Tabou 3S 96L/106L vs Naish Starship 100L

[antonputman]

Here is au picture I found of the Starships rocker:


found in this page:
http://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Review/New-Naish-Starship/

[rlemmens]

If you're looking for a board to do serious wavesailing in hollow or powerful waves you may want to try the biggest pocket they make. I think it's a 92. If its more like 1-4ft mushy kind of waves the the 3s may be more fun. Like others pointed out, conditions play a factor. Maybe upload a photo of the area you're trying to sail.

[UncleRandy]

I think some of u are getting off of the topic! He is looking at two FSW board's
To use as hi-wind freeride that can go in the surf a bit! That to me is a FSW board. That not a dedicated wave board, and yes some wave board's also make great b/j boards, but for someone just starting to jump on a 125L board
And looking for a more playful board, that's a FSW board.

[gorgesurfshop]

FYI there will be a Tabou Pocket 102 in 2015.

[DougKing]

I was looking for a replacement for my 2004 Starboard Carve 121 and was intrigued by the Naish Starship writeups for a board that offers slalom/wave characteristics vs. freestyle/wave characteristics. As I enjoy long reaches on the open ocean, jumping as I go and, having to first get out through the shore break, without a thought to freestyle or racing (unless someone comes along side) the Starship seemed to fit.

I sailed my newly acquired 2014 Naish Starship 115 yesterday, first time, with my 2007 Ezzy Infinity (two cams) on a MFC 36 cm Freemove/Freewave custom fin. I weigh 165 lbs and the wind was side-on at 12 to 20 mph at Oak Island, NC. The beach there has a steeper than normal drop off so, the shore break was fairly rough, up close and, personal.

On launch 'through' the shore break the nose did not pearl. I did not miss the longer length of the Carve. On overpowering reaches across rough open ocean chop, the board was smoother than the Carve and, did not give any hint of dragging while cutting across ocean swells and chop. The harder I pushed the fin, the faster the board went. Not a bit of white-knuckle concern that I was going over the handlebars like I used to have with the Carve when the water gnawed at its rails. The board kept up with the sail and the fin. And. it was a happy moment went I first jumped that board off an ocean swell and landed without a twitch. Smooth.....

The 115 Starship is only @ 1 cm narrower and, 15 cm shorter than the 2004 121 Carve. Its bottom shape; continuous rocker, single to double concave, nice rounded rails and, tail V, is different than the Carve. Also, the Starships' bottom front perimeter edge is beveled (almost like a subtle v). It all made the board feel smaller and, so much looser. But, when the wind died in a few lulls, bringing me to an out-of the straps dead-slow slog, there was plenty of float for me (165 lbs.) and the 7.0 cam sail.

Now, I look forward to sailing her with the 5.8 and the 32 cm fin that came with it. Maybe, the 115 Starship can handle 5.2 conditions too (maybe with a @ 28 cm fin)? The extra volume is nice with a medium sized sail if the winds fall off (lulls), especially in the open ocean where things around you sometimes splash. Of course if its 5.2 steady or, stronger, conditions then, the Donny Bowers, Hatteras Sandwich, B&J custom (86 liters) is the call.

It's still to be seen how well the Starship speed is for slalom performance on flat water (this is a legendary attribute of the Starboard Carve). I will need to do comparative speed assessments (i.e., toe-to-toe racing) when the opportunity avails itself.......

"Life is a Reach, and then you Gybe......."

[isobars]

Here's another slant you might consider: approach your solution through a different door. Back up one step, define rather than label the kind of sailing you want to do ("freeride" means very different things to different people and PR agents), and pick boards based on their intended performance rather than their label. I think I've been freeriding, mostly in high winds, for decades. By that I mean ripping back and forth (mowing the lawn) and up and down (jumps) and upwind and downwind and in arcs (lefts and rights; one guy calls 'em arcin' and sparkin'), even drag racing when I feel like it ... generally whatever and wherever the hell I feel like at any given instant. In my book, that's classic freeriding, and because my swell height depends on windspeed, the higher the wind the better. That also means terrain, as in some combination of chop and swell.

After having tested hundreds and owned scores of boards with that in mind, I've found a type of board I absolutely love for that purpose. I now have a collection of high-wind freeeriders which also EXCEL in waves for one simple reason: they're all wave boards. Maui Projects, Goyas, JPs, Naishs, Rogue Wave, Rutger, Quatro, Mark Nelson custom and production, Mistrals, AHDs, Tiga ... plus a few FSWs for curiosity and variety. Even my biggest WS board was picked by asking a large many-brand dealer to "Gimme your turniest 110-120 litre board".

What am I giving up by buying all wave boards? Nothing I give a damn about. Some very early planing, solved by a bigger fin, a bigger sail, or a lawn chair. Some mph on top end on really flat water, which I make up on rough water against most amateurs like myself because my rides are so smooth and I run big enough sails to put those wave board hulls into overdrive. Some glide in flatwater jibes, which my boards more than make up for in extremely tight full-speed jibes in ANY terrain.

But here's the real payoff: What do I gain? For starters, all the insane, unfettered, spontaneous, altered state of consciousness, high-speed FREERIDING I can coax out of my body, my skills, my board, and the terrain. On these boards, it's the RIDER's choice, not the hull's, whether it mows the lawn or roto-tills it in top gear like drunken ants on Fast Forward. Anyone can do that on a fast wave board, but it takes unusual skill to do it on more compromised boards. It all depends on what one wants to compromise, and I don't think I'm compromising much at all. My bigger, wider wave and FSW boards are fun when lighter wind demands them, but they don't make me literally giggle and hoot and holler like the pure wave boards do.

And I don't even have ready access to surf; it's iffy, it's many hundreds of miles away, and I'm fed up with getting skunked. I have the gear; I just need a helicopter, younger forearms, and more motivation to make it worth the effort. You have the latter two and apparently better access, so you might consider one of the other approaches I'm damned glad I took:
1. Buy a big, fast wave board, or
2. Buy two or more slightly different boards so you can match your ride to your venue.
There's zero reason cost has to matter, not with the heaps of great used and closeout gear on the market. Don't let anyone tell you the only boards you can absolutely love were made this year. My 1998 Mistral/Naish wave board will match or beat my 2014 Naish wave in most performance niches; guess which one cost me $10.

[isobars]

I should .... OK, I will ... add that if your non-wave sailing is slalom-oriented, flat-water blasting (i.e., bumpy but not so rough enough you can't just blast over it) and you'll save your carving and slashing -- what I call freeriding -- for the wavy venue, my Option #2 above makes even more sense, IMO. If you have two distinctly different venues and sailing modes, two distinctly different boards makes a ton of sense.

If, OTOH, it's one venue and what changes is what you choose to do with it, my last post still works for me. That lwets you choose each reach ... heck, each second of each reach -- what mode you want to operate in.

[jingebritsen]

lots of experienced wave folks have been sharing some observations about short and wide boards. they are great for snappy turns and complex aerials, but come with a lack of stability fore and aft. in other words, prone to pearling. DOES NOT MATTER ABOUT THE ROCKER. this especially applies to non-planing to planing transitions, either coming out of gibes in the inside or when first launching thru the break.

245cm and longer allows for more stability, fore and aft. something that i've noticed i need more so in onshore conditions. also, free ride to euro style flatter rocker wave boards suit the weaker winds with following currents seen in beach breaks in humbler venues.

[isobars]