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Windsurf video: Starboard movie 2012

Maarten — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:54:14 +0000

Windsurfer international magazine released its 26th issue. The piece of content I recommend you to check out is the Starboard movie. This video shows all the top riders from the 2012 Starboard team rippin’ on the most beautiful spots. You can compare it a bit to the Mistral Committed Reloaded movie. That movie was more focused on showing the new talented windsurfers. The starboard movie is more about showing the wide range of windsurfing boards Starboard produces.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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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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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!

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Help with choosing a (Starboard) windsurf board

Maarten — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 16:47:32 +0000

Starboard released a new tool to help you make a better board selection out of their range of windsurfing boards (and they have a lot of boards to choose from).

I thinks it’s great that Starboard is releasing a tool like that. Off course will it help them to sell them the correct boards. As result you will get more people having fun with Starboards on the water. And eventually more happy customers for Starboard. A win-win situation for both sides.

In step 2 Starboard explains that the volume is one of the most defining physical characteristics. So it’s really an important step when deciding which board you should choose. But they don’t clearly explain what volume is right for you. I think it would be better to show which factors are important for choosing the correct volume. Factors like which boards you currently own, in what wind range you are going to use the board, what level your at and your weight.

Take a look for yourself. What do you think?

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How to tune your quad fin wave board

Maarten — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 08:16:07 +0000

Did you ever wonder how you should set up and tune your quad fin board? Starboard presents a short technical video which explains the 5 fin settings on the board. Check it out over here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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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

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Kevin Pritchard talks about testing at Starboard

Maarten — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:43:56 +0000

Kevin Pritchard posted on his blog that he went to Thailand to test new shapes at the Starboard development headquarters a few days ago. In the short movie he tells us how the testing is going. I don’t get the impression that testing windsurf boards is a very stressful job

Update: Unfortunately the movie is removed from Kevin Pritchards blog because Starboard thinks it’s revealing to much of the starboard development center. Luckily the movie is still on the net. You can find it at dailybits.be

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JP Australie new sponsor Antoine Albeau!

Maarten — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:46:56 +0000

Another remarkable sponsor switch in the windsurfing world. World champion Antoine albeau will leave his Isonic Starboards and switches them for the Slalom boards from JP Australia. Rumors about Antoine switching were everywhere, especially after dunkerbeck switched to Starboard. Antoine Albeau signed a three years contract with his new sponsor. A quote from himself:

This was a rather big decision for me. I am glad that I went for it and I am very happy that I will be part of JP next year. I really look forward to work with Werner Gnigler and the whole JP team. I will be very involved in the development of the performance oriented boards within the JP line and I can’t wait to get started.

I am really looking forward to the new PWA world tour season to see how all the sponsor switches will effect the rankings.

Source: extremesportsmagazines.nl

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Starboard new sponsor Bjorn Dunkerbeck

Maarten — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:54:49 +0000

Finally, it’s clear. Starboard will be the new board sponsor for Bjorn Dunkerbeck. There were a lot of rumours about him switching to another board brand. Also here on madwindsurfing.com.

Lately, Bjorn Dunkerbeck was not performing so well. In Turkey he showed he has still a lot of skills, but not on his regular boards. He was windsurfing on the Isonic series from Starboard to everybody`s suprise. In Sylt Bjorn showed that he and starboard is a very good combination. He managed to win the Event.

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