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New Toys! Starboard isonic 121 & RS Slalom MKIII 8.6

Maarten — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 07:52:06 +0000

Finally I have the boards and sails that I always wanted. I went to BOOT (the boat show in Düsseldorf) and was lucky to find a Starboard isonic 121. A new one but then the 2010 model. I usually don’t buy new boards because buying them second hand can save you a lot of money. A few months back I bought an isonic 101 (2008) for 550 euros with 2 Drake fins. Not bad at all.

I was also looking for an older second hand model, mainly because that would have saved me a some money. But the deal I got on BOOT was to good to walk away from. So I took the isonic 121 home. Let’s hope I made the right choice because other people would have swapped the 121 for a 131.

The most important reason for having two boards is to maximize my time on the water. I always had 1 board and this was always a board around 105 liters. Great for mid wind but not in high or low winds. And since I gained some weight lately I wasn’t able to stay afloat anymore (i’m currently 107 KG) . With this new purchase I have a fantastic board for lighter winds and from mid to strong winds I can use the 101.

Why go for Starboard and not another brand? Starboard has a great reputation since they are winning a lot of races and a lot of heavy windsurfers are really happy with the isonics. I also heard and read that they can have a lot of back foot pressure. That’s good since I like to give a lot of back foot pressure without worrying to much about a spin out. Also Neilpryde racing sails tend to make people give a bit more back foot pressure. So stylistically that would be a good combo. Besides that, I have owned a hypersonic for several years now and I have always been happy with the performance.

My new sail, the Neilpryde RS Slalom MKIII 8.6, is meant for light wind sessions. I chose this sail because I have already have 2 RS Slaloms and I like them. The X6 490 mast can be used in the 8.6 which means I don’t have to buy a new mast, great! (although a X9 is recommended).

Sometimes my equipment was limiting my possibilities to go windsurf but that’s not the case anymore. Spring has begun and I’m stoked to get on the water and improve my GPS Speeds.

To summarize my equipment for this season (and probably the next seasons):

Sails
Neilpryde RS Slalom MKIII 8.6
Neilpryde RS Slalom 7.8 – by far my most used sail size.
Neilpryde RS Slalom MII 6.7
Neilpryde V8 6.0

Boards
Starboard Isonic wood 121 (2010)
Starboard Isonic wood 101 (2008)

What will be in your quiver for 2011?

p.s. This also means that I’m selling my Starboard Hypersonic 105. If you are interested, contact me here.

p.p.s. Are you wondering what kind of equipment a pro windsurfer has? Take look Robby Swift’s his van and you will get an impression.

This is a post from: Mad Windsurfing. A windsurf blog with tips, news, and how-to's.

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This is a post from: Mad Windsurfing. A windsurfing blog with tips, news, and how-to's.

New board

Maarten — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 18:11:04 +0000

I set several goals in 2009. Finally I’ve reach one of them. I was planning to add more windsurfing boards to my quiver and so I did.

I felt like I missed a lot of opportunities to surf and that had to be fixed. I had only a Starboard Hypersonic 105. This board has an incredible range but since I put on some weight I wasn’t staying afloat anymore. And besides that, I got more interested in gps speedsurfing. The Hypersonic is super wide with 76 cm which is not good for top speeds. Last years I had also some setbacks because I had to replace some things due to crashes.

Now I have the financial means to buy the boards that I want. Last week I bought a Starboard Isonic 101 (2008). This board will be my mid to high wind board. I didn’t go for a real speedsurfing board because those boards can only be used for that purpose and I want to do more than just go downwind.

The Hypersonic will be replaced by an Isonic 122 so I have optimal boards for light winds and a board for mid to high winds. I am still looking for the Isonic 122. (If you have one available you can contact me here).

Hopefully I will be able to improve my Personal Best at GPS-Speedsurfing.com and have more fun time on the water.

Update: I have found an isonic 121 for a great price. Ready to go on the water!

This is a post from: Mad Windsurfing. A windsurf blog with tips, news, and how-to's.

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This is a post from: Mad Windsurfing. A windsurfing blog with tips, news, and how-to's.

Starboard: an inside look

Maarten — Thu, 14 May 2009 06:00:04 +0000

The french Windsurf Magazine had a great inside look in the headquarters of Starboard. Windsurfer Cyril Moussilmani showed them around. A while back I posted a video from Kevin Pritchard who was also talking about Starboard and testing the iSonic windsurf boards. He showed a lot in his video, at least that was what Starboard thought. So eventually he had to take the video offline. Anyway, here are the pictures of the fotoshoot at Starboard HQ.

Startboard Headquarters - working on an iSonic windsurf board

This is a post from: Mad Windsurfing. A windsurf blog with tips, news, and how-to's.

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This is a post from: Mad Windsurfing. A windsurfing blog with tips, news, and how-to's.