice the mast away from the nose as you go over (hopefully without landing on it).
Turn it into a forward loop.
It's not your fault. Nothing windsurfing is made to last any more, and at least it's (fairly) easy to repair. Repair it and thrash it
Truths:
Its not relatively high end. It is the cheapest most basic construction of any freeride board.
Almost all freerides are not designed to be jumped like that.
Almost all boards will break like that from repeated downward nose impacts.
It is however very repairable, and if I were you I would do so. Plenty of online advice re: how to fix it and if you don't care about pretty, its not really hard. I fix far worse breaks - daily.
And from your other thread - if you bake a sail in the sun to the extent it fades like that, it has UV damage. It will fail.
This is not a Starboard thing (albeit that I am not a fan of them), nor is it a Severne Convert thing (The Gator is better but if you sun-damage it like that the same will happen one day). You are going hard on average stuff.
If you have limited access to stuff due to location, buy as good as you can, and learn to repair things. The sail repair could have been down with stickyback dacron and no stitching and last well. The board needs only epoxy resin (not glue) and fibreglass for a basic (strong but ugly) repair.
The only way to decide if there was a failure in the manufacturing is to get someone experienced in board repair to have a look at the board.
Brands should put a warning on their website to say whether the board construction is ok to jump or not. But you can see they just bang on about how great their boards are (as I copied on page 1).
I've got a 2106 Atom IQ in the wood core construction. That board has taken an absolute pummeling and is only just starting to indicate end of life. Seems to me that SB's construction has become a bit more fragile in recent years. Next board will be Carbon Art.
I jumped off of my GF's 2019 Starboard Carve the in waist deep water other day and slightly clipped the deck of the board with my harness hook as I jumped down. I was really surprised to see the large hole this created. I'm not convinced modern Starboards are made from anything more than cheese.